522928 - Geneva font larger than 100% produces garbage characters on Windows platform

Status: VERIFIED INCOMPLETE

(Firefox :: General, defect)

Description

[will.bueche]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.1.3) Gecko/20090824 Firefox/3.5.3
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.9.1.3) Gecko/20090824 Firefox/3.5.3

Windows XP machines with the Geneva font (a TrueType font popularized by Apple) display garbage characters where that font is called forth by a web page in any size larger than 100%. For example, an H2 specified via CSS to be in Geneva will appear as garbage characters.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Install geneva.ttf on any WindowsXP PC and restart.
2. Visit a website that uses CSS to specify that H2s should appear in the Geneva font, such as www.radio1190.org

Actual Results:  
3. Note that the H2s appear as garbage characters.
4. On the same machine, launch IE and visit same url, note that the H2s appear fine (necessary to confirm that geneva.ttf is not corrupt).

Expected Results:  
Ideally, Firefox should render Geneva correctly. An unacceptable but perhaps necessary workaround would be for Firefox (and only Firefox) to force Geneva to appear as Helvetica.

Screenshot of IE vs Firefox rendering Geneva font H2s:
http://www.willbueche.com/blog/genevas.jpg

Confirmed by more than one person at different points in time.

Comment 1

[Dan Nye]

I can confirm I've had the same problem on Windows XP SP2 and SP3, running Firefox 3.0.14 and 3.5.3.

Only with Geneva, and only in Firefox... all other browsers I've tried (Safari, Opera, Chrome, IE) display the font correctly. Other applications such as Word also display the font correctly - it's just Fx that does not.

Comment 2

[Tyler Downer [He/Him]]

Reporter, are you still seeing this issue with Firefox 3.6.12 or later in safe mode? If not, please close. These links can help you in your testing.
http://support.mozilla.com/kb/Safe+Mode
http://support.mozilla.com/kb/Managing+profiles
Also, please consider using the most recent Firefox 4 beta build, your bug may be resolved there.

Comment 3

[will.bueche]

Yes, of course it is still present -- you didn't think anyone would actually fix this bug, did you? It is a longstanding bug. Unless someone files a "we've fixed it" report, this should stay open.

Comment 4

[Dan Nye]

Not only is it still happening in Fx 3.6.12, it's an issue with Fx 4.0 Beta 7.

Comment 5

[Tyler Downer [He/Him]]

No reply, INCOMPLETE. Please retest with Firefox 3.6.13 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.

Comment 6

[will.bueche]

Per request, created new profile, Firefox 3.6.13, Windows, and visited a site that uses a Geneva font at larger than 100% -- http://www.radio1190.org/ for example. 

Result as of 1/1/2011 is Geneva font larger than 100% produces garbage characters.