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paulc70607361
Participating Frequently
November 17, 2015
Answered

Fonts in graphs displayed as question marks

  • November 17, 2015
  • 5 replies
  • 18810 views

If I view a graph in Safari (latest version) all of the text appears as question marks. The same page in Firefox displays fine. The problem only appears when a section of the page is displayed using flash player.

For example the adobe page Adobe - Flash Player displays like this;

I'm using a new iMac running OS 10.11.2. I also have the latest flash player and have restarted the machine after updates.

If anyone can help I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer jeromiec83223024

    A problem only Safari seems to have.


    Third-party browsers generally have their own font subsystems.  Safari is tightly integrated with the OS.  When you use a third-party utility to modify the behavior of how fonts work at the OS level, you end up with a side-effect in Safari. 

    You could try the Safari message boards and/or your font manager's support site, but either switching browsers or removing the font manager are probably more straightforward options.  We're simply making requests to the browser and are dependent on what Safari provides, so we have no control over the outcome in this scenario.

    5 replies

    T
    thseyelab
    Participant
    March 25, 2016

    I have solved the problem....

    1) Find all your VERDANA fonts and remove them...

    2) If you are using font management software: deactivate all VERDANAs

    ... and magic: no more font display problems in Flash

    (Ps.: I hate flash player)

      P
      paulc70607361Author
      Participating Frequently
      June 20, 2016

      Thank You! Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!

      That's the solution. I've spent all this time trying to find the missing font. Never for a moment did I think I could have one font too many!

      Thanks!

      J
      JAWWS
      Participating Frequently
      February 5, 2016

      I've had the same problem over the last few months. Question marks in boxes replacing text (one boxed question mark per letter, it looks like) on any number of websites as I'm browsing in Safari.

      A computer restart this morning fixed it, but it came back this afternoon, and I'm not sure what I did in the interim, so I can't say for sure what caused it. However, I decided to quit Safari and quit my open applications one by one, reopening Safari and going back to the last website where I had the problem in between each application quit. I closed the following applications in order (again, closing and reopening Safari and returning to the website between each application quit) without it fixing the problem: Suitcase Fusion 6, Apple Mail, Messages, Notes, and Photoshop 6. And then I closed InDesign 6, and when I reopened Safari and went back to the website, the problem had been fixed!

      Here's what I'm running:

      Macbook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Mid 2014)

      OS X El Capitan 10.11.13

      Safari 9.0.3 (11601.4.4)

      Suitcase Fusion 6 17.3.0 (636624)

      Mail 9.2 (3112)

      Messages 9.1 (5085)

      Photoshop CS6 13.1.2 x64

      InDesign CS6 8.1

      My Adobe Suite products are through a Creative Cloud subscription, including both the CC and CS6 versions. I just prefer to run the CS6 versions, and none of the CC versions were open at the time the problem occurred.

      I also had Adobe Acrobat Pro DC 2015.010.20056 and Microsoft Word for Mac 2011 14.6.0 (151221) open when the problem happened, and had not yet quit them when the problem went away. It seemed like quitting InDesign was what did the trick.

      Hopefully this info can put someone on the right track to figuring out the problem.

      J
      JAWWS
      Participating Frequently
      February 5, 2016

      One more bit of info. I'm running Adobe Flash 20.0.0.286

      jeromiec83223024
      jeromiec83223024
      Inspiring
      February 5, 2016

      Yep, it fits the pattern established in this thread of MacOS and a third-party font manager (Suitcase Pro).  Flash is just asking attempting to use the default system fonts.  Whatever is going wrong is happening underneath us, either in the OS or Browser. 

      You could remove Suitcase Pro and the problem would probably go away, but that's probably suboptimal for your general workflows.  I'd recommend talking to the Suitcase folks to see if they can offer you any suggestions.  If you get some useful feedback, I'd love to know about it.

      A
      a1bedell
      Participant
      December 12, 2015

      Having the same issue running running OS 10.11.2.

      • Question marks replacing characters in flash content
      • Frequent Safari crashes
      • I also use a font manager (FontExplorer X Pro)

      P
      paulc70607361Author
      Participating Frequently
      December 12, 2015

      I haven't managed to find out the problem, I just use Firefox now and have no problems with it. I can only think it's an Apple Safari problem somewhere.

      None of the fixes mentioned by jeromiec83223024 had any effect.

      A
      a1bedell
      Participant
      December 12, 2015

      Thanks for the reply. I did try the font rebuild suggestion but I'm just about to the browser change point...

      amritr91416839
      Adobe Employee
      amritr91416839
      Adobe Employee
      November 18, 2015

      Hi paulc70607361

      We have tried to reproduce the issue with the information provided.

      OS Version : 10.11.2 Beta (15C47a)

      System preference : Preferred language English(UK)

      FP: 19.0.0.245

      The version information on the page is displayed properly.

      Please confirm are there any specific settings done on your MAC/Safari.

      Thanks.

      P
      paulc70607361Author
      Participating Frequently
      November 18, 2015

      Hi, Thanks for the help. The system I'm running is System Version: OS X 10.11.2 (15C30). I try to keep my computer pretty standard and always use software 'as is' to avoid problems. Since upgrading to ElCapitan I have had nothing but problems, and can't work out why. I'm run virus checkers with nothing found, Font Doctor, again, no problems (I run Suitcase Fusion 6). As of yesterday things got worse. I can't use photoshop as it crashes after about 5 mins of retouching (a one hour job took 5 hours last night/this morning). Something is wrong but I just can't work out what.

      Thanks 

      P
      paulc70607361Author
      Participating Frequently
      November 18, 2015

      Quick question. In the sample image posted in my initial post of the Adobe page. What font should the question marks panel use? When I booted up my Mac this morning one of the problem pages I have (a google finance page with a graph on it), partially worked. Nothing changed from yesterday except rebooting about 30 times while retouching a photo.

      Thanks

      jeromiec83223024
      jeromiec83223024
      Inspiring
      November 17, 2015

      Looks like a font-related issue, probably specific to MacOS 10.11.2 beta or to another locale?

      I'll ask someone to take a look.  Is your computer in a language/locale other than English/US (en_US)?

      P
      paulc70607361Author
      Participating Frequently
      November 17, 2015

      Weird that the font works OK in Firefox. Language set up is British. I'm thinking a Flash/Safari compatability problem

      Thanks

      jeromiec83223024
      jeromiec83223024
      Inspiring
      November 17, 2015

      Thanks, that's helpful.  We're looking into it.  FWIW, Firefox and Safari use the same Flash plug-in.   Something probably changed underneath us in Safari.  It's not uncommon. 

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