If you are seeing fractions instead of text in Firefox the following may explain why. Mac OS 10.x. Firefox 2.x/3.x.
What is a Font Stack?
The Css font family property allows us to specify a series of fonts in order of preference. If we do not have the first font installed the browser defaults to the second font and so on. If you do not have any of the specified fonts installed then the browser will default to a system font such as ‘sans serif’. (see below)
body {
font-family:"Palatino Linotype",Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;
font-size: 100%;
}
The problem
The text display anomaly occurs where the browser (Firefox) defaults to Helvetica in accordance with the procedure mentioned above. However the good news is that the display issue will only occur if you have a version of Helvetica installed that also contains Helvetica Fractions and Helvetica Fractions Bold.
How to remedy this?
In order to get Firefox displaying text properly you need to disable Helvetica Fractions in Font Book.
To achieve this open Font Book open Helvetica and select Helvetica Fractions. Now go to: Edit-Disable Helvetica Fractions. Do the same with Helvetica Fractions Bold and close Font Book.
Restart Firefox and the problem should be resolved.
Tags: Css, Firefox, Font Stacks, Mac Os X