[karmic] Firefox 3.5 and openoffice do not stick to antialiasing render settings

Hi. Thanks for your bug report.

Can you do the following steps? (Assuming you're using edgy):

- Open Edit/Preferences;
- Go to "Content" tab
- Click on "Advanced" button (under fonts & colors group)
- Choose the fonts:
  Proportional -> Serif (Size: 16)
  Serif -> serif
  Sans-serif -> sans-serif
  Monospace -> monospace (Size: 12)
- Hit "OK" Button

- Try to open the ugly pages.

What happened? Problem solved?

Actually my font configuration is already set like you suggested, the problem is that the fonts looks like bold all the time.

I am sending one screenshot of firefox and gedit for compare.

Thanks.

Well, that's good. There is no bug...

If you don't like the big fonts, choose 14 or 12 in font size, instead of 16.

> Well, that's good. There is no bug...

I have to disagree. If you look at the screenshot, you see clearly that the Firefox menu has autohinted blurry fonts.

IKeidson, if you choose subpixel rendering and full hinting in your font config settings, does it get better?

Keidson: What do you think? Is your problem about big fonts? Is it solved by adjusting font sizes?

Or are you talking about something i did not understand?

Oskar your tip is right.

Look at the screenshot now, all fonts look great now, even in openoffice they got better (not perfect but better :)).

Thanks a lot for the tip.

And Jonh, are you using a lcd or a crt monitor?

Maybe in your computer you can't see the difference because you are using an crt monitor, and i am using a lcd on my laptop.

Oskar just got the point, because the lcd really has better results when using subpixel rendering.

Thanks a lot again.

Great.

I do use both, laptop and desktop.
By the way, you've solved your problem, right?

I guess we can close this bug, ok?

The problem was solved changing the font hinting to subpixel (lcd) in font properties under gnome.

We're rejecting this bug report, once this isn't a real bug.

This is a real bug. I just upgraded to karmic. Previously in jaunty all the fonts were sharp. Now after upgrading. The chrome (ie: the menu bar, tool bar) fonts in firefox is blurry. This is clearly visible from the screenshot attached by Keidson.

It's as if firefox is not respecting the subpixel rendering preferences of the Desktop.

This is NOT a firefox bug this is a font bug since OO.O also has this problem.
There is a bug on "hinting" already i just dont recall the bug number. Can you please search for it in Launchpad.

Noone has yet to add info about what versions of Firefox you are using.
I will reopen bug and add OO.O to the tasks. i need to know what versions of firefox OO.O and anyother apps you see this with

I changed firefox to firefox 3.5 "firefox" = 2.0 "firefox-3.0" = 3.0 and so on.
3.0 will not receive this fix as it is only getting security updates. we can try 3.5 but i think its the same.
Please test with 3.5 in repos

This bug is VERY VALID AND COMPLETELY DEFINED as follows:
«Firefox 3.5.2 is not respecting the subpixel rendering preferences of GNOME in Ubuntu Karmic as of today, Sep 10 2009».

I can confirm that this continues to be a problem with me. Firefox version is 3.5.3. I'm attaching an image of the fuzzy fonts. No other program (not even thunderbird) shows fonts like this on my karmic machine.

While the fonts shown in openoffice are uglier than the remainder of the programs, they're not fuzzy.

I'm running karmic x64 with firefox 3.5.3+build1+nobinonly-0ubuntu2

Please let me know if there's additional information required.

I am affected, too.
'~uname -a; Linux T43 2.6.31-11-generic #36-Ubuntu SMP Fri Sep 25 06:37:51 UTC 2009 i686 GNU/Linux"
My hardware is IBM Thinkpad T43. This computer type has been produced in millions.
I have sent an apport report. I hope that you have received it.
Let me know what additional tests I should perform and report their results in order to squat this bug.

IMNSHO, this has nothing to do with either of the kernel, other packages, GNOME or XFCE, hardware or Mother Teresa.

It has only to do with the firefox-3.5 package (or one of its dependencies?), which HAS BEEN BUILD WITH THE WRONG OPTIONS...

...or the upstream code is broken!

