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

Denc nañu waxtaan wii. Yónneel yeneen laaj soo soxlaa ndimbal.

Firefox using two fonts for Arabic text

  • 2 tontu
  • 0 am na jafe-jafe bii
  • 10 views
  • i mujjee tontu mooy Irfan Latif

Irfan Latif
Irfan Latif
more options

In a simple HTML file containing an Arabic / Urdu / Persian phrase: "با نشئہ درویشی در ساز و دمادم زن", Firefox in Linux (Ubuntu, to be more precise) uses the default font (DejaVu Sans) for the whole phrase except for one character (UNICODE: 6C1). Font used for this character is Noto Sans Arabic UI. So the text looks broken due to different fonts.

Please have a look at the attached screenshots for better understanding.

I've tried to search but could not find how exactly Firefox resolves preferences in Font Settings and CSS "font-family" preference to local fonts in Linux. Does this have to do something with "fontconfig"?

How can I make Firefox use only the default font for the whole phrase?

In a simple HTML file containing an Arabic / Urdu / Persian phrase: "با نشئہ درویشی در ساز و دمادم زن", Firefox in Linux (Ubuntu, to be more precise) uses the default font (DejaVu Sans) for the whole phrase except for one character (UNICODE: 6C1). Font used for this character is Noto Sans Arabic UI. So the text looks broken due to different fonts. Please have a look at the attached screenshots for better understanding. I've tried to search but could not find how exactly Firefox resolves preferences in Font Settings and CSS "font-family" preference to local fonts in Linux. Does this have to do something with "fontconfig"? How can I make Firefox use only the default font for the whole phrase?
Nataali seetu yiñ ci takkaale

All Replies (2)

Irfan Latif
Irfan Latif Ki laajte
more options

For reference, the documentation on Fonts used states:

Fonts will be included in this section for one of the following reasons:
  • They are listed in the element’s font-family CSS declaration value.
  • They are applied to the element as part of the browser’s default styling (Times New Roman for most browsers), and no author-defined font has been supplied.
  • They are used by a descendant of the inspected element, for example, when it is a container for other elements which have text content with fonts applied.
  • They are system fallback fonts used when nothing from the font-family CSS declaration has been applied.

So I think it's the "system fallback" behavior we need to customize since there is no "font-family" set.

Irfan Latif
Irfan Latif Ki laajte
more options

Ok. So fc-list :charset=6C1 shows that none of the fonts installed on my Ubuntu installation supports the character U+06C1, not even TimesNewRoman and Arial fonts installed with mscorefonts. But those from a Windows installation do support the said code point (and many others).

Interestingly, when the same text is displayed in a text editor or Chrome browser using the "DejaVu Sans" font, the 6C1 letter is still rendered using "Noto Sans Arabic UI" font. But in that case the text is rendered correctly i.e. characters do not break from each other. This is a strange behavior with Firefox only.