This site will have limited functionality while we undergo maintenance to improve your experience. If an article doesn't solve your issue and you want to ask a question, we have our support community waiting to help you at @FirefoxSupport on Twitter and/r/firefox on Reddit.

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

icons not displaying properly on websites, firefox running on mac.

  • 11 replies
  • 6 have this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by tsester

more options

while surfing the websites, i kept encountering all the weird characters (numbers/alphabets in rectangle boxes) where it should be an icon over there. I have tried the methods suggested in the forum - 1) using the about config 2) checking the box in the preference>content>advance>check that box of letting the website choose its font 3) reinstall firefox

but none of the method works.

Please help.

while surfing the websites, i kept encountering all the weird characters (numbers/alphabets in rectangle boxes) where it should be an icon over there. I have tried the methods suggested in the forum - 1) using the about config 2) checking the box in the preference>content>advance>check that box of letting the website choose its font 3) reinstall firefox but none of the method works. Please help.

Chosen solution

Those things are not really icons, but special font characters. You must be using the font that the site wants to use. Check in Preferences > Content > Advanced and check "Allow pages to choose their own fonts..."

Read this answer in context 👍 4

All Replies (11)

more options

pls refer to the pic.

more options

Chosen Solution

Those things are not really icons, but special font characters. You must be using the font that the site wants to use. Check in Preferences > Content > Advanced and check "Allow pages to choose their own fonts..."

more options

khimboon said

while surfing the websites, i kept encountering all the weird characters (numbers/alphabets in rectangle boxes) where it should be an icon over there. I have tried the methods suggested in the forum - 1) using the about config 2) checking the box in the preference>content>advance>check that box of letting the website choose its font 3) reinstall firefox but none of the method works. Please help.

I have done finitarry said

Those things are not really icons, but special font characters. You must be using the font that the site wants to use. Check in Preferences > Content > Advanced and check "Allow pages to choose their own fonts..."

finitarry said

Those things are not really icons, but special font characters. You must be using the font that the site wants to use. Check in Preferences > Content > Advanced and check "Allow pages to choose their own fonts..."

I have used this method already, it still doesnt work as it only works on the home page of that website but none in the other parts

more options

You can open the Web Console (Firefox/Tools > Web Developer). Check on the Network tab if font content is blocked and has a file size 0 (zero).

Start Firefox in Safe Mode to check if one of the extensions (Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Extensions) or if hardware acceleration is causing the problem.

  • Switch to the DEFAULT theme: Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Appearance
  • Do NOT click the Reset button on the Safe Mode start window

You can check the gfx.downloadable_fonts.enabled pref on the about:config page and make sure that it is set to true (if necessary double-click the line to toggle its value).

You can open the about:config page via the location/address bar. You can accept the warning and click "I'll be careful" to continue.

more options

cor-el said

You can open the Web Console (Firefox/Tools > Web Developer). Check on the Network tab if font content is blocked and has a file size 0 (zero). Start Firefox in Safe Mode to check if one of the extensions (Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Extensions) or if hardware acceleration is causing the problem.
  • Switch to the DEFAULT theme: Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Appearance
  • Do NOT click the Reset button on the Safe Mode start window

You can check the gfx.downloadable_fonts.enabled pref on the about:config page and make sure that it is set to true (if necessary double-click the line to toggle its value).

You can open the about:config page via the location/address bar. You can accept the warning and click "I'll be careful" to continue.

cor-el said

You can open the Web Console (Firefox/Tools > Web Developer). Check on the Network tab if font content is blocked and has a file size 0 (zero). Start Firefox in Safe Mode to check if one of the extensions (Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Extensions) or if hardware acceleration is causing the problem.
  • Switch to the DEFAULT theme: Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Appearance
  • Do NOT click the Reset button on the Safe Mode start window

You can check the gfx.downloadable_fonts.enabled pref on the about:config page and make sure that it is set to true (if necessary double-click the line to toggle its value).

You can open the about:config page via the location/address bar. You can accept the warning and click "I'll be careful" to continue.

Hi Co-rel, I have tried your method and it still doesnt work for me. please help

more options

Firefox needs to be downloading the font that is specified via an @font-face CSS rule.

Did you check that those fonts are requested and retrieved successfully via the Web Console (Firefox/Tools > Web Developer)?

Are there any error messages about fonts listed?

more options

Hi i have the same problem:

   site: https://joindiaspora.com/users/sign_in
   firefox: 34.0.5
   OS: Archlinux
   tried: remove .mozilla config dir and safe mode

i tried the network/developer tab and 2 fonts are shown as 0KB

more options

Hi tsester

You can install the Symbola and Quivira fonts.

Modified by cor-el

more options

Ok the first two symbols are fixed

   There is another symbol ( poll ) that shows up after you login which still doesn't show well.

2 fonts still show 0KB

it must be noted that Epiphany and Midori both show all symbols ok

more options

That is a CORS issue as you can see in the Web Console (Firefox/Tools > Web Developer).

Cross-Origin Request Blocked: The Same Origin Policy disallows reading the remote resource at https://d3mbmfe8268ud7.cloudfront.net/assets/entypo-f7f7cc1cab90116b49e5038f1c8e31e8.woff. This can be fixed by moving the resource to the same domain or enabling CORS. entypo-f7f7cc1cab90116b49e5038f1c8e31e8.woff
Cross-Origin Request Blocked: The Same Origin Policy disallows reading the remote resource at https://d3mbmfe8268ud7.cloudfront.net/assets/entypo-6b464882c37ee5557309b9445c638b47.ttf. This can be fixed by moving the resource to the same domain or enabling CORS.

Modified by cor-el

more options

what should i do? i read here that firefox supports CORS by default