Hello,

Try Firefox Safe Mode to see if the problem goes away. Safe Mode is a troubleshooting mode, which disables most add-ons.

(If you're not using it, switch to the Default theme.)

• On Windows you can open Firefox 4.0+ in Safe Mode by holding the Shift key when you open the Firefox desktop or Start menu shortcut.
• On Mac you can open Firefox 4.0+ in Safe Mode by holding the option key while starting Firefox.
• On Linux you can open Firefox 4.0+ in Safe Mode by quitting Firefox and then going to your Terminal and running: firefox -safe-mode (you may need to specify the Firefox installation path e.g. /usr/lib/firefox)
• Or open the Help menu and click on the Restart with Add-ons Disabled... menu item while Firefox is running.

Once you get the pop-up, just select "'Start in Safe Mode"

If the issue is not present in Firefox Safe Mode, your problem is probably caused by an extension, and you need to figure out which one. Please follow the Troubleshoot extensions, themes and hardware acceleration issues to solve common Firefox problems article for that.

To exit the Firefox Safe Mode, just close Firefox and wait a few seconds before opening Firefox for normal use again.

When you figure out what's causing your issues, please let us know. It might help other users who have the same problem.

Thank you.

I'm a living person. So are the other volunteers here.

Does the page lay out correctly if you reload it? You can use Ctrl+r or the reload arrow at the right end of the address bar. To bypass the cached version of the page and force Firefox to retrieve the page fresh from the server, you can use Ctrl+Shift+r.

Firefox seems to give up on a page prematurely now and then and not apply its style sheet, but it shouldn't happen every time you open a page.

Could you try Firefox's Safe Mode? That's a standard diagnostic tool to bypass interference by extensions (and some custom settings). More info: Diagnose Firefox issues using Troubleshoot Mode.

You can restart Firefox in Safe Mode using

Help > Restart with Add-ons Disabled

In the dialog, click "Start in Safe Mode" (not Reset)

Any difference?

Hello jscher2000, Many thanks for your reply and recommendations. Unfortunately those tips did not solve the problem. Even in Safe Mode I keep getting text-only pages. I forgot mentioning that this happens with some other sites also, not only FF's. Any other tips? Appreciate your willingness to help Regards Tom

Hello Waka_Flocka_Flame , Many thanks for your reply and recommendations. Unfortunately those tips did not solve the problem. Even in Safe Mode I keep getting text-only pages. I forgot mentioning that this happens with some other sites also, not only FF's. Any other tips? Appreciate your willingness to help Regards Tom

Hi Tom, can you look at a couple pages:

(1) http://www.jeffersonscher.com/photos/Maui07/

That page includes its own style rules, so no external pages are needed. Do the photos appear in little boxes and lay out in rows, or only straight down the page?

(2) http://www.jeffersonscher.com/photos/rest/AncientSzechuan/

That page uses an external style sheet, located on the same site. Do the photos appear in little boxes and lay out in rows, or only straight down the page?

Hello jscher2000: The photos on http://www.jeffersonscher.com/photos/Maui07/ line up two in a row and then down in five lines; The photos on http://www.jeffersonscher.com/photos/rest/AncientSzechuan/ line up in two rows with six pictures in each row Does this give you a clue about my problem? The best and thanks again for your prompt reply Tom

Hi Tom, it tells me that Firefox is not completely broken when it comes to applying styles. It only has a problem on particular sites.

When you find a page that doesn't load correctly, can you try this:

Open Firefox's web console by pressing Ctrl+Shift+k. On the black bar with various button, click CSS to turn off both errors and warnings (or use the drop-down next to CSS to turn those off), then click Clear to start with a clean slate.

Now reload the page. Numerous URLs should appear in the web console.

In the search box on the right side of the bar that says Filter Output, type css to show the requests for style sheets. If they loaded fresh from the server they should say 200 OK next to them. If they loaded from cache they should say 304 Not Modified next to them. If Firefox couldn't load them, there would be some other status. Can you find any that had a problem?

