Formatting pages for IE / Mozilla / Opera

[Sitara Lal]

Hi,

I am using FP2002 and find that pages seem to lose their formatting when
viewed through Opera or Mozilla (Firefox) browsers; yet on IE6 they appear
fine. The page options (in FP2002) are set for both IE & Navigator as well
as 5.0 browsers and later.

To see what I mean, you may try viewing this URL in alternative browsers:
http://www.around-the-world.com/NZ/11AKLBOB.htm

Would you know why this happens and what I can do to prevent it? Obviously I
would like something basic such as text formatting to look the same across
all browser platforms.

Thanks for you help

SL

 

[Jack Brewster]

I looked at your page in IE6, Firefox 0.8 and Opera 7.23. They all
basically appeared the same. Although there was a little difference in
letter sizing a spacing, as far as the web goes, they were duplicates of
each other. What difference are you seeing that are causing you concern?

There is no silver bullet way to build a web page and make it look exactly
the same in every browser. You've already done a lot more than most people
by looking at your site in multiple browsers. That's really one of the best
practices I can suggest. The second is to simply accept that due to the
variety of browsers out there, and the resulting differences (due to
programmer practices, interpretations of standards, etc.) that your page
will never look exactly the same in every browser.

If you can be more specific about the problems you're seeing, we may be able
to offer more targeted advice.

 

[Sitara Lal]

Jack,

Thanks for the prompt response.

On my PC (where the site was also designed), I see the page correctly
formatted (i.e. link text in the left column as Verdana 8, the main text
under the page banner in the center column as Trebuchet 11and the package
inclusions, center bottom, as Verdana 10).

On Opera or Firefox however, I see all those fonts on a much larger size and
there seems to be no difference between the fonts.

There are other differences - in IE6, the 800# appears in bold red Trebuchet
11 (as intended), but in the other browsers it appears like plain text.

I could go on, but I think you get the picture!

Thanks

SL

 

[chris leeds]

font size specific control is a little difficult cross browser. it seems
the best to hope for is usability. if you really need that specific (and
you generally don't) control you almost have to use graphics with the font
put on them within an imaging program.
<IMHO>

 

[Sitara Lal]

Chris,

Thanks for your comments, but I think it is preposterous to display large
amounts of text as a graphic. That is what Cascading Style Sheets are meant
for, and in this case it is somehow not doing its job. I would simply like
to find out why and what can be done to remedy it.

SL

 

[Bob Lehmann]

For one thing, you have the href for a style sheet ponting to your C: drive.

Chris wasn't suggest that you actually make all your text into a graphic.
His point was that you cannot have the precise control over text that you
are seeking. Different browsers display things differently. That's just the
way it is.

Personally, I would would work on other problems - like the horizontal
scrolling, even at 1024x768.

Bob Lehmann

 

[Jack Brewster]

Sitara,

I'm not seeing Verdana 8 or 10. Everything is appearing in my browsers as
the larger, default font size. You can see screen grabs here:
http://www.maxgeek.com/frontpage/

The first one is your page shot at 800x600. The second is a screen grab
from Firefox laid on top so you can see that they basically appear the same.

If you're seeing smaller fonts in IE, I wonder if you don't have IE's font
size setting cranked down. When I set mine to "Smallest" I see that the
text is displayed in what I've come to think of as "standard" font size for
the web. The third screen grab shows the difference in font sizes within
the same browser with this setting changed. Check IE's setting by click
"View | Text Size..." and selecting "Medium" which is the default.

You'll also notice that the 800 number doesn't look red in the screen grabs.

It's also worth noting how much of your page is cropped off at 800x600
resolution. You might want to consider reevaluating your layout to
accomodate lower resolutions as they're still quite common.

 

[Jack Brewster]

For one thing, you have the href for a style sheet ponting to your C:

drive.

D'oh!

I go through all the effort to do screen grabs and such and don't even think
to check the obvious.

Thanks for the dose of humility, Bob.

 

[Bob Lehmann]

The only reason I viewed source was because the page looked pretty much the
same in all the browsers I checked with - even NS4. I bet when / if he fixes
that link, the differences will be more apparent, but still not "fixable".

Bob Lehmann