Tahoma Font Does Not Display Accent Characters Correctly (817729)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0

SYMPTOMS

When you use Internet Explorer to view content that uses the Tahoma font, you may experience the following problems:
  • When the size is set to 8 pt. or 70%, the style is set to Italic and the weight is set to normal, the lowercase accent characters with a dieresis mark (for example, ä, ë, ü, ÿ, and ï ) have a solid bar on top instead of the dieresis mark.
  • When the size is set to 8 pt. or 70%, the style is set to Italic and the weight is set to bold, the lowercase accent characters with a dieresis mark (for example, ä, ë, ü, ÿ, and ï ) have a solid bar on top instead of the dieresis mark.
  • When the size is set to 8 pt. or 70%, the style is set to Italic and the weight is set to bold, the uppercase accent characters with a grave mark (for example, À, È, Ò and Ù ) have a solid box on top instead of the grave mark.

CAUSE

This problem occurs because Tahoma is a generated, or onscreen, font. As a result, it uses an algorithm to calculate how to draw the font when it appears. Smaller text sizes limit the number of pixels that are available to draw the font. When the algorithm calculates how to draw the font in the smaller space, the accent character is drawn using pixels so close together that you see a bar instead a dieresis or a solid box instead of a grave.

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, you can use a larger point-size font where this problem does not occur. Or, you can use a static font, such as Arial, that appears correctly at smaller sizes.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.
Modification Type:MinorLast Reviewed:9/15/2006
Keywords:kbprb KB817729 kbAudEndUser
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