Bigger is not always better

May 9, 2009 5:41 PM

OK, I've tried fixing this myself, and I give up. Why is AskMe displaying text at a different size font to every other part of Metafilter on my home computer?

Here's a screenshot of how AskMe looks on my computer. It looks to be displaying at maybe a size 11 or 12 Arial font, which is different to every other part of Metafilter, which displays at a size 10 Arial font (as per this screenshot). Arial size 10 is also my user preference.

It's been doing this for maybe a month now. Over the course of the last month I've tried several different methods of fixing this.

* Logging out and back in
* Deleting all Metafilter.com cookies
* Deleting all cookies and my browsing history.
* Using the text zoom-in/out feature Firefox has. One size smaller make the font on AskMe too small (maybe about an 8 size font), and one size bigger makes it way too big (probably around a 14 size font).

I've also tried resetting my user preferences. Nothing to date has worked.

Also, this is only happening on my main home computer, where I use Firefox 3.0.10. At work, where I'm forced to use IE, and even on my networked home computer (also using Firefox), this isn't happening.

It should also be noted that;

* When I use IE on my main home computer, AskMe displays the font at the proper size.
* When I'm logged out using Firefox, AskMe still displays the larger font size.
* No other website I visit is doing this. It's just AskMe. All the other Metafilter subsites and every other website I visit displays at the proper size.

I do have Greasemonkey installed, but the only Metafilter related scripts I run are MeFiQuote, Deleted Posts, Asynchronous Flagging and EasyMeMail. I doubt it would be a problem with any of these, right?

So the problem would seem to rest with Firefox, but at the same time I'm confused as to why it would only be affecting Ask Metafilter, and no other website. Basically, I'm stumped. Anyone have any other ideas how to fix this? It's a small problem, I grant you, but one that has over time started to drive me nuts.

posted by Effigy2000 to Bugs at 5:41 PM (20 comments total)

Turn off greasemonkey. Does the problem still persist? You have a lot of random mefi gm scripts running and any one of those could be it.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 5:52 PM on May 9, 2009

Turned off Greasemonkey and then to be safe, I logged out, logged back in and even closed Firefox and opened it back up again. The problem does indeed still persist.
posted by Effigy2000 at 5:56 PM on May 9, 2009

I've noticed it too, FWIW. Seems like non-AskMe text is smaller than usual.
posted by Sys Rq at 6:13 PM on May 9, 2009

non-AskMe Just MeTa, actually. And, yeah, AskMe is big. So is Music.
posted by Sys Rq at 6:18 PM on May 9, 2009

You said you zoomed in and out. Did you try reset zoom?
posted by middleclasstool at 6:26 PM on May 9, 2009

middleclasstool: "You said you zoomed in and out. Did you try reset zoom?"

No.

But I did just now.

And it fixed it.

Thanks for that middleclass tool. I'm not sure how AskMe ever got zoomed in in the first place (I never use that feature), but without you I'd never even have known there was a reset to Page Zoom. Problem's fixed, I'm slightly embarrassed and this thread can be closed up now.

Unless SysRq still needs help with his similar problem?
posted by Effigy2000 at 6:36 PM on May 9, 2009 [1 favorite]

Happened to me once, too. In my case it was multi-touch gestures what did me in, and it took me a long time to figure it out.
posted by middleclasstool at 6:39 PM on May 9, 2009

*facepalm*
posted by Sys Rq at 6:49 PM on May 9, 2009 [3 favorites]

Accidentally leaning on the Ctrl key while attempting to scroll with the mouse wheel will change the current page's text size. And Firefox does seem to remember these settings on a per-site basis.
posted by flabdablet at 8:07 PM on May 9, 2009

Well, if it makes you feel any better, I had this problem too and didn't even know it until I reach your description and looked at my own set up! Resetting zoom fixed me, too.

I think you did a lot of good for a lot of people here.
posted by If only I had a penguin... at 9:05 PM on May 9, 2009

I feel I've earned the right to ban people now. Or a t-shirt.
posted by middleclasstool at 9:51 PM on May 9, 2009 [1 favorite]

I've got this nasty growth on my neck you might find the time to lay hands on, mct. On no, hang on, it's me head.
posted by Abiezer at 11:47 PM on May 9, 2009 [1 favorite]

I feel I've earned the right to ban people now.

middleclasstool, I grant you full banhammer rights for anyone participating in an alphabet thread.
posted by Meatbomb at 1:40 AM on May 10, 2009

*smears poop* on Meatbomb.
posted by gman at 6:25 AM on May 10, 2009

I had this problem a while back and despite the best efforts of our swell management team, couldn't find a solution (It could have been text zoom related, but it seemed to have fixed itself.). Sort of moot now anyway, since whenever I wear my contacts all my fonts seem twice as large than when I have my glasses on.
posted by Alvy Ampersand at 7:17 AM on May 10, 2009

I was gonna concede to him the right to ban a t-shirt, personally.
posted by cortex (staff) at 7:31 AM on May 10, 2009

On my Windows PC at work, I've had the arm of a chair accidentally touch the ctrl key while I was scrolling. Took quite a while to figure out what happened.

On my MacBook at home, it's very easy to accidentally do the "pinch" gesture, resulting in smaller text. When it first happened, I had no idea what I had done and attempted to fix it by pawing gorilla-like at the trackpad, hoping to accidentally undo it. The Pref Panel only shows the pinch gesture being used for photos, adding to my confusion. Google to the rescue.
posted by The Deej at 7:51 AM on May 10, 2009

Effigy2000: "Asynchronous Flagging"

What, really? That's been dead for, like, ever. Flagging has been natively asynchronous for at least a couple years.
posted by Plutor at 9:08 AM on May 10, 2009

I was gonna concede to him the right to ban a t-shirt, personally.

Topless posting day on Metatalk!
posted by shelleycat at 4:42 PM on May 10, 2009 [1 favorite]

You ran out of star power?
posted by educatedslacker at 8:42 AM on May 11, 2009