FF3 WinXP != FF3 Ubuntu - why?

Question

I've got a website that I've just uploaded onto the interwebs, and it's displaying differently using Firefox 3.0.1 on Ubuntu and WinXP.

Two things I've noticed on Ubuntu:

1. The favicon is missing
2. The background color isn't displaying (it's set in the stylesheet)

What have I done wrong? The CSS file is being fetched under Ubuntu, so why isn't it applying all of the stylesheet, just the bits it likes? And why isn't the favicon displaying? Are they the same problem?

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The answer on the background color: invalid HTML. But I'd love for someone to explain why it works under Windows and not Ubuntu.

The answer on favicon: previously, there was no favicon. The browser cached the lack of favicon. Clear the Firefox cache, and all is well.

Answer 1

I would first suggesting getting you html and css code validated. If there are any errors in your markup, these can cause errors in the rendering.

• CSS Validator
• HTML Validator

Answer 2

I've also run into differences between FF3 on WinXP and FF3 on OS X (mostly with CSS positioning). The CSS and HTML both validated properly, but I was never able to figure out why there was this difference. I would think that the rendering engine would be the same, but apparently there are at least a few subtle differences.

Answer 3

I agree.. there are subtle differences between the two operating systems. Part of this is just font sizes and how line height and letter spacing is determined. So much of page flow is based on these whitespace elements interact with other page elements.

Answer 4

i believe this is a font issue and a browser / OS issue.

we know that different firefox versions are dependent on the OS - there are some firefox extensions available for Linux, some firefox extensions for windows are available. it's the font I guess.

Try to download mtts core fonts (microsoft true type ) which includes all the windows fonts so that firefox can display the fonts you specified in the css.

also you could check that you use fonts which are available on both platforms. Otherwise, I suggest rechecking and revalidating your code.

The other issue could be the screen resolution. It might be okay in windows with your high resolution but not with the low resolution ubuntu version.

Answer 5

Almost too obvious to say, but are they both "Firefox 3.01"? One isn't, for instance, Firefox 3.01 revision 3 update 6 service pack 9 and the other, well, you get the picture.

Even if they were both the very latest Firefox for that platform, doesn't mean they're exactly the same thing.

Answer 6

To see what's different, enter about:config in the address bar in Firefox in both Linux and Windows, press Enter, and compare the output

Answer 7

Ubuntu (I believe) apply their own patches to Firefox, so maybe this cause. Having said that, I thought that the patches were only for minor, GUI-type changes.