How do i fix incorrect characters in Firefox Tab, Search, Options, etc?
Firefox shows weird behaviour when entering/displaying specific characters (e.g. "9" or ":") in search bar, tab bar, about:support, etc. The characters are displayed correctly on websites. I have already tried Safe Mode and Default settings.
OS: Xubuntu 18.04.2 LTS
Edit: sorry, thought i already attached a screenshot It appears in the Firefox Interface , e.g if i enter "9", the output is "--". The character ":" is not shown. Everything else seems to be fine.
Modified by lionbyte
Chosen solution
I would assume that a '9' is not two dashes, but merely a longer 2em dash (⸺).
This sounds like a weird font issue where a font is used that doesn't include these glyphs or the font is corrupted. Maybe check the Linux system settings and try a different default font.
You can do a font test to see if you can identify corrupted font(s).
You can try different default fonts and temporarily disable website fonts to test the selected default font.
- Options/Preferences -> General: Fonts & Colors -> Advanced
[ ] "Allow pages to choose their own fonts, instead of my selections above"
All Replies (8)
Need screenshot of the error and what that is happening at?
Chosen Solution
I would assume that a '9' is not two dashes, but merely a longer 2em dash (⸺).
This sounds like a weird font issue where a font is used that doesn't include these glyphs or the font is corrupted. Maybe check the Linux system settings and try a different default font.
You can do a font test to see if you can identify corrupted font(s).
You can try different default fonts and temporarily disable website fonts to test the selected default font.
- Options/Preferences -> General: Fonts & Colors -> Advanced
[ ] "Allow pages to choose their own fonts, instead of my selections above"
cor-el said
This sounds like a weird font issue where a font is used that doesn't include these glyphs or the font is corrupted. Maybe check the Linux system settings and try a different default font.
Thank you very much. This solved my issue.
Can you tell us what font caused this as this can help others?
I'm having this problem too: 9 becomes --, and : doesn't work at all. But only on certain websites (archiveofourown.org) with certain fonts they use. It randomly started happening just the other day and I haven't changed any settings or done any updates. It also happens on Chrome, but no other browsers.
I did what you said @cor-el and I couldn't see any corrupt fonts. But when I turn off "Allow websites to use their own fonts" option, it fixes the problem. Except I don't want to have that off permanently.
What is happening? And more importantly, how do I fix it?
Please.
I see this font list if I check the Inspector: font:100%/1.125 'Lucida Grande','Lucida Sans Unicode','GNU Unifont',Verdana,Helvetica,sans-serif;
What font is Firefox actually using in your case if you check this on the Font tab?
You can check the font used for selected text in the Font tab in the right pane of the Inspector.
Note that this is not about the font-family CSS rule, but about the font that Firefox actually uses as shown in the Font tab.
It's saying Lucida Grande in the Fonts tab.
Anyway, I just uninstalled that font and everything went back to normal. Which is a shame since I didn't want to lose it. Oh well. A small price to pay. I still have two other Lucida fonts so that's okay.