Join the AMA (Ask Me Anything) with the Firefox leadership team to celebrate Firefox 20th anniversary and discuss Firefox’s future on Mozilla Connect. Mark your calendar on Thursday, November 14, 18:00 - 20:00 UTC!

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

Firefox-49.0 in Linux can't find the Helvetica font, even though it is available in the system.

  • 1 reply
  • 1 has this problem
  • 1 view
  • Last reply by soundwave

more options

In a previous version of Firefox (v.43.0.2) installed in Linux I was able to use the Helvetica font for the menu toolbar. I did this by specifying options in the userChrome.css file, which was in the chrome directory under my profile directory. Also, when I searched the available fonts in edit -> preferences, the helvetica font was listed. I recently upgraded my Linux OS and installed Firefox v.49.0. I cannot get Firefox-49.0 to use the helvetica font for the menu items, even though I have the same userChrome.css file under the new profile. Also, when I do a search of available fonts with Firefox-49.0, helvetica does not appear in the list. I know that the helvetica font is available in the system -- for example I can find it with the "fc-match -v helvetica" command. But for some reason Firefox doesn't recognize it. My helvetica font is one of the standard Xorg fonts, located in the /usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi directory. I am far from an expert in fonts, but I believe it is not a scalable font. Is there some reason that Firefox is now ignoring unscalable fonts? Or is it just ignoring the Helvetica font in particular? I know many people have complained about the "Helvetica Neue" font, but I don't think it is the same as the helvetica font I am trying to use. Is it possible that any font with the name "helvetica" has been "blacklisted" due to all the problems with "Helvetica Neue"? Any idea how to coax Firefox-49.0 to use the helvetica font?

In a previous version of Firefox (v.43.0.2) installed in Linux I was able to use the Helvetica font for the menu toolbar. I did this by specifying options in the userChrome.css file, which was in the chrome directory under my profile directory. Also, when I searched the available fonts in edit -> preferences, the helvetica font was listed. I recently upgraded my Linux OS and installed Firefox v.49.0. I cannot get Firefox-49.0 to use the helvetica font for the menu items, even though I have the same userChrome.css file under the new profile. Also, when I do a search of available fonts with Firefox-49.0, helvetica does not appear in the list. I know that the helvetica font is available in the system -- for example I can find it with the "fc-match -v helvetica" command. But for some reason Firefox doesn't recognize it. My helvetica font is one of the standard Xorg fonts, located in the /usr/share/fonts/X11/75dpi directory. I am far from an expert in fonts, but I believe it is not a scalable font. Is there some reason that Firefox is now ignoring unscalable fonts? Or is it just ignoring the Helvetica font in particular? I know many people have complained about the "Helvetica Neue" font, but I don't think it is the same as the helvetica font I am trying to use. Is it possible that any font with the name "helvetica" has been "blacklisted" due to all the problems with "Helvetica Neue"? Any idea how to coax Firefox-49.0 to use the helvetica font?

All Replies (1)

more options

Can you rename the font to something else, a font you know that firefox can use, and then try?