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why are the letters so big when I go on AOL using Firefox?

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When I log on AOL using Firefox, the letters look big and bold.

When I log on AOL using Firefox, the letters look big and bold.

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Is the page zoomed?

You can adjust the zoom level of a site using the buttons on the application menu (the one with the "3-bar" button): the - button reduces the zoom level, the + buttons enlarges it, and the center button resets it to 100%.

Zoom also can be adjusted with keyboard shortcuts or a the scroll wheel on a mouse, which sometimes explains how it got zoomed in the first place. More info: Font size and zoom - increase the size of web pages.

Another possible issue is whether Firefox is downloading a custom fonts. Many sites now prescribe a custom font which Firefox needs to download. If that is blocked, a standard font is substituted, and if these are not a close match, the results can be unattractive.

To see what font is being used, you can use the Inspector tool. Right-click the headline and choose Inspect Element(Q). This will open a panel at the bottom of the tab. On the left side, the clicked element should be selected in the HTML code of the page. On the right side, you can switch from the "Rules" list to the "Fonts" list to see what font is being used for that element. If you switch back to the Rules list, sometimes you can see what font the page prescribed, but if there are lot of rules, it can be challenging to find....

Either way, if you think Firefox is NOT downloading and using the preferred font, one possible reason is not allowing pages to choose their own fonts. You can double-check this setting in the Preferences dialog:

  • "3-bar" menu button (or Firefox menu) > Preferences > Content

Click the "Advanced" button and make sure the box is checked to "Allow pages to choose their own fonts". After OK'ing that change, you probably need to reload the page to see any difference.

Any progress so far?