It's as simple as that, we just need someone knowledgeable with Mozilla to look at it :-(

Architecture: i386
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
Package: openoffice.org
PackageArchitecture: i386
ProcEnviron:
 SHELL=/bin/bash
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-11.36-generic
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-11-generic i686
UserGroups: adm admin cdrom dialout lpadmin plugdev sambashare

This bug persists also after updating to Karmic Beta.

I can confirm that it seems that firefox text does not change with changes to subpixel smoothing font options.

I am not seeing this in Jaunty, and do not remember seeing it in Karmic.

@Detlef Lechner:

Can you please execute the following command, as it will automatically gather debugging information, in a terminal:

apport-collect -p firefox-3.5 67226

This will help us to find and resolve the problem. Bear in mind that you may need to install the python-launchpadlib package from the universe repository. Additionally, when prompted to give apport-collect permissions for Launchpad you will need to give it at least the ability to "Change Non-Private" data as it will be adding information to your bug report. Thanks in advance!

When reporting bugs in the future please use apport, either via the appropriate application's "Help -> Report a Problem" menu or using 'ubuntu-bug' and the name of the package affected. You can learn more about this functionality at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/ReportingBugs.

Teej,

There are at least 3 independent/different users who are seeing this bug in Ubuntu/Xubuntu Karmic Koala and it's a very valid bug!

Teej,

You're not honest and complaints should be filed against you up to Mark Shuttleworth in person.

Only someone who DOESN'T WANT TO SEE THIS BUG can't see it!!! -- or, please, please, please, use a better LCD or go to an optician for newer glasses!

You cannot say "do not remember seeing it in Karmic", because this means "I don't have any Karmic machine around" -- but then, what are you doing here, touching this bug, as long as 3 people mentioned it in Karmic?

I am very serious: this is such an obvious bugs and NOBODY EVER CONSIDERS IT!

I'm attaching a screenshot proving the bug in Xubuntu 9.10

Also, can you confirm what version of openoffice you are using please? "apt-cache policy openoffice.org" Thanks :)

My honesty/integrity is not the issue here, this is a bug report and as such, a request for debugging information has been made, perhaps you missed that. May I also remind you that everyone here is a volunteer and we are all working for a common goal...free software for everyone! You can see from my Launchpad page that I am an active member of the Ubuntu community, and screenshots only help so much, we need debugging information from the latest release. When this has been given it can be forwarded to a developer to begin working on it, as they cannot without this info. After that, if it is possible, it may be able to be backported to earlier Ubuntu releases. That is just how the bug fixing process works, I cannot change it. You can see the bug workflow at https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/HowToTriage/Charts .

Note: I was running Karmic 2 days ago with all updates on a laptop with a TFT screen, so subpixel rendering is something that would affect me, but I reverted to Jaunty after wifi problems, and haven't been affected by this, therefore this could well be hardware specific. :)

What you don't want to understand is that there is no need for any debug info.

Just tale the latest live-cd daily build, or take the beta, and boot it!

At least on a system with Intel video, Firefox will show the font antialiasing different than all the other gtk+ applications in both GNOME and XFCE.

WRT https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/HowToTriage/Charts: There is "enough info" if anyone can take the beta CD, boot it and notice the bug. All the package versions are on that DVD.

Hardware-wise, the Intel video definitely shows it, but I very much doubt it has anything to do with hardware, as long as FF3.5 simply *ignores* any external settings, no matter what! (and other apps obey, and... even FF 3.0 did obey!)

The excuse of https://wiki.ubuntu.com/Bugs/HowToTriage/Charts is used to CLAIM that "there is not enough info" when no developer ever bothered to boot the LiveCD and to "just see" the bug!

It;s like someone dialing 911 to report two planes heading the you-know-what-towers, and the operator keeps asking stupid questions without bothering to look out the window!

