Hi, Doug
the brown color of text is not an issue, it is normal and goes with the design of the site.
However if, as some other, you don't like it, you may thru
http://www.openphotographyforums.com/forums/index.php down below the page, on the left side, or within your profile choose another style called "NC Black text".
This is for your point 1
As far as your point 2
I assume you're on PC and I have to admit that I don't know much about this. On Mac we can extend caracters with command+ or - if we wish to lower the size of caracters. I've tested it and it works well.
We need some other Windows users to test and we'll be able to see if it is your software/stetings or a general error due to our system.
Anyway I'm sure this issue doesn't come from the color as the color is set thru a CSS (a style sheet) and does not interfer with caracter coding.
We definitively needs other users test on this in order to identify the culprit!
On a French keyboard this is an é accent aigu and this is an è accent grave.
Can you read them correctly?
Thanks for pointing to bugs, this is the only way for us to be aware of them though we've done intensive tests.
Best regards