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Websites Formatting Wrong with Firefox

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  • 0 have this problem
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  • Last reply by cor-el

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Using a Macbook Air. Have gotten to the point that I don't want to update Firefox as every time I do, more websites do not work at all. MSN News has been messed up for months, so I cannot even use with Firefox--it used to be my homepage--now I can only use it on Chrome.

That is annoying but I can deal with it. BUT--there are bank websites that cannot be signed into at all using Firefox. Will not allow login--simply will not allow anything to be typed into the user id or password fields--just bizarre. Chrome works fine with the same websites. Not sure what is going on with Firefox. I prefer it to Chrome but if I can't log in to bank sites--it's really bad. I've used Mozilla browsers always--since inception, and dealt with all the issues from the updates, but whatever they've done now has rendered Firefox almost useless.

Using a Macbook Air. Have gotten to the point that I don't want to update Firefox as every time I do, more websites do not work at all. MSN News has been messed up for months, so I cannot even use with Firefox--it used to be my homepage--now I can only use it on Chrome. That is annoying but I can deal with it. BUT--there are bank websites that cannot be signed into at all using Firefox. Will not allow login--simply will not allow anything to be typed into the user id or password fields--just bizarre. Chrome works fine with the same websites. Not sure what is going on with Firefox. I prefer it to Chrome but if I can't log in to bank sites--it's really bad. I've used Mozilla browsers always--since inception, and dealt with all the issues from the updates, but whatever they've done now has rendered Firefox almost useless.

All Replies (2)

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Hi Suzanne,

First of all, let me move your question to desktop since this is a Macbook Air question.

What you're dealing with, is what we called as web compatibility issues. Behind a browser, there's something that we call browser engine. Firefox is using a different browser engine compared to Chrome, namely, Gecko. Most of the other browsers (including Chrome) is using an engine called Blink, while other browser (like Safari) is using an engine called WebKit.

When building a website, as a good practice for a web developer, they should actually make sure that their website is compatible to different browsers. However, there are many cases where a website is only optimized for Blink based browsers, since they cater for the most part of the internet user base anyway.

Now, what you can do is that, you can send a report to us everytime something like that happen to you. However, instead of reporting it to Mozilla Support, you need to do it to https://webcompat.com/.

The good news is, we're introducing a new reporting functionality within the browser itself in Firefox 123 that is coming next Tuesday (20 Feb). For more information about how you can use this reporting feature directly from the browser, please see this.

I'll be here if you need further help. We wanted to create a simple way for people to report broken site (or web compatibility issue as I describe it initially), so please let us know what you think of the new reporter functionality if you have a chance to try it.

Cheers and thank you for sticking with Firefox eventhough you face multiple issues like what you said. (:

Modified by Kiki

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You can check the connection settings.

  • Settings -> General -> Network: Connection -> Settings

If you do not need to use a proxy to connect to internet, select "No Proxy" if "Use the system proxy settings" or one of the others do not work properly.

See "Firefox connection settings":

You can do a malware scan, just to be sure.


If you use extensions ("3-bar" menu button or Tools -> Add-ons -> Extensions) that can block content (Adblock Plus, NoScript, DuckDuckGo PE, Disconnect, Ghostery, Privacy Badger, uBlock Origin), always make sure such extensions do not block content.


You can try these steps in case of issues with webpages:

You can reload webpage(s) and bypass the cache to refresh possibly outdated or corrupted files.

  • hold down the Shift key and left-click the Reload button
  • press "Ctrl + F5" or press "Ctrl + Shift + R" (Windows,Linux)
  • press "Command + Shift + R" (Mac)

Clear the Cache and remove the Cookies for websites that cause problems via the "3-bar" Firefox menu button (Settings), click the padlock icon (Clear cookies and site data) for the domain in the selected tab.

"Remove the Cookies" for websites that cause problems:

  • Settings -> Privacy & Security
    Cookies and Site Data: "Manage Data"

"Clear the Cache":

  • Settings -> Privacy & Security
    Cookies and Site Data -> Clear Data -> [X] Cached Web Content -> Clear

Start Firefox in Troubleshoot Mode to check if one of the extensions ("3-bar" menu button or Tools -> Add-ons -> Extensions) or if hardware acceleration or if userChrome.css/userContent.css is causing the problem.

  • switch to the Default System theme: "3-bar" menu button or Tools -> Add-ons -> Themes
  • do NOT click the "Refresh Firefox" button on the Troubleshoot Mode start window

You can check for issues with Enhanced Tracking Protection. Firefox shows a purple shield instead of a gray shield at the left end of the location/address bar in case Enhanced Tracking Protection is blocking content.

  • click the shield icon for more detail and possibly disable the protection

You can check the Web Console for relevant-looking messages like blocked content.