Architecture: amd64
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Package: firefox-3.5 3.5.3+build1+nobinonly-0ubuntu3
PackageArchitecture: amd64
ProcEnviron:
 SHELL=/bin/bash
 PATH=(custom, no user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 LC_TIME=en_DK.utf8
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-13.43-generic
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-13-generic x86_64
UserGroups: adm admin cdrom dialout lpadmin plugdev sambashare

Architecture: i386
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
Package: firefox-3.5 3.5.3+build1+nobinonly-0ubuntu3
PackageArchitecture: i386
ProcEnviron:
 SHELL=/bin/bash
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-13.43-generic
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-13-generic i686
UserGroups: adm admin cdrom dialout lpadmin plugdev sambashare

'~apt cache policy openoffice.org
openoffice.org:
   Installed: (none)
   Candidate: 1:3.1.1.1-2ubuntu4
   Version table:
      1:3.1.1-2ubuntu4 0
         500 http://de.archive.ubuntu.com karmic/main Packages

The very same bug is reported in Arch Linux:
http://bugs.archlinux.org/task/15343

And it reads: "I have anti-aliasing turned off [...]. Firefox 3.0 did respect these settings, but after upgrading to Firefox 3.5 all fonts are anti-aliased [...]" (edited for a better clarity)

Upstream, pango or Cairo bug, I can't tell by reading their comments. But it's a good start.

The only thing is that what we need is to identify the bug, not to find workarounds (something that Archers did).

Thank you for your bug report. This bug has been reported to the developers of the software. You can track it and make comments at: https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=522046 this is also being tracked here in Launchpad, and I am marking this as Triaged as I believe here is enough information here for Ubuntu developers to take a look and begin finding the problem. Thank you for reporting this :)

I suspect that the actual bug exists in a lower software layer and not in firefox 3.5.3 because in Ubuntu Karmic my Kexi renders the letters blurry as well.

If that is the case, then perhaps it would be a good idea to get some X.org debugging information too. Can you run "apport-collect -p xorg 67226" and let it pull the information into the bug report? Thank you.

I don't think it has to do with xorg.

Rather with libcairo2, libfontconfig1,libfreetype6 or with the way firefox-3.5 is using them.

Could well be, but I think we can consider firefox as triaged, as it has all the debugging information, and it has been sent upstream too.
If firefox and openoffice aren't respecting the GNOME display settings i.e. subpixel rendering/hinting then it is unlikely to be cairo, freetype or fontconfig, since these same fonts appear to be rendering fine elsewhere.
This may seem a really obvious question, but what settings are selected in System>Preferences>Appearance>Fonts and under the Details button in Fonts while this is happening? I have subpixel smoothing selected and in Details I have 96 dpi resolution, subpixel smoothing and full hinting, subpixel order RGB.
With "None" and "slight" hinting the fonts are made slightly bigger, but with "medium" and "full" they are normal, but they aren't blurred.

Architecture: i386
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 9.10
Lsusb:
 Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
 Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
 Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
 Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
 Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
MachineType: IBM 1871W54
Package: xorg 1:7.4+3ubuntu5
PackageArchitecture: i386
PccardctlIdent:
 Socket 0:
   no product info available
PccardctlStatus:
 Socket 0:
   no card
ProcCmdLine: root=UUID=09a568ee-00a6-4494-bd36-46a0a8302a4d ro vga=0x031a
ProcEnviron:
 SHELL=/bin/bash
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.31-13.43-generic
RelatedPackageVersions:
 xserver-xorg 1:7.4+3ubuntu5
 libgl1-mesa-glx 7.6.0-1ubuntu2
 libdrm2 2.4.14-1ubuntu1
 xserver-xorg-video-intel 2:2.9.0-1ubuntu1
 xserver-xorg-video-ati 1:6.12.99+git20090825.fc74e119-0ubuntu3
Uname: Linux 2.6.31-13-generic i686
UserGroups: adm admin cdrom dialout lpadmin plugdev sambashare
dmi.bios.date: 05/29/2007
dmi.bios.vendor: IBM
dmi.bios.version: 70ET69WW (1.29 )
dmi.board.name: 1871W54
dmi.board.vendor: IBM
dmi.board.version: Not Available
dmi.chassis.asset.tag: No Asset Information
dmi.chassis.type: 10
dmi.chassis.vendor: IBM
dmi.chassis.version: Not Available
dmi.modalias: dmi:bvnIBM:bvr70ET69WW(1.29):bd05/29/2007:svnIBM:pn1871W54:pvrThinkPadT43:rvnIBM:rn1871W54:rvrNotAvailable:cvnIBM:ct10:cvrNotAvailable:
dmi.product.name: 1871W54
dmi.product.version: ThinkPad T43
dmi.sys.vendor: IBM
fglrx: Not loaded
system:
 distro: Ubuntu
 architecture: i686kernel: 2.6.31-13-generic

RE: «I have subpixel smoothing selected and in Details I have 96 dpi resolution, subpixel smoothing and full hinting, subpixel order RGB.
With "None" and "slight" hinting the fonts are made slightly bigger, but with "medium" and "full" they are normal, but they aren't blurred.»

