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.

Avatar for Username

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

This thread was archived. Please ask a new question if you need help.

Default font is replacing all fonts everywhere

Elan
Elan
more options

The Firefox desktop browser default font is replacing all fonts on some websites, only title fonts on some others, and then leaving others unchanged. It seems random, and I can't stop the default font from taking over randomly on most websites no matter what I do. This was not happening until today, and no browsers or general MacBook Air preferences were changed between today and yesterday when I last used the browser on desktop.

Under Firefox Preferences » Fonts » Advanced, I've made sure to check the box to "Allow pages to choose their own fonts instead of your selections above", and I've unchecked it, and I've re-checked it, and the default is still overriding fonts on most websites.

I've quit and restarted Firefox 3 times.

Help!

The Firefox desktop browser default font is replacing all fonts on some websites, only title fonts on some others, and then leaving others unchanged. It seems random, and I can't stop the default font from taking over randomly on most websites no matter what I do. This was not happening until today, and no browsers or general MacBook Air preferences were changed between today and yesterday when I last used the browser on desktop. Under Firefox Preferences » Fonts » Advanced, I've made sure to check the box to "Allow pages to choose their own fonts instead of your selections above", and I've unchecked it, and I've re-checked it, and the default is still overriding fonts on most websites. I've quit and restarted Firefox 3 times. Help!

Chosen solution

Sites have a variety of approaches for specifying their preferred and fallback fonts. For example:

  • let the browser decide everything (do not specify a font-family; Firefox uses the default serif font)
  • use the browser's default sans-serif font [ font-family: sans-serif; ]
  • specify a desired system font [ font-family: Arial; ]
  • specify a downloadable font [ font-family: Roboto; ]
  • preferred with fallbacks [ font-family: Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; ]

If you are seeing an unusual default font in more places than usual, one possible reason is if web fonts are blocked. There is an obscure built-in preference for this that most people do not change (gfx.downloadable_fonts.enabled) and some add-ons block "remote" fonts.

Read this answer in context 👍 0

All Replies (1)

jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
jscher2000 - Support Volunteer
  • Top 25 Contributor
more options

Chosen Solution

Sites have a variety of approaches for specifying their preferred and fallback fonts. For example:

  • let the browser decide everything (do not specify a font-family; Firefox uses the default serif font)
  • use the browser's default sans-serif font [ font-family: sans-serif; ]
  • specify a desired system font [ font-family: Arial; ]
  • specify a downloadable font [ font-family: Roboto; ]
  • preferred with fallbacks [ font-family: Roboto, Arial, sans-serif; ]

If you are seeing an unusual default font in more places than usual, one possible reason is if web fonts are blocked. There is an obscure built-in preference for this that most people do not change (gfx.downloadable_fonts.enabled) and some add-ons block "remote" fonts.