Lower case "w" is fainter than other characters.

Avoriaz

On several web sites I am finding that a "w", when written in lower case, is slightly fainter than other characters.

It doesn't happen with upper case "W".

It sometimes happens when I am writing a post on MSE, and I have also noticed it when reading other web sites.

I have only noticed it since Firefox recently upgraded itself to 23.0.1 but it may have been there before and I hadn't noticed as it is quite a subtle difference.

My laptop runs Windows7 SP1. Maybe it started with the SP1 upgrade. Again I can't be certain.

Has anyone else noticed this?

PS: It hasn't happened when drafting this post, nor does it appear when reading the result after posting. I'll post an image next time I notice it.

Avoriaz

Here is an image I have just taken from the Daily Telegraph which has quite a few slightly fainter examples. Every w is fainter (more grey than black) than all other characters.





Perhaps I have some problem with my fonts. It looks as if the w is from a different font to everything else.

matttye

Have you tried changing the font, or playing with clear type settings in control panel?

dibuzz

I have had that for a while too, I thought I was imagining it at first but it's exactly as you say :undecided
It used to bother me at first but I'd forgotten about it until you posted this.
I am also using a Windows 7 laptop with Firefox.

Oblivion

Avoriaz wrote: »

Perhaps I have some problem with my fonts. It looks as if the w is from a different font to everything else.

Have you got a word processor like Word that you can paste a passage into ... then select letters and see what font is reported.

paddyrg

The browser is rendering the text, and it appears the default font in the size you have it is just a bit clumsy. Try control/arrow keys, it might be that you're viewing it at 90% or something, and the 'w' has degraded poorly. See if it happens at other sizes.

John_Gray

I've seen this for a year or two, and now just ignore it.

Avoriaz

Thanks for the replies.

Dealing with the suggestions:

The fainter "w" looks normal when cut and pasted into a document (ApacheOpenOffice) so that suggests the issue is with Firefox and not my laptop fonts.

Ctrl + and - to change the size makes no difference. The "w" is fainter at all sizes.

I haven't yet tried tried changing the font, or playing with clear type settings in control panel but will do later.

Thanks again.

Mobeer

Did you try google search before posting?

if I search "w faint firefox" then the first result is this:
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=760713

bluesnake

matttye wrote: »

Have you tried changing the font, or playing with clear type settings in control panel?

Avoriaz, since XP MS has introduced 'ClearType' - for lcd displays. On xp it is a free download, but on vista, 7 & 8 it is built in. This has little to do with font size.

win 8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=925XCGQNXtI

win 7 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AB1NNuaCTS8

win xp https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Th-96KufFw

win vista - look it up yourself