Change the fonts and colors websites use

Firefox Firefox Last updated: 47% of users voted this helpful

This article describes how to customize the way you see web pages by choosing your preferred font styles and colors.

Changing Font

To change the font:

  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. In the General panel, go down to Language and Appearance.
  3. Under Fonts, use the drop-down menus to select the font and font size of your choice.
    Fx100settings-Fonts
  4. Close the Settings page. Any changes you've made will automatically be saved.

Custom Fonts

Some websites have custom fonts; to disable them:

  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. In the General panel, go down to Language and Appearance.
  3. Under Fonts, click the Advanced… button.
  4. In the Fonts dialog that opens, uncheck Allow pages to choose their own fonts, instead of your selections above.
    Fx100settings-FontsAdvanced
  5. Click OK to close the Fonts window.
  6. Close the Settings page. Any changes you've made will automatically be saved.

Other settings for Fonts

  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. In the General panel, go down to Language and Appearance.
  3. Under Fonts, click the Advanced… button.
  4. From the Fonts for drop-down list in the Fonts dialog, choose a language group/script.
    Fx115settings-FontsFor
    • For instance, to set default fonts for the West European languages/scripts (Latin), choose Latin. For a language/script not in the list, choose Other Writing Systems.
  5. Select whether proportional text should be serif (like “Times New Roman”) or sans-serif (like “Arial”). Then specify the font size you want for proportional text.
  6. Specify the font to use for Serif, Sans-serif and Monospace fonts. You can also change the size for Monospace fonts.

You can also set the minimum web page font size. This is useful to prevent sites from using overly small fonts that are barely readable.

Change Font Color

To change the font color:

  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. In the General panel, go down to Language and Appearance.
  3. Under Colors, click the Manage Colors… button.
    Fx100settings-Colors
  4. Clicking on any of the colored rectangles will show you the possible colors you can choose from. Select the color you want by clicking one of the colored rectangles.
    Fx125settings-ManageColors
  5. Click OK to close the Colors window.
  6. Close the Settings page. Any changes you've made will automatically be saved.

Custom Font Color

Some websites have custom font colors, to disable them:

  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. In the General panel, go down to Language and Appearance.
  3. Under Colors, click the Manage Colors… button.
  4. In the window that opens, use the drop-down menu to set Override the colors specified by the page with my selections above to Always.
  5. Click OK to close the Colors window.
  6. Close the Settings page. Any changes you've made will automatically be saved.

Other settings for Colors

Text and Background: Here you can change the default text and background color to be used on PDFs opened in Firefox and web pages that haven't specified that information. Click on the color samples to select colors.

  • Use system colors: Check this setting to use the colors defined in your operating system settings instead of the colors specified above.

Link Colors: Here you can change the default colors for Web links. Click on the color samples to select colors.

  • Override the colors specified by the page with your selections above:
    • Always: Select this setting to force all sites and PDFs opened in Firefox to use your default colors.
    • Only with High Contrast themes: This setting will make Firefox use the colors specified by the web page author, except when you are using a High Contrast WindowsLinux theme.
    • Never: Select this setting to make Firefox use the colors specified by the web page author.
Note: If you later want to restore the default colors:

Warning: These instructions are for experienced Firefox users. Changing settings in the Configuration Editor (about:config) can have serious effects on your browser’s stability, security and performance.
Only proceed if you are comfortable with advanced settings and understand the potential impacts.

  1. Type about:config in the address bar and press EnterReturn.
    A warning page may appear. Click Accept the Risk and Continue to go to the about:config page.
  2. Enter browser*color in the Search field.
  3. Click the Reset Fx71aboutconfig-ResetButton button next to the modified preferences (displayed in bold font).

Zoom

Firefox also includes a Zoom. This allows you to increase the size of text on any web page. For instructions, see Font size and zoom - increase the size of web pages.

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