Helvetica Font help

I like the font Helvetica but every time I try to make it the default in Firefox, it re directs to Arial, no matter what I try. So...

1). Is that normal? If I can't have a genuine download of helvetica ttf (it may be hard to find for free) since I've looked, what could be causing the re direct? (I've searched Google for 2 1/2 days looking for a solution) with no results

2). What are the closest free alternatives that have an easy downloadable ttf to Helvetica? There seem to be many choices and I wondered what y'all thought?

Matt

 

Since readability is perhaps the most important criterium when selecting a default screen font, I suggest Segoe UI - Microsoft's very own Frutiger clone.

 

Does your operating system recognize and accept your ttf file or is it just FF that's a problem. Do you have a word processor or some other software that uses fonts you could check and see if it works there? It sounds like it might be FF. If the operating system was rejecting it, you probably wouldn't even see it as available in FF.

As far as Helvetica, I looked and looked for a free download of it myself and finally gave up and went back to Arial.