Message Font Problem

[Archet]

Hi,

I've run into a weird problem.

For some reason the message text font is different in Opera vs Chrome / FireFox / Safari / IE for one of my users.

It didn't use to be like this, but suddenly it changed.


This is how it looks on Opera:


This is the exact same thread and user on Chrome:


Message text in AdminCP is set to "Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif" 11pt.


Any suggestions on what may cause this?

 

[Jake Bunce]

It only affects one user? Does Opera look OK for other users? If so then it's probably a browser setting. Maybe their browser is overriding the style according to its prefs.

 

[Archet]

I've tested this on 3 different computers now, and this happens in Opera on all of them. Both as guest user, logged in as member and logged in as admin.
All other browsers are fine, and it is only the message text font that is affected. The rest of the fonts are ok.

It's also the same whether I use the default style or one of my two custom styles.

No idea what might cause this. This is way over my head.

If you have Opera, maybe you can take a look?
This is the thread in the screenshots: http://www.radioctrl.com/threads/the-essential-rc-drifting-guide.105/ (but it's the same for all threads)

 

[Paul B]

Does it happen here on XenForo.com using the default style?

I don't have Opera so I am unable to check.

 

[Archet]

I think I've figured it out now.

Message Text Font is set to - Helvetica, "Times New Roman", Times, serif - in admin CP. If I change it to just Helvetica it works great, even in Opera.

So, Opera picks Times New Roman instead of Helvetica for some reason?

 

[Paul B]

You said earlier it was set to Georgia, "Times New Roman", Times, serif ?

 

[Archet]

Yes, sorry, I don't know where I got Georgia from, it was meant to say Helvetica, "Times New Roman", Times, serif. All my 3 styles use this.

Can I use Helvetica only, or will this cause display problems in other browsers?

 

[Paul B]

The reason for putting more than one font is any fonts which aren't supported by end user devices then fall back to the next font in the list and keep doing so until there is one that can be used.

You're actually mixing sans-serif and serif fonts there - if you want to use Helvetica then use Helvetica, sans-serif.
This should help: http://www.w3schools.com/cssref/css_websafe_fonts.asp

 

[Archet]

That did the trick. I changed the fonts to Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif and its all OK now.

I also learned about web safe fonts. Thanks