Nonstandard letterspacing in Safari

Question

Level 1

11 points

Nonstandard letterspacing in Safari

After upgrading to Safari Version 10.1 (11603.1.30.0.34), I find that I'm seeing a lot really horrible letterspacing on pages—I'm talking letters that are shifted to the left or right, seemingly at random, often to such a degree that 2+ letters are overlapping each other. This phenomenon is strictly limited to Safari—I'm not seeing it in Firefox, Chrome, or Opera. As well, it seems to be limited to certain stylesheets.

Has anyone else seen this on their machine? Can someone recommend a fix?

Posted on Mar 31, 2017 12:24 AM

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Answer 1

Quentin Long Author

Level 1

11 points

Mar 31, 2017 3:56 PM in response to Quentin Long

Dominc23: Sadly, deleting the cache and plist file did not help—same **** letterspacing issue showed up anyway.

VikingOSX: I'm not using my own stylesheet, so that couldn't be the issue. What I mean when I say "it seems to be limited to certain stylesheets"… well, a couple of screenshots should help you see what I mean.

Here's a Twitter screenshot that definitely shows the problem:

Some of the text is letterspaced weirdly, and some isn't. And here's a screenshot of what that Tweet looks like when I disable styles (thank you, Develop menu):

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Answer 2

dominic23

Level 10

84,018 points

Apr 1, 2017 11:21 AM in response to Quentin Long

Go step by step and test.

1. Power off the router. Unplug it from the wall. Wait a while.

Plug it back in. Power the router on. Wait until all lights are lit properly. It will take a while.

Restart the computer.

Start up in Safe Mode. This will remove caches and do a minor disk repair.

https://support.apple.com/kb/PH18760?locale=en_US

Click the “Restart” button at the bottom to start normally.

2. Disable Extensions and test.

Safari > Preferences > Extensions

Select and disable all extensions and test.

Enable Extensions one by one and test.

To uninstall any extension, select it and click the “Uninstall” button.

3. Safari > Preferences > Security > Web content:

Make sure all 3 boxes next to Web content are check marked.

Uncheck the box beside “Block pop-up windows” and test.

4. Safari > Preference > Advanced

Checkmark the box beside "Show Develop menu in menu bar".

Develop menu will appear in the Safari menu bar.

Click “Develop” to show the dropdown.

If you see a checkmark beside any item, click on it to remove it.

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Answer 3

Eric Root

Level 10

685,257 points

Apr 7, 2017 6:20 AM in response to Quentin Long

Boot to the Recovery Volume (command - R on a restart or hold down the option/alt key during a restart) and select Recovery Volume. Run Disk Utility and select First Aid. Then re-install the OS.

OS X Recovery

OS X Recovery (2)

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Answer 4

dominic23

Level 10

84,018 points

Mar 31, 2017 12:52 AM in response to Quentin Long

Delete Caches, com.apple.Safari.plist and test

1. Delete Caches

Close all windows and quit all applications.

Hold "option" key down and click "Go" menu in the Finder menu bar.

Select "Library" from the dropdown.

Library > Caches > com.apple.Safari

Right click the com.apple.Safari file and select "Move To Trash.

Test Safari.

2. Delete com.apple.Safari.plist file and test.

Empty the Trash.

Quit all applications.

Hold the option key down and click the "Go" menu in the Finder menu bar.

Select "Library" from the drop down.

Library > Preferences > com.apple.Safari.plist

Right click on it and select "Move it to Trash".

Restart and relaunch Safari. Click “Start using Safari” link at the bottom.

If this doesn’t help, “Put Back” the com.apple.Safari.plist

Right click on the Trash icon in the Dock and select “Open”.

Right click on the com.apple.Safari.plist and select “Put Back”.

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Answer 5

VikingOSX

Level 10

123,458 points

Mar 31, 2017 6:45 AM in response to Quentin Long

If you are using your own CSS style sheet in Safari, disable that in the Preferences : Advanced tab to ensure there is no collateral impact from that source. Expound on what you mean by multiple stylesheets.

I have not witnessed what you describe in any release of Safari, including version 10.1.

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Answer 6

Quentin Long Author

Level 1

11 points

Mar 31, 2017 3:59 PM in response to Quentin Long

Addendum to the above: When I was typing my reply, the word "Some" had the letterspacing glitch in the reply box but (as you can see) said glitch did not survive the posting process. Definitely a weird bug, or glitch, or whatever the heck it is.

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Answer 7

Quentin Long Author

Level 1

11 points

Apr 7, 2017 4:50 AM in response to dominic23

Dominic23: Sadly, your instructions not only failed to solve the problem, but also resulted in rendering the machine inoperable.

Power-cycling the router: No untoward side-effects I could see.

Booting up in Safe Mode: Once the Apple logo & progress indicator showed, the PI got about 70% of the way thru the startup process, at which point the screen went black—the machine turned off completely. That unhelpful power-off-during-startup symptom is quite repeatable, and quite reliable (am posting this note with an older laptop).

At this point, am inclined to think Safari's problem may be due to some malware which managed to evade my anti-malware. Regardless, will bring the laptop into the nearest Apple Store and see if the techs can ID/fix the issue.

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Answer 8

dominic23

Level 10

84,018 points

Apr 7, 2017 6:57 AM in response to Quentin Long

Sorry to hear about the result after starting up in Safe Mode.

What anti-malware were you using?

Usually it is very safe to startup in safe mode as a standard troubleshooting step.

Taking the Mac to Apple store is the right thing to do.

Best.

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Answer 9

Apr 11, 2017 6:16 AM in response to Quentin Long

Are you installing the following fonts?

HelveticaNeue-UltraLight.otf
HelveticaNeue-Light.otf

HelveticaNeue-LightItalic.otf

HelveticaNeue-Medium.otf

HelveticaNeue-MediumItalic.otf

HelveticaNeue-Bold.otf

HelveticaNeue-BoldItalic.otfIf you are installing the Helvetica OTF font,
I think it duplicates HelveticaNeue.dfont which is the system font of your Mac.
Please disable those OTF fonts once in Fontbook and activate the system font HelveticaNeue.dfont.
I solved it with that.
I hope it will work.
I am sorry for my poor English.
From a Japanese

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