It might be easier to compare if you post some URLs that aren't displaying correctly and I or another volunteer can show you what we see.

Hello,

The Reset Firefox feature can fix many issues by restoring Firefox to its factory default state while saving your essential information.
Note: This will cause you to lose any Extensions, Open websites, and some Preferences.

To Reset Firefox do the following:

1. Go to Firefox > Help > Troubleshooting Information.
2. Click the "Reset Firefox" button.
3. Firefox will close and reset. After Firefox is done, it will show a window with the information that is imported. Click Finish.
4. Firefox will open with all factory defaults applied.

Further information can be found in the Refresh Firefox - reset add-ons and settings article.

Did this fix your problems? Please report back to us!

Thank you.

Hello jscher2000 I did as instructed. For the test I loaded page https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-make-firefox-and-websites-go-full-screen in the search box I got 5 css URLs (see attached ScreenShot.jpg) but none had 200 OK or 304 next to them. Next I tried this link: https://blog.mozilla.org/theden/2013/10/03/creating-screenshots-with-firefox/ It came perfectly with a graphical screen. As mentioned previously, your homepage shows correctly and so do some other pages. My third trial was this page: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/How%20to%20set%20the%20home%20page#w_set-what-pages-open-when-firefox-starts/?src=external-newsletter It came in text, so I tried again your recommendation. The same five css URLs (ScreenShot.jpg) came up, the only difference being the times between parenthesis. All three links came from an email I received from your firm with the subject "Full screen, full fun." Besides the two above, the following links clicked on this email produce the same problem: (checkout our support page) https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/home (Volunteer with us) https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/contribute/ (Full screen with Firefox Android) https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/full-screen-browsing-android (Android) https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/subscribe-rss-feeds-firefox-android?src=external-newsletter (Keep your Firefox healthy) https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/new/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=FFx%26You#desktop (Unsubscribe/Modify your Preferences) link removed. allows someone to change user's newsletter settings. -mjb Besides having this problem with some of your site's pages I also experienced it with some pages of the LinkedIn site. There were other sites too where this strange problem occurred, but unfortunately I do not recall their URLs. Does this sheds any light? Thanks a bunch Tom

Sorry Tylerdowner, but this certainly is NOT a good recommendation. It took me a long time to create my personal configuration of add-ons and tabbed pages (I use Tab Groups Manager) to have them disappear after a reset. But thanks for your willingness to help Regards Tom

Hi Tom, on the problem pages, what shows next to the css files if you don't see 200 or 304?

Do those pages lay out correctly if you reload, or do they stay the same?

Hello again, Nothing shows up after the 200 OK and 304. No, the pages remain in text format. Regards BTW, I use an add-on called TabGroup Manager. Could this be causing the problem? I perceived that since FF version 20 or 21 it does not function properly and its author has not issued an update since 2012. But it is a very important tool for increasing the speed of navigating among many different sites of constant consultation.

Hi Tom, I think you already confirmed that the TabGroup Manager isn't the problem. All extensions were deactivated while you were testing in Safe Mode, so since you had the same problem in Safe Mode, your extensions aren't the problem.

(I don't have any other suggestions at the moment.)

Hello jscher2000, Please keep trying suggestions as this problem is really annoying but I LUUVE FF ;-) Would hate to switch to any other browser. Many thanks for your constant willingness to help. In fact other your colleagues also sent suggestions but you were the only one who followed the problem up and came up with good tips. All the best have a great weekend Tom

BTW, a few months ago I sent to FF's support a message in which I reported that after using the program a couple of hours one perceives that it will not release memory heap space. Several versions later this problem remains. I though you would like to pass this to the development group.

HI Tom, I just realized the examples I gave you to try were not secure sites. Is this problem only on secure sites (HTTPS at the beginning of the URL)?

Regarding memory, this part of Firefox is constantly being tweaked and adjusted. If you go to the internal page about:memory there are now some buttons along the top to clean up memory. You might try those the next time you notice a slowdown and see whether they make any difference. If so, then there probably is a problem with the automatic clean up feature.

