[bulb122]

How do you guys "tune" FF to look better? I'd really like to make the switch, but I can't stand the was TC looks in FF. The fonts are chunky, and the line spacings, etc. are different than IE. I've fooled around with the adjustments for hours, and I simply cannot make it look the same as IE.

What am I missing? If it would help, I might be able to come up with a couple screen shots....

 

[jonh]

Maybe you can give a screen shot so we know what you are referring to. I use FF and have a very neat legible screen.

Jon

 

[Highway Star]

My desktop machine is exactly like what bulb is describing. My notebook is clear and fine. That's weird...hmmpf

 

[Finally]

You can change the font and size, maybe that's your problem. Tools > Options, Content tab. Mine looks pretty much the same as with IE except some of the ads/links down the right side are gone, on purpose.

 

[jpete]

I wish this picture looked better. Not sure why it seems bad. It's a screen shot of this thread with FF.

 

[jonh]

Looks perfect in my opinion. Neat and clean.

Jon

 

[monte7ocar]

Jeff looks like your running linux mint, having any issues with it? As far as making ff look like ie I used to run the add on theme for ff so it looked like ie I wan to say ie tabs, I'm sure I could find it if I was using ff.

 

[bulb122]

http://www.chevelles.com/showroom/data/500/medium/1FF.JPG
http://www.chevelles.com/showroom/data/500/medium/1IE.JPG

Not sure how these will turn out..... but if you go to my showroom and slick the pictures to see them large size they are clear. If they aren't full screen, they don't look much different, but they definitely are different.

 

[bulb122]

Yeah, just as I suspected. To get the proper view and see what I'm talking about, you need to click on the large size from my showroom. I don't know how to link to the large size.

 

[Mike]

Other than more tool bar's open ,doesn't look much different than mine.

BTW ,Windows has update's waiting.

 

[jpete]

Jeff looks like your running linux mint, having any issues with it?

Only that no one can seem to tell me how to make my wireless card work.

For a "community" OS, they aren't very helpful. It's not an issue right now as I can run a cable across the room but I'll be moving the computer in the future to an area where there is no CAT 5 outlet and I just don't feel like running one.

 

[monte7ocar]

I had the same issue when I had it on my laptop.

 

[DaleM]

I've certainly noticed that the fonts in Firefox are not as crisp and clear as those in IE at the same site.

Firefox...

vs. Internet Explorer 8

Same site, same thread, same screen shot (cropped to fit) with both browsers side-by-side. It's not just here either. IE does a much better job of redering fonts that FF, IMO.

 

[Mike]

Dale ,that's just the difference in the default font used by either browser.
You can set them both to the same and they will look very similar.
For FF it's tools-option-content-fonts and color-advanced.
For IE8 it's tools-Internet Options-general-appearance-fonts.

 

[DaleM]

Dale ,that's just the difference in the default font used by either browser.
You can set them both to the same and they will look very similar.
For FF it's tools-option-content-fonts and color-advanced.
For IE8 it's tools-Internet Options-general-appearance-fonts.

Tried that, Mike. In IE8 the base fonts are set to Times New Roman for webpage fonts and Courier New for plain text font and there is nothing checked under Accessibility to ignore any webpage fonts, colors, etc. In other words, nothing changed from the default.

FF is set to the same basic fonts. Proportional is set to Serif, Serif is set to Times New Roman, San-serif is set to Arial and Monospace is set to Courier New. I do have the box checked to "Allow pages to choose their own fonts, instead of my selections above." When I uncheck that box, even TC comes out in Times New Roman.

I don't believe it's the font itself (I set my post and reply font to Verdana) but rather the way the browser renders that font. Beginning with
IE7, the browser forces anti-aliasing on most font-rendering within the browser. However Firefox, a cross-platform browser, has no native font anti-aliasing ability. And it shouldn’t since most OSs such as Windows, MacOS X, and Linux (freetype rendering) have this ability natively. Windows XP doesn’t have font-antialiasing enabled by default. However in Windows Vista, (and Windows 7 I'm sure) anti-aliasing is on by default. In MacOS and Ubuntu, it’s enabled by default. Safari on Windows copies MacOS anti-aliasing into its browser. Safari on Windows anti-aliasing looks much different than Windows (blurrier, thicker).

After some searching I found you can enable Cleartype in XP and solve the redering problem with FF.

Right-click your desktop and Select Properties
On the Appearance tab, click the Effects button
Check the box and click the list button by "Use the following method to smooth edges of screen fonts:" to ClearType. Click OK twice to save the change.

 

[Mike]

I ran that setting for a while but liked standard better.
Have you played with 'about:config' at all?
Info http://kb.mozillazine.org/Firefox_:_FAQs_:_About:config_Entries

 

[DaleM]

I agree it's a tradeoff. Make FF bearable and make everything else mundane.