Firefox 3 text rendering on the Mac

[wideo]

I have a Powerbook G4 running 10.5.5. Firefox 3 seems to be rendering text... wrong. You can see it in the image below. Text is bigger and blurrier with Firefox.

firefox3safari.png

Left: Firefox 3
Right: Safari 3

Firefox 2 rendered text identically to Safari 3. So why does Firefox 3 look like this? This pic is from a clean install. I'd really like to use Firefox 3, but this is a deal-breaker.

Does anybody else have this problem?

 

[dudecuda]

In my opinion, Firefox does not handle text as well as IE or Safari. It may sound heretical, but I wish IE7 was compiled for leopard.

 

[Tegeril]

You don't wish IE7 came for Leopard, you wish Microsoft's ClearType implementation were available.

No one should wish IE7 upon OS X.

 

[dudecuda]

Originally posted by: Tegeril
You don't wish IE7 came for Leopard, you wish Microsoft's ClearType implementation were available.

No one should wish IE7 upon OS X.

I do wish IE7 was compiled for Leopard. I hate Microsoft's ClearType. People should be free to wish any software package for their preferred OS.

 

[Kmax82]

Actually I wish there was only one browser, but it was completely customizable. So you'd have one rendering engine, and then you could have as many different structures of that engine, but they would all render sites the same.

It drives me nuts how I can use code in one browser which will look completely different in IE, than Firefox or Safari. I know it's because IE isn't standards compliant at the moment, but even IE8, which is supposed to be standards compliant, doesn't always look the same as Firefox and Safari.

And if you like IE, then by all means, use it in OS X. I find Safari a better overall experience because of the plugins available, and the speed... but I do wish IE was available because of the ActiveX crap that a lot of companies have become completely reliant upon and it forces me to run a VM just to work with their apps. Really stupid.

 

[dudecuda]

Originally posted by: Kmax82
Actually I wish there was only one browser, but it was completely customizable. So you'd have one rendering engine, and then you could have as many different structures of that engine, but they would all render sites the same.

It drives me nuts how I can use code in one browser which will look completely different in IE, than Firefox or Safari. I know it's because IE isn't standards compliant at the moment, but even IE8, which is supposed to be standards compliant, doesn't always look the same as Firefox and Safari.

And if you like IE, then by all means, use it in OS X. I find Safari a better overall experience because of the plugins available, and the speed... but I do wish IE was available because of the ActiveX crap that a lot of companies have become completely reliant upon and it forces me to run a VM just to work with their apps. Really stupid.

I completely agree. One browser to rule them all would be quite nice. The main reason why I wish IE7 was compiled for Leopard is improved compatability with other websites, since a large chunk of web development is done with IE7 in mind.

 

[wideo]

This has nothing to do with Internet Explorer, which btw is junk. It has the worst performance of any browser. Firefox 3 works fine on the PC.

Nobody has this problem? Can some of you post screenshots like mine?

 

[Kmax82]

Sorry... On the subject, firefox looks slightly different on my system as well. Nothing major but I do notice a difference. I'll try to post a screen comparison ASAP.

 

[suklee]

Originally posted by: wideo
This has nothing to do with Internet Explorer, which btw is junk. It has the worst performance of any browser. Firefox 3 works fine on the PC.

Nobody has this problem? Can some of you post screenshots like mine?

I agree with your assessment. FF3 looks slightly 'blurrier' to me as well... is there a fix?

PS. I prefer FF3 but only because I did not know Safari had an extensive library of plugins as well.

 

[Tegeril]

Originally posted by: dudecuda

Originally posted by: Tegeril
You don't wish IE7 came for Leopard, you wish Microsoft's ClearType implementation were available.

No one should wish IE7 upon OS X.

I do wish IE7 was compiled for Leopard. I hate Microsoft's ClearType. People should be free to wish any software package for their preferred OS.

Well... considering IE7 uses ClearType to render text... I don't get what you're after then.

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: Kai920

Originally posted by: wideo
This has nothing to do with Internet Explorer, which btw is junk. It has the worst performance of any browser. Firefox 3 works fine on the PC.

Nobody has this problem? Can some of you post screenshots like mine?

I agree with your assessment. FF3 looks slightly 'blurrier' to me as well... is there a fix?

PS. I prefer FF3 but only because I did not know Safari had an extensive library of plugins as well.

It is not as well organized, or as extensive as Firefox's, but for most of the firefox plugins that actually extend functionality rather than tack on junk (a weather widget in my browser? WooHoo!) Safari has duplicates. It is usually better when they are not an Input Manager since those have a tendency to break from one release to the next. My 2 personal favorite plugins are Safari-Adblock (completely free and does a pretty good job of stopping most all ads), and InquisitorX. That I can honestly not live without on my Mac. When I use my friend's Mac, I fire up Safari just because it has Inquisitor and Firefox does not.

 

[wideo]

Originally posted by: Kai920
I agree with your assessment. FF3 looks slightly 'blurrier' to me as well... is there a fix?

PS. I prefer FF3 but only because I did not know Safari had an extensive library of plugins as well.

I guess that settles it. I'm glad I'm not the only that notices FF3's text looks different. Firefox sub-pixel font rendering might be better for some, but text is too big as my pic shows. It's evident in almost ever webpage. Every other browser renders text correctly, i.e. the right size.

It's a shame that browsers decide to use font rendering other than the OS default. Safari does the same thing on the PC.

 

[wideo]

Originally posted by: TheStu
It is not as well organized, or as extensive as Firefox's, but for most of the firefox plugins that actually extend functionality rather than tack on junk (a weather widget in my browser? WooHoo!) Safari has duplicates. It is usually better when they are not an Input Manager since those have a tendency to break from one release to the next. My 2 personal favorite plugins are Safari-Adblock (completely free and does a pretty good job of stopping most all ads), and InquisitorX. That I can honestly not live without on my Mac. When I use my friend's Mac, I fire up Safari just because it has Inquisitor and Firefox does not.

Safari Adblock still has problems removing elements. That or it doesn't work with EasyElement. If they ever get around to fixing that, that would be awesome.

 

[TheStu]

What is EasyElement? And why should Safari-Adblock either remove or not remove it/them?

 

[wideo]

EasyElement

It removes the empty spaces left over when you block ads so webpages look much nicer.

 

[TheStu]

Originally posted by: wideo
EasyElement

It removes the empty spaces left over when you block ads so webpages look much nicer.

Ah, that does look interesting. I have noticed that some websites are different looking after Adbock has cleaned them, and others have obvious whitespace, but neither bothers me. I mostly care about the content on the page, it was the annoying blinking sounding ads that bugged me.