Mozilla Firefox image rendering

[ChrisN]

I swapped to Mozilla Firefox as my web prowser a few months ago for the better speed loading pages, but I've just become aware that the image rendering is pretty poor compared to Internet Explorer.

This is easy to test - just load a decent photo (may I recommend Sanders McNew's portrait in this thread in the TLR forum?) in both Firefox and IE, and arrange them side-by-side on your screen. Maybe it's my monitor, but IE is much sharper.

Perhaps this is a well known problem that I've simple been unaware of 'til now. Is there a way to configure Firefox for better quality?

 

[momus1]

They look exactly the same on my monitor.

 

[Keith]

I noticed as soon as I started using Firefox that script rendering on this site is different to IE.

I can use explorer for any other site except this one and no problems ... try it here and it's a complete waste of time. Pages stall constantly and the whole thing becomes unbelievably frustrating!

 

[visiondr]

Chris, the Web Standards Project has developed a series of tests, called the Acid Tests, designed to determine whether a given browser meets generally agreed upon internet protocols for page rendering. Most browsers should pass the first two (Acid 1 and Acid 2). However, the Acid 3 test is the most difficult and deals with the most modern standards. Microsoft's Internet Explorer has consistently lagged behind other browsers in following internet standards for page rendering with respect to things like HTML, Javascript and CSS. These things determine, for example, how a browser shows colours, or lines up elements in a page, or how a Java applet runs. In other words, a page displayed on IE can look very different from the same page on Firefox or Safari. You might want to try another browser. Perhaps IE is employing sharpening algorithms and thus appears to have "crisper" images. That's just a guess. I'm not sure what is happening.

 

[philipp.leser]

I don't use Windows, but at least under Mac OS, Firefox doesn't support color management while Safari does. That can lead to weird results when looking at profiled pictures.

Regards,
Philipp

 

[RF-Addict]

I also have issus with Mozilla - the rendering of fonts looks terrible compared to IE.

 

[Trius]

Interesting. I use Firefox nearly exclusively. I have been disappointed with the rendering (mostly sharpness) of my images in the browser, especially compared to what I recall in GIMP. But I've never done a side-by-side comparison. I think I'll compare in several browsers too.

 

[charjohncarter]

ChrisN, how do you do a 'Side by Side' view on a screen? I just flipped back and forth (miniumize and expand) from the tool bar and can't see any difference.

 

[raid]

I have noted since my switch away from IE to Mozilla that when I open up an image file, the image first appears as digitized [unsharp] and then it changes to sharper. Maybe there is more to it.

 

[ChrisN]

ChrisN, how do you do a 'Side by Side' view on a screen? I just flipped back and forth (miniumize and expand) from the tool bar and can't see any difference.

I did it by resizing the Firefox window so it only filled half the screen, then loaded IE and did the same, with the IE window arranged beside the Firefox window.

 

[raid]

I switched back last night to IE.

 

[bucks11]

I use firefox nearly 99% of the time and don't notice any difference in image quality, even side-by-side...

But maybe it's just me...

 

[charjohncarter]

Thanks Chris, simple, you would think I could have thought of that.

 

[charjohncarter]

I just did it, there is a very slight difference on my monitor. But strangely, I like the FireFox better. It has just a little less red. Another thought, when I visited my daughter a couple of weeks ago I used her Apple with Safari, The colors were too vivid and looked like Ektar100 or Velvia. Safari did make the B&W look like they had more snap though.

 

[gavinlg]

Have a try of Apple Safari beta 4 - so far it's been brilliant for me. You can use it on windows computers with the same advantages. Personally I prefer it 100times over IE and a few times over firefox.

http://www.apple.com/safari/