Did you know you can enable Direct2D and DirectWrite hardware acceleration in Mozilla Firefox to increase performance? Direct2D and DirectWrite are replacement for the good old GDI in Windows. These 2 new technologies use GPU acceleration to boost overall performance.
But you'll need either Windows 7 or Windows Vista SP2 (with Platform Update installed) to be able to enjoy this method.
Follow these simple steps to enable Direct2D and DirectWrite H/W Acceleration in Mozilla Firefox:
1. Open Firefox and type about:config in the addressbar and press Enter. It’ll confirm, click on I’ll be careful, I promise! button.
2. Now type render in the Filter box and look for following 2 keys:
gfx.font_rendering.directwrite.enabled
mozilla.widget.render-mode
3. The entry "gfx.font_rendering.directwrite.enabled" would be set to false. Double-click on it or right-click on it and select "Toggle". It'll change its value to true.
4. The entry "mozilla.widget.render-mode" would be set to -1. Double-click on it and set its value to 6.
PS: If you can't find "mozilla.widget.render-mode" entry, you'll need to manually create it. Right-click on empty space and select "New -> Integer" and set its name to mozilla.widget.render-mode.
5. That's it. Restart your browser and enjoy better looking fonts and performance.
NOTE: If you want to disable the hardware acceleration, set "gfx.font_rendering.directwrite.enabled" to false and "mozilla.widget.render-mode" to 0.
This article was posted by VG in following section: Mozilla Firefox.
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to our RSS feed or free newsletter to get all new articles directly in your Inbox. Also check out our popular articles and archive to read other interesting articles.
VG
^^ Try to enable Clear type font and adjust settings using Tuner:
http://www.askvg.com/clear-type-tuner-microsoft-powertoy-for-windows/
http://www.askvg.com/guide-how-to-use-windows-7-built-in-cleartype-text-tuner/
imperial
in my case, the text is not exactly burry, its looks likes is in bold...
Dušan
I've done that on FF 4.0 Beta 4 and after that FF is lagging all the time and letters are blury.
I have Windows 7 64-bit installed, what could be the problem?
VG
^^ Its in beta stage, thats why you might face issues.
imperial
In beta 5 my problem dont happen anymore, and the acceleration comes On by default.
Enterprise
Thanks.