Google Sheets Blurry on Safari and YouTube in Arabic. Am I Old and Have I Been Hacked?

One may say, “it’s been one of those weeks.”

I couldn’t post almost anything at my blogs for the past few weeks, because I’ve been struggling with my sight big time. First I blamed the Ritalin for causing me glaucoma (yup, that happens) so I made an appointment with an eye doctor, twice. I never went.

Then I blamed my 10-year-old monitor and entered a sad state of meltdown trying to figure out how to pay 2,250 for an iMac, because “I need a new monitor which I cannot afford.”

Finally, I went through some sort of a light middle age crisis thinking, “Age doesn’t come alone. Do I need therapy?” But, I gathered the strength to remain in a state of denial, which I know how to do for free without professional help.

With my blogging schedule in pause, I edited a video for the YouTube Channel I have for my other blog, and when I was about to upload it (to get a piece of that sweet satisfaction, “you did something this week!”) the writing was in Arabic and all the elements – widgets and stuff – were inverted ?.

What happened? Two things! Allow me to explain.

Suddenly, My YouTube Channel is in Arabic

That’s what I googled, while trying not to freak out. I found in the forums answers such us “Just change the settings!,” but how can you do it when you don’t understand where the settings are because you don’t speak freaking Arabic!?

I read so many forums (there are a lot of people experiencing the same) and I did so many things that I can’t recall. I was so afraid of having been hacked, that I lost track of what I did. However I do remember one thing: somewhere I read “cache”… I tried that, and it worked.

Why did the language settings change? I don’t have a clue. But since I feel I have a duty to my fellow bloggers, I thought about sharing this.

If this is happening to you, go to safari > preferences > privacy > manage website data. Then, in the search box, write “youtube”, select the result, click on “remove” and then on “done.” You’re welcome.

Google Sheets Blurry on Safari

I got a gig three weeks ago to help someone with a research. So, the morning after the Arabic fiasco, I opened the Google sheets I needed to continue working on; and in a second, it was all blurry again.

So it hit me, “Ritalin’s blurred vision doesn’t occur in a second; could this be something else?” It could… It does, actually.

And that’s it! The content of the cells became clear. I wanted to post a couple of screenshots, but doing that fixed the issue for good (Why? I don’t have a clue)

MacOs Could Make Some Fonts Blurry

As I was writing this post, I got to thinking more about this “blurry issue” because when I opened my WordPress dashboard it looked more clear too.

I found that MacOs can cause that, and one can fix it with a few clicks (Open System Preferences, click on General, and then on “Use fonts smoothing when available.”)

However, I already had the smoothing fonts checked. So, what’s left to think is that the blurred fonts on Safari can be reset with one click on “Enter Full Screen” and then on “Exit.” Why?!

Lesson of the Day

I work with so many softwares (Adobe and Microsoft products; Final Cut Pro; Final Draft; to name a few) that I come across issues like these (“the world is about to end, unless I Google about it”) almost on weekly basis.

I have countless drafts with solutions for those issues, so I thought this would be a nice opportunity to start sharing them.

Spoiler alert: whenever something like this happens on a browser, always start by cleaning your caché; and if it doesn’t do the trick, search the forums of the product you’re using and don’t be afraid to open a stranger’s blog who may save your day… like me ?