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IE6 Default Browser Setting

would like some confirmation

         

SuzyUK

5:52 pm on Feb 13, 2004 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



while researching a CSS quirk..
[webmasterworld.com...]

See message #7 - the answer seems to be to do with default browser settings..

can anyone confirm what the default setting is for
IE6 (with any OS)
Tools > Internet Options > General > Settings..
"Check for newer versions of stored pages"

mine was at "Every visit to the Page"... but the article I quote in that thread says it should be "automatically" and I don't ever remember changing it... but you never know ;)

so: IE6 / XP / every visit to the page

TIA
Suzy

DrDoc

6:14 pm on Feb 13, 2004 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



IE6/XP/Automagically ;)

That's the default setting for all IE/Win :)

DrDoc

6:17 pm on Feb 13, 2004 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



Googling for:
site:microsoft.com internet explorer "every visit to the page" automatically

...brings up some interesting reading :)

tedster

6:32 pm on Feb 13, 2004 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



I'll say it's interesting. On this page:

[support.microsoft.com...]

Here MS shows definitions for the four options for "Check for newer versions of stored pages:" I would not expect "automatically" to mean only once per session, and perhaps even less frequently depending on the alogrithm.

DrDoc

6:35 pm on Feb 13, 2004 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



...especially when read in the light of the other KB article explaining that there's a bug causing IE to do whatever it feels like, regardless of your settings :)

[support.microsoft.com...]

tedster

7:03 pm on Feb 13, 2004 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



whatever it feels like

I don't use IE regularly enough -- out of the loop. But I sure have clients who report very odd behavior when they try to see new work I've done for them.

grahamstewart

8:15 pm on Feb 13, 2004 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



I sure have clients who report very odd behavior when they try to see new work I've done for them.

I guess tedster,suzy and drdoc probably know this already but some might not:

Control-F5 is supposed to force a complete refresh in IE regardless of the settings and cache contents.
Failing that then try adding a random number to the end of your url like this www.example.com/index.html?rand=1234567

Hester

12:57 am on Feb 15, 2004 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



Can anyone confirm what the default text-size is for IE6? I was sure it was "Smaller", as I've always had to correct it on PCs before. But I was once told it was "Medium".

I need to know as I've just switched to using ems for my layout, and if IE6 comes set to "Smaller" by default, it'll make my site look worse.

PatrickDeese

1:12 am on Feb 15, 2004 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



It's "smaller" by default.

Hester

8:32 pm on Feb 15, 2004 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



Then what do I do about visitors to my site who will find the text smaller than if I'd used pixels?

tedster

8:45 pm on Feb 15, 2004 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



I think the default was "medium" way back when -- like IE3 or so.

The whole idea is to let your users see the text the way THEY prefer. I've discovered that changing the text size is not so unknown with the non-technical crowd. In fact, more people seem to know about this feature than know that their browser is called "Internet Explorer".

However, I've wrestled with the same issue. With so many websites using pixel control of font size, many people will get a first impression that may not be what you prefer because they don't know they have a choice . I think you just roll up your sleeves and pick your poison -- let the user settings determine the font size or control it with pixels.

It's that letting go thing that can be hard if you've always created pixel-sized text before.

But either you trust your end user to have a brain, or you don't. Either you are willing to let the look of your pages vary from person to person (and you do make some friends that way) or you want all the control. Control is the standard practice from what I see, but it does have its down side.

MatthewHSE

9:46 pm on Feb 16, 2004 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



Just for the record, I've installed W2K from scratch on four different machines lately. In each case, IE6's default text size was "Medium."

I think the crux of this thread was the earlier comment that "IE does whatever it feels like . . . " :)

tedster

11:43 pm on Feb 16, 2004 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



... either you trust your end user to have a brain, or you don't.

I should have added, that trust might be misplaced under some situations -- it's good to know something about your user audience. When it comes to technology, they just might not have a brain, in which case they would appreciate your control!

PatrickDeese

11:54 pm on Feb 16, 2004 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



> In each case, IE6's default text size was "Medium."

Do you think it could be set according to your monitor resolution settings?

I own have a network of 15 machines running either Win98 or XP and they all started at "smaller".

thehittmann

6:29 am on Feb 17, 2004 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



I dont think there is a way to automatically change then like that :( that would seem to logical, lol

tedster

6:45 am on Feb 17, 2004 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



There's another little fish in the water here -- the default settings for the Windows System fonts (Control Panel > Display > Settings > Advanced)

Although most of the time the default is "Small Fonts" a number of machines are shipped with "Large Fonts" as the default. This setting is even prior to the browser setting.

thehittmann

9:15 am on Feb 17, 2004 (gmt 0)

10+ Year Member



mine was default at medium

Hester

9:42 am on Feb 17, 2004 (gmt 0)

WebmasterWorld Senior Member 10+ Year Member



I once saw a PC where the Windows fonts were Large, but the browser fonts Small. The result was that they cancelled each other out in IE! But only when text was set in the FONT tag. As soon as I tried to use CSS (to upgrade an old layout) it looked all wrong and I couldn't figure out why! Until I realised about the font settings on the machine.