Those who see the bug can see it better with:
-- NO subpixel/RGB smoothing!
-- grayscale medium or full hinting (aka best contrast).

If the bug shows, the fonts are blurred in Firefox 3.5, but not in other applications.

It's extremely sad that such a major application as firefox-3.5 won't be fixed before the release, no matter where the bug is.

I'm also surprised that not everybody can see this bug for firefox-3.5 on the Ubuntu or Xubuntu LiveCD, by just selecting medium/full hinting, grayscale-only, then fire Firefox and other GTK (and non-GTK) apps!

>>If the bug shows, the fonts are blurred in Firefox 3.5, but not in other applications.

Openoffice appears to be affected, according to the original reporter. Can anyone with this problem confirm this please?
But yes, I totally agree it really is a shame that this probably won't be fixed in time for release. I may have to try and get hold of the mozilla team directly and see if this is a known issue.

Teej wrote 27 minutes ago: Openoffice appears to be affected, according to the original reporter. Can anyone with this problem confirm this please?

I cannot confirm this. OpenOffice.org 3.1.1 Writer displays crisp letters and fonts.

OpenOffice.org 3.1.1 Writer looks just fine here too -- only FF3.5.3 is affected.

For me, the OpenOffice fonts are not kerned properly. The letters run into each other. BTW, these are the fonts in the chrome, not the document. However they are no longer blurry like Firefox. I remember that OpenOffice fonts used to be blury around the time that this ticket was opened.

If screenshots are desired, I'll post them. Please let me know.

Kerning in OO.o is another issue:

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/openoffice.org/+bug/440063
Bad kerning in OpenOffice.org Calc

Also possibly connected with Oo.o kerning:
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/freetype/+bug/415134
Bad font rendering (Freetype, bytecode interpreter)

There is or at least was some sort of race condition in the font setting section of appearance preferences that would cause xrdb settings to be wrong. OOO uses this xrdb settings to determine how to display. You can see what your xrdb settings show up as by running in a terminal:

xrdb -query

If it does not match up to what you have set in the font setting and it does not display correctly that is a known issue and follow up to the bug stating if that appears to be your problem. I believe logging out and back into your gnome session will fix the issue at least until you make another change in the font settings program.

Thanks,

Chris

FWIW, this does match my font + subpixel choices (in the Appearance applet):

$ xrdb -query
Xcursor.size: 24
Xcursor.theme: Human
Xcursor.theme_core: true
Xft.antialias: 1
Xft.dpi: 96
Xft.hinting: 1
Xft.hintstyle: hintfull
Xft.lcdfilter: lcddefault
Xft.rgba: bgr

Stef,

Yes please post a screenshot of the OOo issue you are seeing.

Thanks,

Chris Cheney

This bug report has nothing to do with Openoffice kerning, the original reporter stated the fonts in both firefox and OOo were blurred, but openoffice can now be ruled out in the current version and invalidated. Firefox is considered triaged and is being tracked upstream. Not being funny but this bug report is confusing enough, I believe the kerning issue should be tracked in the report noted above.

Posted OOo kerning problem screenshot at: https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/openoffice.org/+bug/440063

Today I updated from Ubuntu 9.04 to Ubuntu 9.10 Beta, and I add this bug (blurry font) with Firefox 3.5.3.

I read this discussion:

http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1128929

There are some workarounds listed. Mine has been to create a file ~/.fonts.conf and put on it:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<!DOCTYPE fontconfig SYSTEM "fonts.dtd">
<fontconfig>
 <match target="font" >
  <edit mode="assign" name="rgba" >
   <const>none</const>
  </edit>
 </match>
 <match target="font" >
  <edit mode="assign" name="hinting" >
   <bool>true</bool>
  </edit>
 </match>
 <match target="font" >
  <edit mode="assign" name="hintstyle" >
   <const>hintmedium</const>
  </edit>
 </match>
 <match target="font" >
  <edit mode="assign" name="lcdfilter" >
   <const>lcdnone</const>
  </edit>
 </match>
 <match target="font" >
  <edit mode="assign" name="antialias" >
   <bool>true</bool>
  </edit>
 </match>
</fontconfig>

Then restart Firefox. I use "Best Shapes" in my Gnome font preferences.

