Mac/PC Browser Issues

any way of controlling how website is viewed?

[Typester]

Ok, I know there is going to be some differences between platforms and the browsers on those platforms. But being rather a newbie to web design, I don't know if these issues are fixable.

I work on a G3 Mac with Dreamweaver 4. Basically my issue is this: when I view my site on my mac in IE and NN 4.7, my site looks how I designed it. When I view it on a PC, my index page looks "wider" than the other pages. I've checked my numbers and everything is identical.

I guess the only way to explain it is to have someone view it on both platforms to verify what I'm seeing. My index page is slightly different in design than the other pages but has the same dimensions.

I'm willing to accept the differences (sigh), but I don't like not knowing if I can somehow fix it.

Thanks for your help, MacGuru.

[pageoneresults]

Try removing the nowrap from those three columns on the home page. When you are using the nowrap attribute, you have to take into consideration the various settings that users will have for their browsers. In your case, you have left the font size scalable by the user in IE. If they were to increase their font size from default, that page will spread indefinitely due to the nowrap attribute.

P.S. I'd suggest eliminating all the <br>'s where they are not required and let the text flow freely. Some areas require the <br> when you are separating a heading from a descriptive line of text underneath. But, for the most part, drop a good portion of them and let it flow...

[Typester]

Hi pageoneresults,

I've had a lot of trouble designing this site.

I did as you suggested and removed a lot of the <br>'s. I also removed the nowrap. Now in NN 4.7 the page is about 3 feet wide! It seems I either need the <br>'s or wrap to contain it all within my established area. Netscape kinda sucks IMHO.

Did you find that the home page was a different size than the others? I have to admit, I'm getting to point of exhaustion trying to fix all these little things! I'm just a type designer trying my best to establish a web "presence" but this has been a challenge.

Thanks for your help!

[pageoneresults]

> I did as you suggested and removed a lot of the <br>'s. I also removed the nowrap. Now in NN 4.7 the page is about 3 feet wide!

You have a table in there set at 100% in width. Get rid of that width setting and then make the 3 columns in that table (cells) 33% in width (33/33/34). Again, remove all the <br>'s that are not needed and make sure you have absolutely no nowrap attributes in there.

Its been a while since I've worked with tables but I know that 100% width setting causes problems in NN4.7x.

[Typester]

I think I've done everything you suggested and I still run into problems. I've put my old home page back up until I figure this out.

I get it so it's looking good in Netscape and then IE blows up. This is frustrating to say the least!

I'm going to re-think my design. I'm not giving up, I'm just going back to the drawing table. Maybe I'd benefit from learning CSS?

You've been helpful...I appreciate it. Seems to me that web design is not for the faint of heart. ;)

[john316]

>>Seems to me that web design is not for the faint of heart.<<

If you are coming from a print background, it is more a matter of changing your heart to be a bit less rigid. The variables between browsers can leave your head spinning. Compromise is something you learn to live with, unless you want to customize a site for every browser and redirect every visitor to the appropriate version.

[Typester]

Hi john316

My background is in print (designing greeting cards) so this is a whole new ballgame for me.

You're possibly right...maybe I should be a little less rigid in my expectations. My frustration is coming from my lack of knowledge and not knowing if I'm asking too much of the browsers/platforms to display my simple design.

So, compromise it is! This whole thing would be easy if everyone owned a Mac... ;)