Changing the Fonts in Firefox

Changing the fonts in Firefox, why would someone want to do that ? Maybe because of the same reason someone changes Windows system fonts, maybe because the fonts that are displayed are not optimal for his display setting, say Clear Type. I recently ran into a problem that Firefox was displaying text in forms so stuffed that it was impossible to read, even when changing the size of the font .

It’s obviously better to use Clear Type fonts if you use a LCD monitor and have Clear Type enabled. Firefox by default uses Verdana and Arial I think as Serif and Sans-Serif fonts and another one for Monospace. The Monospace font was the one that was causing the troubles for me, here is a screenshot of the font setting in Firefox.

And here are some examples of how fonts change the display of text on websites. JPG is a lossless format and results might look different on your computer. The best option would be to test different fonts to see which works the best in your environment.

You can access the font settings in Tools > Options > Content Tab > Advanced Button.

Firefox Corbel Font:

Firefox Arial Font:

Firefox Cambria Font:

Firefox Candara Font:

Install Firefox add-ons locally

The usual way to install a new Firefox add-on is by left-clicking on the link on a website which will start the installation. You might be asked to allow the website to install add-ons in Firefox but that’s usually it. I have lately experienced some troubles with several installations of Firefox add-ons. I did receive download errors for instance or installations that would simply stop at a point.

My thoughts on this topic were that it would probably be easier to install the add-ons locally, meaning to download the xpi file of the add-on and install it from my local hard drive which would actually be the same process that Mozilla Thunderbird users perform when installation add-ons for the email client.

My only problem was that I did not know if this was possible at all. I did check the add-ons menu first but there was no option to load a xpi file from the hard drive.

I then tried to use the File > Open File menu and what can I say: It works! I was able to install the add-on from my hard drive using the Open File dialog.

You can download the xpi files by right-clicking them and selecting Save As from the menu.