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Why is Firefox using Arial Black as a default font? It's too big.

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As of the 5.0 update, many pages use Arial black for what I assume is the "sans serif" font. It is so large and bold that many entries are too big to display all words. It used to be a lighter weight font. What happened? I'm on Mac 10.6.8.

As of the 5.0 update, many pages use Arial black for what I assume is the "sans serif" font. It is so large and bold that many entries are too big to display all words. It used to be a lighter weight font. What happened? I'm on Mac 10.6.8.

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Why is Firefox using Arial Black as a default font? It's too big.

We're just volunteers here, so can't answer whether it was actually changed or not or why. It seems to me you know what is wrong though.

What settings do you have

  • Tools > Options > Content > Advanced > ...

What font size you have for Arial (I have 16 -- I'm on Windows 7) I don't think you want Arial Black that sounds like a very bold font


You can install a toolbar button to toggle that setting on/off "Custom Toolbar Buttons Maker " /Fonts/ (see #zoom link below)

I think by default now Firefox will remember you zoom level by size.


Try resetting zoom with Ctrl+0 first

  • Ctrl+0 to reset zoom to 100% (zero)
  • Ctrl++ to zoom in (plus)
  • Ctrl+- to zoom out (minus)
  • on Mac use Command instead of Ctrl

Firefox 4 has [+] and [-] on the Addons bar (replace status bar)_ Not a good solution, because no reset of zoom ("Ctrl+0") was provided, nor even an indication for 100%

More information:

Athraithe ag David McRitchie ar

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Thanks, dm -- I access that thru preferences/content/advanced, since it's not available under "tools." I've specified Verdana, but it doesn't "take." The font size isn't the issue, it's the actual font -- you're right, Arial black is VERY bold and I didn't ask for it! Anyway I'm going to try uninstalling CS5 for various reasons, and see if that makes any difference. .

BTW this site has a nice serif font on my monitor. It's all the Google pages . . and other sites that maybe don't specify "serif" formatting. With "sans" I get Arial Black. Mystery. Have to live with it I guess!

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See:

  • Windows: Firefox (Tools) > Options
  • Mac: Firefox > Preferences
  • Linux: Edit > Preferences

You can do a check for corrupted fonts and other font issues: