FireFox 4 Is Ready and available for Download!

Basically, DirectWrite and Direct2D cause the weird font antialiasing, not just in IE9 and FF4 but also a variety of other applications using those APIs.

Firefox, being an open source project, should have used OpenGL instead, as it seems to not have the problems associated with using Direct2D (e.g. Element Browser, Maxthon 3, next hardware accelerated version of Opera).

 

maybe the people with rendering problems just have old video cards that don't support it very well because with my relatively new laptop i dont have ANY rendering issues with font or anything, in any of my browsers.

 

Gleamed this from yet another site, for Nvidia users, how to adjust your video card just for Firefox, towards the bottom of the page:
http://www.mydigitallife.info/2011/03/10/fix-firefox-4-fade-blur-bold-bad-and-ugly-font-rendering/

Also this from the same site:

I was able to correct this and still have hardware acceleration without the Anti-aliasing addon. The issue seems to be that during an upgrade from 3.x, the ‘key’ that controls DirectWrite may not be added.

To see if this is your problem type in ‘about:support’ (without the quotes) in the Firefox address bar. You will get info about the browser. Under the section labeled Graphics, confirm that you have the following:

Direct2D enabled=true
DirectWrite enabled=true

If DirectWrite enabled=false, you will need to type ‘about:config’ (without the quotes into the address bar. This will take you to the Firefox config window. Look for the following key: mozilla.widget.render-mode

That key is probably not present. To add it, right-click on an empty section of that window, choose New, and then Integer. Type in ‘mozilla.widget.render-mode’ (without the quotes) and assign it a value of 6.
If you have this key and the value is anything other than 6, right click on the key and choose Modify, and change the value to 6

Close and reopen your browser, and your fonts should look better. You may want to type in ‘about:support’ again and confirm that DirectWrite enabled changed from false to true.

This worked on Windows 7; it’s worth trying for other operating systems and *shouldn’t* break anything regardless of whether it works or not.



I have no idea if any of this helps since I am not having the problem, good luck.
Acadia

 

Nah, the hardware acceleration thing in FF is either just poorly implemented or extremely picky (which, likely, is a result of poor implementation or too buggy). I've seen reports of fairly high end NVidia and ATI cards supposedly failing the requirements, even after making certain they have the absolute latest graphics drivers, which, btw, seems to be the major requirement. I'm actually one of those ATI people. My card is an HD5570, which, while by no means a smoking hot gamer, is still quite recent. And, my graphics driver is above the lowest required version number for FF to use acceleration.

Again, I've seen a number of these reports, and, really, if FF can fully support on-board GMA chips, then newer ATI/NVidia cards should have no trouble. Now, in my case, I went ahead and forced FF to use acceleration. Not only am I not seeing the crashes Mozilla warned would happen if you forced it on an unsupported card, I'm also easily passing every acceleration demo out there, from Mozilla, to IE to Chromes. So, all that being said, there has to be either some bug in FF, or, again, the implementation is poor. Of course, it could also be Mozilla just not working hard enough on supporting cards.

-edit-

I also don't have any font issues. I can say, however, that leaving out the demo tests, with real-world use there is no truly discernible difference (on FF at least) between being accelerated and not being so.

 

I don't know if what's happened with my desktop computer & the download window is a rendering problem or not, the computer was custom built for me about six months ago. I am having no similar problems with Fx 4 on my three year old Belnea laptop. Chrome/Iron & Safari are all working perfectly on both computers.

The only other problem is on the laptop (Vista) & I can't seem to get the WMP plug-in to work. It works in Chrome/Iron & works perfectly on my (relatively new) desktop.

My guess is that these are just teething bugs.

 

Just replaced my Nvidia 8800 GT with an AMD 6950. Font rendering didn't change/improve regardless of the card used and didn't change when I turned off Ansitropic filtering for Firefox within Nvidia's control panel (on the 8800).

 

Don't have blurry font rendering issues, but some fonts do appear different (like my signature appearing to have the same fonts, although I chose different ones).

 

Fx4 doesn't use Fixedsys and Arial Narrow fonts, so I think it uses the default font in that case.

btw after changing my monitor settings and configuring the text tuner tool the fonts look good here so I don't think it's Fx problem, the fonts were looking as bad in IE9 before that.

 

Guess it's bad luck on my part to have both affected.. Time to change them.

 

In Firefox 4, where is the reload button? I don't see it, all I see is the back and forward buttons.

 

You can right-click on any GUI button, click 'Customise' & drag & drop the reload/stop buttons from the runbar to anywhere you like on the GUI.

 

Does anyone else have the bookmarks stuck in the taskbar when they open them?

 

The Bookmark Star saving bookmarks to "Unsorted Bookmarks" still bugs me

 

Just click it again, and choose where to move the bookmark.

 

Firefox 4 beats IE9 out of the gate in usage

 

i did not understand well the graph
in short the more used are firefox and chrome?
with firefox 4 and chrome why someone should use IE ?

 

Because everyone is different, has different desires, different wishes for their pc system. I do recommend that those gamers who have modern pcs (don't they all ) try IE9 for their gaming. (I never have been a gamer so I am only guessing). That hardware acceleration for heavy duty graphics really does appear to be truly awesome.

In my opinion there has never been a more exciting time for browser hunting than the present. So many major updates within the past month. Never in my memory have we surfers had so many EXCELLENT options.

Acadia

 

Keep in mind that "worldwide" usage includes every Operating System in existence, including mobile Operating Systems, Linux, and Mac. I'd be very concerned if Fx4 didn't beat IE9 in worldwide usage, considering IE9 is limited to only 2 Operating Systems. See https://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=296289 for more info.

 

It's good that Firefox 4 (and many other browsers) are sensibly available for a wide variety of platforms.

 

Hi guys,

I've been an IE user forever, but as neither my desktop or laptop support W7 I'm still (happily) using XP. Since MS doesn't think XP users are worthy of IE9 I'm ready to move from IE8 to FF4. Any suggestions, tips, or 'must-haves' would be appreciated.

Thanks,
Aaron

 

AdBlockPlus, and configure firefox to block 3rd party cookies.

Also, the configuration is brilliant. I hate the default Fx4 layout, but you can move everything around to any place you want. E.g. the home button to the left.

 

Thanks.

 

I would not be in a hurry to block third-party cookies unless you're really, really sure about what you're doing.

A better option would be to run your browser in Sandboxie and clear the sandbox totally or selectively when you want.