I updated also from 9.04 to 9.10 Beta yesterday. I had the same issues with the Firefox fonts. I tested with a fresh user profile and it works correctly. After reading Jeans note, I deleted my ~/.fonts.conf, restarted my Gnome session and viola my Firefox looks like it should be.

Thank you for taking the time to report this bug and helping to make Ubuntu better. However, I am closing it because the bug has been fixed in the latest development version of Ubuntu - Karmic Koala.

If you need a fix for the bug in previous versions of Ubuntu, please do steps 1 and 2 of the SRU Procedure [1] to bring the need to a developer's attention.

[1]: https://wiki.ubuntu.com/StableReleaseUpdates#Procedure

I am running Karmic Koala and I am up to date with updates and I am still seeing this bug. My fonts are fuzzy only in firefox with GNOME setting set to to subpixel smoothing and full. So this bug should be reopened.

Chris, can you delete your ~/.fonts.conf and logout or restart and confirm this works for you too, as this fixed Roy's problem in Karmic. Thank you :)

I too confirm that this bug is present in an up to date Karmic. And I don't even have a ~/.fonts.conf file. I only have this bug in Firefox though, not in OpenOffice.

PS: I have an intel i810 video card, if that helps.

The bug still persists. I confirm Julien Olivier's findings although my VGA controller is an Intel Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics controller. There is no file ~/.fonts.conf with me.

Thanks guys for confirming that, and I just rechecked, there IS no ~/.fonts.conf file, unless that user done something radically different to end up with the same bug here.
Is everyone experiencing this with just intel video cards, perhaps that is why I'm not seeing it, as I'm using nVidia GeForce 8200MG.

'~$ lspci | grep VGA
00:02.0 VGA compatible controller: Intel Corporation Mobile 915GM/GMS/910GML Express Graphics Controller (rev 03)'

I'm also seeing it on Intel (945GM), but I still believe it's not Intel-related.

As I can see it, it's now a duplicate of the following bugs reported for firefox-3.5:

FF 3.5 font hinting does not honour gnome-settings
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/firefox-3.5/+bug/379761

Firefox doesn't obey font appearance settings
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/firefox-3.5/+bug/419892

Firefox does not use Gnome font rendering settings
https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/firefox-3.5/+bug/421732

Upstream:

Firefox does not respect GNOME's antialiasing prefences
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=436760

strangely marked as a duplicate of:
Excessive color fringing in default builds vs. --enable-system-cairo builds on Ubuntu
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=404637

Should firefox-3.5 be built with "--enable-system-cairo"???

I have the same problem with Firefox 3.5.3 and Opera 10.00 running on Ubuntu Karmic. I was using Kubuntu 9.04 previously and the problem was present in Firefox but not in Opera. The font settings I choose in preferences have absolutely no effect on my web browsers.

I had two fresh karmic installs affected by this. The fonts in firefox were fuzzy.

Run the following command and then restart the x server.

      sudo dpkg-reconfigure fontconfig

I do this every time I install Ubuntu. Sometimes it needs it.

I've upgraded to 9.10 and have this same problem where Firefox 3.5 doesn't seem to respect Gnome's font settings. I've got blurry fonts as others have reported. I didn't have this problem under 9.04 with Firefox 3.0 but I do recall having it until 9.04 under Firefox 3.5 when I installed it.

I should add that none of the proposed solutions in this thread so far have solved the issue.

Never mind. The suggestion about creating ~/.fonts.conf DOES appear to fix the problem.

Actually, none of the above worked for me, but I did find a solution at:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=8195398

Specifically:
sudo rm /etc/fonts/conf.d/10-hinting-slight.conf
sudo ln -s /etc/fonts/conf.avail/10-hinting-full.conf /etc/fonts/conf.d/

Teej,

I can confirm that I have this problem and am running GeForce video card and the update to 9.10 caused this issue.

