Website colors are wrong

This article is no longer maintained, so its content might be out of date.

This article deals with websites' colors displaying incorrectly. If more than colors are incorrect, see the Websites look wrong or appear differently than they should article.



Page style disabled

You may have inadvertently set the page style to "No Style." To ensure Firefox is set to use the page's default style:

  • At the top of the Firefox window, click on the View menu, then select Page Style, then click Basic Page Style.
  • On the menu bar, click on the View menu, then select Page Style, then click Basic Page Style.


Websites not allowed to use their own colors

Firefox has a setting that allows you to override a page's text and background color settings. To turn off this setting:

  1. In the Menu bar at the top of the screen, click Firefox and then select Preferences or Settings, depending on your macOS version.Click the menu button Fx89menuButton and select Settings.
  2. Select the Content panel.
  3. Click the Colors... button.
  4. Make sure the checkbox beside Allow pages to choose their own colors, instead of my selections above is checked.
  5. Click OK.
  6. Click OKClose the preferences window. Now that Firefox is configured to allow web pages to choose their colors, try visiting the website again to see if it looks correct.

Windows settings

Windows has settings that can affect the display of web pages in Firefox.

High contrast

Ensure that Windows is not in high contrast mode.

  1. If Firefox is running, exit it.
    • From the menu at the top of the Firefox window, select File and the Exit menu item.
  1. Open the Windows Control Panel.
    • (Windows Vista) Click the Windows icon and choose Control Panel.
    • (Windows XP) Open the Windows Start Menu, then choose Control Panel.
  1. Open the Accessibility dialog.
    • (Windows XP) Double-click Accessibility Options.
  1. Click on the Display tab.
  2. Make sure the checkbox beside Use High Contrast is unchecked.
  3. Press OK. Start Firefox and see if the colors are now correct.

256 color mode

  1. If Firefox is running, exit it.
    • From the menu at the top of the Firefox window, select File and the Exit menu item.
  1. Right-click the icon you use to start Firefox and choose Properties. The properties dialog will open.
  2. Click the Compatibility tab.
  3. Make sure the checkbox beside Run in 256 colors is not checked.
  4. Press OK. Start Firefox and see if the colors are now correct.

Blue text shows as red

The ATI Catalyst 7.12 video drivers can cause blue text to show as red on Windows XP. You have a few options to fix this problem:

These fine people helped write this article:

Chris Ilias
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