Configuring Firefox

Below are instructions for configuring Firefox (or Netscape 8) to read Web sites not written in the English alphabet. The procedure is similar in Windows, Macintosh and Linux.

Note: Not all scripts can be configured in Firefox. If you have issues with a particular script, switch to Opera.

Manually Switch Encoding

If you see Roman alphabet gibberish (e.g. *a&h!!) instead of the correct script, you may need to For some Web sites, such as www.csssm.org (Chinese Simplified), you will need to manually switch from Western encoding view.

Example of Roman Character Gibberish

CHANGE ENCODING

1. Under the View menu, select Character Encoding.
2. If necessary switch from Western to an appropriate encoding. You may need to go to the More submenu and select an appropriate region then the coding.
3. If there is more than one option per script, select one until the page displays properly.
4. AFTER you leave the site, you will have to switch your browser back to Western.

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Change Default Font

Firefox 2

Note: Instructions for Firefox 1 or Netsape 8 are below.

1. Determine the fonts needed for your script from the individual By Language pages.
2. If you're on Windows, go to the Tools menu then Options.
   If you are on Macintosh OS X , go to the Firefox menu and select Preferences.
3. In the "Preferences" window, click the Content tab (globe icon) on the middle top.
4. In the "Fonts & Colors" area, click the Advanced button to the right of the font size drop-down menu.
   
   Firefox 2 Preferences
   
   Select Content tab, then click Advanced to view Font preferences.
   
   
5. Select a script/encoding in the Fonts for drop-down menu of the font preferences window.
   
   FIREFOX 2 FONT SETTINGS
   
   
   
6. Select an appropriate, Serif font, Sans-serif font and Monospoace font from the dropdown lists. A monospaced font is one in which all the characters take up the same amount of space and is associated with older computer terminals. Both fonts can be the same if necessary.
   
   Example serif text.
   Example sans-serif text.
   

   This is monospace type

7. You can select whether you want default serif or sans-serif text in the Proportional font menu.
8. Repeat for all the scripts/encodings.
9. Click OK to close the window the Advanced Font Window, then OK to close the Preferences window. This will ensure that settings have been changed.

 

Firefox 1

Note: These instructions also work for Netscape 8.

1. Determine the fonts needed for your script from the individual By Language pages.
2. If you're on Windows, go to the Tools menu then Options.
   If you are on Macintosh OS X , go to the Firefox menu and select Preferences.
3. Click the Font & Colors button on the right side of the Preferences window.

   FIREFOX 1 PREFERENCES
   

4. Select a script/encoding in the Fonts for drop-down menu of the font preferences window.

   FIREFOX 1 FONT SETTINGS
   

5. Select an appropriate, Serif font, Sans-serif font and Monospoace font from the dropdown lists. A monospaced font is one in which all the characters take up the same amount of space and is associated with older computer terminals. Both fonts can be the same if necessary.
   
   Example serif text.
   Example sans-serif text.
   

   This is monospace type

6. You can select whether you want default serif or sans-serif text in the Proportional font menu.
7. Repeat for all the scripts/encodings.
8. Click OK to close the window.
   

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©Penn State University, 2000-2009.
This Web page maintained by Teaching and Learning with Technology, a unit of Information Technology Services. For questions or comments on this Web page, please contact Elizabeth J. Pyatt (ejp10@psu.edu).

Unicode character names and hexadecimal entity codes are taken from the public Unicode Character Charts.

Last Modified: Thursday, 17-Sep-2009 10:41:28 EDT