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              macOS 14.3 Sonoma Text Display Bug to Be Fixed Soon

   Adam Engst

   Many people are reporting [1]weird text display problems with various
   apps in macOS 14.3, most notably Apple's Mail, Notes, and Safari, but
   also third-party apps that rely on WebKit, including Mimestream and
   MarsEdit. Words or entire lines will seem to disappear and reappear,
   jump around, or overwrite other text.

   Although the problem is disconcerting, it's only cosmetic'the actual
   text isn't changing. Any action that causes the window to be
   redrawn'resizing, switching to another window and back, closing and
   reopening'will likely return the affected text to its correct state.

   I've learned that the bug has been [2]fixed in WebKit, so it's just a
   matter of Apple integrating the fix into an update to Sonoma. I don't
   know whether that will be macOS 14.3.1 or macOS 14.4, or when it will
   appear, but it shouldn't be long. The release schedule may also depend
   on Apple's need to address newly discovered vulnerabilities in an
   upcoming security update. Regardless, sit tight, and we'll have a fix
   soon.

References

   Visible links
   1. https://talk.tidbits.com/t/a-howling-text-display-bug-in-sonoma-14-3/26618?u=ace
   2. https://github.com/WebKit/WebKit/commit/fe1e4812260edf0b2117c1f78ddecd7c3d584f86

   Hidden links:
   3. https://tidbits.com/wp/../uploads/2024/02/WebKit-text-bug.png

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