Some users using Firefox 17 with Clear type disabled in Windows reported in SUMO having font issues in browser with the latest version. Mozilla has identified the issue as specific to Azure on Windows and and prepared a fix but currently not sure whether to release chemspill release that could be Firefox 17.0.1 or wait till Firefox 18 release to include the fix. Meanwhile if you’re experiencing the same issue you can fix that by turning gfx.content.azure.enabled value to False in about:config.
A user asks in Firefox support forum “Just updated to FF17.0 and the fonts look awful, something like when the ClearType is enabled in Windows. I have ClearType disabled cause I hate the look of the fonts with it enabled, and now Firefox looks like it’s all over it. Font is like bolded. What happened? Can I disable it somewhere in Firefox?”.
Mozilla to disable Azure in Firefox 17 to fix font issues
With some digging Mozilla figured out the issue is with Azure rendering engine that turned on by default in Firefox 17, which was not enabled in version 16. Mozilla has decided to disable Azure content with a patch in version 17 which toggles above said azure preference value to false.
“Hey guys! Thanks to everyone who helped us in troubleshooting this. We are fairly certain it’s an azure problem. There is a patch in the works and setting gfx.content.azure.enabled = False seems to work in the meantime”. says Matt G, SUMO support analyst.