I can also verify that deleting my fonts.conf had no effect after logging back in...

in the appearance menu setting the font rendering to best shapes does not affect firefox 3.5, tested on a Radeon 9200 and a Mobility Radeon 9700. this has nothing to do graphics drivers.

with Jean-Philippe Fleury solution of creating a fonts.conf, the problem is apparently solved. Thx so much!

I had the same problem in Firefox, Galeon or Konqueror in Ubuntu Studio 9.10, 64bit, fresh install.

After reading all the replies I came up with a solution that works, in my case, and based on the suggestion by Jean-Philippe Fleury:

My /.fonts.conf looked like this:

<?xml version='1.0'?>
<!DOCTYPE fontconfig SYSTEM 'fonts.dtd'>
<fontconfig>
    <match target="font" >
        <edit mode="assign" name="rgba" >
            <const>none</const>
        </edit>
    </match>
    <match target="font" >
        <edit mode="assign" name="hinting" >
            <bool>true</bool>
        </edit>
    </match>
    <match target="font" >
        <edit mode="assign" name="hintstyle" >
            <const>hintfull</const>
        </edit>
    </match>
    <match target="font" >
        <edit mode="assign" name="antialias" >
            <bool>true</bool>
        </edit>
    </match>
    <dir>/home/jack/.fontmatrix</dir>
</fontconfig>

After deleting:

    <match target="font" >
        <edit mode="assign" name="hintstyle" >
            <const>hintfull</const>
        </edit>
    </match>

everything seems to be fixed.
Nevertheless I hope this will be fixed with an update soon, for all those not used to spend hours and hours fixing it (or worse, leave Ubuntu behind and moving back to Windows... Arghhhhh)

This bug affects me too. Updated from 9.04 to 9.10, using intel graphics.

Marking this Triaged, there should be enough information here for a developer to debug this and begin working on it, so I shall leave it in their capable hands. Thank you guys for reporting this and keeping it updated, and good luck :)

Yesterday I updgraded my work PC to Ubuntu 9.10.
I suffered the same problem.

I noticed that in /etc/fonts/conf.d there were the following links:

10-antialias.conf
10-hinting.conf
10-hinting-full.conf
10-hinting-slight.conf
11-lcd-filter-lcddefault.conf

Removing 10-hinting-slight.conf and adding 10-sub-pixel-rgb.conf worked for me.

I do confirm this workaround.

Igor Gomes

It affects me too. And Firefox doesn't show any page with the installed msttcorefonts.
So it seems Firefox doesn't care about any font-setting in the system.

It might help if this can be commented on by someone with this problem at the Mozilla tracker, if not to get their attention.

Ruytenburch's workaround takes care of it. Just removed /etc/fonts/conf.d/10-hinting-slight.conf and the fonts look good now after restarting FF.

sudo rm /etc/fonts/conf.d/10*
sudo dpkg-reconfigure fontconfig

worked for me. seen at:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=8270524#post8206035

full thread at ubuntu forums:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=8270524

Hi,

I have applied the work around defined in #109 and it partially worked. Now, Virtualbox and other QT applications (i.e. Skype) look awful, with pixelated 90's-like fonts.

Hi,

I was also affected by this bug.
I've tried the workaround from comment #109. After restarting FF, nothing has changed.
So I tried to restart the system. After restart, the fonts in FF are OK, and the fonts in Skype (2.1.0 beta) are also OK.

Thanks for the workaround and good luck in resolving this bug!

I think it’s enough to remove 10-hinting-slight.conf. This solved the problem in firefox for me without affecting Qt apps.

Hi,

I can confirm that just removing 10-hinting-slight.conf works also for me, without affecting Qt application.

Thanks!

The bug persists in Firefox version 3.5.7.
'~$ uname -a; Linux T43 2.6.31-17-generic #54-Ubuntu SMP Thu Dec 10 16:20:31 UTC 2009 i686 GNU/Linux'

This bug doesn't affect FF 3.5.x for me (Karmic) but does affect FF 3.6 (Karmic - stable PPA; Lucid). I was able to reproduce this bug in different installations. It's always the same and only affects FF 3.6.