413151 - Unicode fonts not appearing properly in FF 3

Status: RESOLVED INCOMPLETE

(Firefox :: General, defect)

Description

[Venu Vedam]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; en-US; rv:1.9b2) Gecko/2007121120 Firefox/3.0b2
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; en-US; rv:1.9b2) Gecko/2007121120 Firefox/3.0b2

Unicode fonts not appearing properly in FF 3 (Beta 2). However FF 2 renders them properly on the same desktop.

I tried looking at some "Telugu" (Indian) websites and found that they did not appear correctly in FF 3.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1.
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Comment 1

[Emil Ivanov]

I noticed the same thing a while ago with japanese fonts. Page with different results with both versions 2 and 3.

You have to install the proper language pack to see the fonts in fx3, at least thats what i did with the japanese fonts. Go to control panel "Regional and Language Options" > Languages > Supplemental language support and check "Install files for complex script and right-to-left languages (thats on xp, dont know if its different for vista).

Comment 2

[Venu Vedam]

Thanks for the tip Emil. However I am using Vista Premium (I know it sucks!) and there is no option in "Regional and Language Options" to install files for complex script and right to left languages (I know what you are talking about and have installed this pack on other computers running XP.) Looks like this option is available only on Vista Enterprise or Vista Ultimate. 

However Firefox 2 displays the fonts correctly on the same machine. (ie. without supplemental language pack). So I am confused why FF3 would require it. As I see it, it looks more like a bug in this version of Firefox. 

Most users of Windows Vista are going to be using either Home Basic or Home Premium. (With no option to install the supplemental language pack). It would be good if FF3 can fix this problem by looking at what FF2 is doing correctly. 

Thanks for the tip Emil. :)

Comment 3

[Emil Ivanov]

On xp when you visit a site with IE and the system doesnt have the proper language pack it prompts you to install it, so you can try to open any of these sites with IE.

Comment 4

[Veeven]

It seems that "files for complex script" are already installed in Vista. However, by default, Firefox 3 uses "Arial Unicode MS" font, which does not have glyphs for compound letters. So letters seem broken. If you select "Gautami" as the default font in Firefox 3 (Tools > Options > Content), then Firefox 3 renders Telugu correctly.

here are the instructions (in Telugu) with screen shots: http://chsprasad.blogspot.com/2008/01/blog-post_2767.html

Comment 5

[Tyler Downer [He/Him]]

Does this still happen in firefox 3.6.6 or later in a fresh profile?

Comment 6

[Emil Ivanov]

(In reply to comment #5)
> Does this still happen in firefox 3.6.6 or later in a fresh profile?

On XP is still the same. On Win 7 Ultimate there is no problem, probably the fonts are preinstalled.

Comment 7

[Tyler Downer [He/Him]]

No reply, INCOMPLETE. Please retest with Firefox 3.6.8 or later and a new profile (http://support.mozilla.com/kb/Managing+profiles). If you continue to see this issue with the newest firefox and a new profile, then please comment on this bug.