Firefox 4

trader345 · Apr 7, 2011

what about addon performance and compatibility for 4? Have you had problems with your addons so far? It usually takes awhile after a major new version for all the addons to become compatible.

goodgoing · Apr 7, 2011

Quote from montysky:

FF4 has the ugliest font rendering I've ever seen. It was unbearable I had to turn off the direct2d rendering after a few hours. That fixed most of the fonts but some still renders horribly. IE does render the fonts nicely for a clunker.

I have the same problem. How do you turn off direct2 rendering? I marked the option so that pages can choose their own font but still no improvement.

trader345 · Apr 7, 2011

Quote from goodgoing:

I have the same problem. How do you turn off direct2 rendering? I marked the option so that pages can choose their own font but still no improvement.

did you try about:config ? I haven't tried 4 yet but that's how you used to access extra options in 3.6

zdreg · Apr 7, 2011

what happened to the feature ability to copy an article or part of an article with thel link?

Catoosa · Apr 7, 2011

Quote from montysky:

Why use 2 keys when one will do. Backspace.

The speed gain to me is not worth it. FF4 has the ugliest font rendering I've ever seen. It was unbearable I had to turn off the direct2d rendering after a few hours. That fixed most of the fonts but some still renders horribly. IE does render the fonts nicely for a clunker.

To fix the font rendering problem, try disabling hardware acceleration which is turned on by default in Firefox 4: Go to Options > Advanced > General > uncheck the Use hardware acceleration when available checkbox. I had the font rendering problem as well as some other unacceptable issues with Firefox 4 and therefore removed it from my computers. I went back to Firefox 3.6.16 and all is now fine although a tad slower. Firefox 4 is now on my wait and see iffy maybe list.

stock777 · Apr 7, 2011

I've heard lots complain about font issues in FF4 but I did not have the problem with all acceleration turned on

montysky · Apr 7, 2011

Quote from kiwi_trader:

Can you give us some examples of sites that have font rendering problems. I use chrome and fox fairly interchangeably and don't notice an issue so I'd be interested to see it.

It's not some sites that have "problems", it's every site, every page. That's how direct2d renders fonts for speed gain. Some people are more sensitive to the sharpness of the fonts than others.

Here's a pic comparing IE8 and FF4 with direct2d enabled and disabled.
On the left is IE, on the top right is ff4 with direct2d enabled, bottom right is ff4 with direct2d disabled.

Even when direct2d is disabled in ff4, the font rendering is still not at 100%. Notice on the first layer the rendering is fine, but in the pop-up balloon fonts are still not as sharp as in IE.

montysky · Apr 7, 2011

Quote from goodgoing:

I have the same problem. How do you turn off direct2 rendering? I marked the option so that pages can choose their own font but still no improvement.

on the address bar, type in "about:config"

search for "direct2d.disabled"

double-click on it to change the setting to true.

restart FF4.

AIMHIGH520 · Apr 7, 2011

Quote from bellman:

It may not be the cool thing to do, but msft has won me back with IE9. I had been using chrome for the past year.

Hello Bellman
Just wondering, have your IE9 been able to download any PDF file ? I have not, since IE8. I thought IE9 might help. But still just a white screen. Acrobat Reader X is fully updated. Both Safari and Firefox can download any PDF file and more. Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit. 8GB 1TB HD.

Nobody else with IE9 .PDF file problems ? Please share.

kiwi_trader · Apr 7, 2011

Quote from montysky:

It's not some sites that have "problems", it's every site, every page. That's how direct2d renders fonts for speed gain. Some people are more sensitive to the sharpness of the fonts than others.

Here's a pic comparing IE8 and FF4 with direct2d enabled and disabled.
On the left is IE, on the top right is ff4 with direct2d enabled, bottom right is ff4 with direct2d disabled.

Even when direct2d is disabled in ff4, the font rendering is still not at 100%. Notice on the first layer the rendering is fine, but in the pop-up balloon fonts are still not as sharp as in IE.

Thanks,

Mine was already set to true in pale moon. Not sure if I did that or not.

Re montsky's instructions, there was an extra space inserted by the web site in there that might confuse some. It should be:

Code:

"on the address bar, type in "about:config"

search for "direct2d.disabled"

double-click on it to change the setting to true. 

restart FF4.

WITH NO SPACE between about and :config ... damn it!

Firefox 4

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