Dear jscher2000 Possibly you are close to finding an answer to my problem. YES, all pages which show in text carry https:// URLs. Nevertheless, NOT ALL with https:// that I have tested present this problem. However, NO PAGE with http:// URL has presented this problem.

As for freeing up memory none of the three methods shown at about:memory did a very good job. Will continue to test and let you know.

Thanks a lot Tom Any clue?

Hi Tom, I wonder whether there might be a security related reason that some style sheets either are not loading or are not being applied. Does your security software have any features to block web pages or parts of web pages?

Good Morning jscher2000 I use AVG Internet Security (full program). One of its features is "Web browsing protection." It consists of two different settings, both ENABLED: "LinkScanner Surf-Shield" and "Online Shield." (have no idea what they do/protect). I disabled both and tested the same FF pages reported previously. They still show in text. Does not seem to be the cause of my problem.

But here is an test/analysis that you could perform. There are two pages on the "Firefox & You" October 2013 editions which behave differently, although their basic URL is the same: click.e.mozilla.org/?cs=[long number] The first one is a link tagged "Full screen Firefox." When I click on it it shows in TEXT and the URL changes to https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-make-firefox-and-websites-go-full-screen. The other one, just below, is tagged "Snap it, save it, share it. When I click on it it shows GRAPHICALLY and the URL changes to https://blog.mozilla.org/theden/2013/10/03/creating-screenshots-with-firefox/. Notice that the main domain of both have different URLs (support.mozilla and blog.mozilla). Does this gives you any clue? Thanks for your patience in following up this strange problem Have a nice day Tom

Hi Tom, there is a difference in the way style sheets are loaded into those pages:

(1) Blog

Page URL: https://blog.mozilla.org/theden/2013/10/03/creating-screenshots-with-firefox/

With only one exception, style sheets are on the same host:

<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="all" href="https://blog.mozilla.org/theden/wp-content/themes/OneMozilla/css/socialshare.css">
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="screen,projection" href="https://blog.mozilla.org/theden/wp-content/themes/OneMozilla-Den/style.css">
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="all" href="https://www.mozilla.org/tabzilla/media/css/tabzilla.css">
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="print" href="https://blog.mozilla.org/theden/wp-content/themes/OneMozilla/css/print.css">
<!--[if lte IE 7]><link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="all" href="https://blog.mozilla.org/theden/wp-content/themes/OneMozilla/css/ie7.css"><![endif]-->
<link rel='stylesheet' id='sky-css'  href='https://blog.mozilla.org/theden/wp-content/themes/OneMozilla/colors/sky/sky.css' type='text/css' media='all' />

(2) Support

Page: https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/how-make-firefox-and-websites-go-full-screen

Style sheets are retrieved from a different host:

<link rel="stylesheet" media="screen,projection,tv" href="//support.cdn.mozilla.net/static/css/common-min.css?build=aa09725" />
<link rel="stylesheet" media="print" href="//support.cdn.mozilla.net/static/css/print-min.css?build=aa09725" />
<link rel="stylesheet" media="screen,projection,tv" href="//support.cdn.mozilla.net/static/css/jqueryui/jqueryui-min.css?build=aa09725" />
<link rel="stylesheet" media="screen,projection,tv" href="//support.cdn.mozilla.net/static/css/wiki-min.css?build=aa09725" />

I'm not sure why your Firefox isn't loading or isn't rendering those. If the Web Console doesn't show 200 OK or 304 Not Modified next to those different-origin URLs, what status does it show? Or are those completely missing from the list of files retrieved by the page?

The web console shows only the URLs nothing else. However, I did another test. I clicked on the Style Sheets editor. All those pages that show in text provide the message "couldn't load the style sheet" (see screenshot attached). All those pages which load correctly do not show this message and the styles sheet editor loads the corresponding css.

Question: could this be related to a change that I may have done (inadvertently) on the configuration list? (about:config). I am attaching it.