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What browsers does NetObjects Fusion support? NetObjects Fusion
supports browsers which support HTML 3.2 and up. For the major browsers this includes Netscape Navigator 2.0x and up, and Internet Explorer 3.0x and up. The browser must be able to support nested tables. To view HTML
created with the CSS and Layers option the browser must support HTML 4.0 and JavaScript or Jscript. What do I do when one browser displays my page
differently than another? Different browsers handle the interpretation of HTML slightly differently. Most problems revolve around variations
in table-rendering, font display, browser generated elements, or special tag support. For misplaced or misaligned objects the easiest way to start determining where the problem lies is to check the way the browser is
interpreting the table structure. You can do this by holding down the shift key while doing a full site or single-page preview. This command tells NetObjects Fusion to generate all the layout tables with a border equal
to one. When the pages are viewed in the browser you can see how the tables are distributed. Compare the same page between the browsers. Check to see where the tables are different. Very often the cause is a change in
font size, or a browser generated element, such as a form field, which is displayed differently. Added HTML scripts can also cause the table structure to behave in a different fashion. Usually these are very easy to
fix by simply adjusting the amount of space allotted for those elements in the layout area in NetObjects Fusion. However, depending on the design of the page, and what is causing the problem, a more complex solution may
be required. Special tag support tends to manifest itself where one browser displays something and another does not display it at all. The important thing to do in this case is consult a reference manual and make sure
that the property you have assigned or scripted in is in fact supported by the browser in which you are viewing the site. Sometimes to get a similar effect in multiple browsers several different simultaneous methods may
have to be employed. For the most part NetObjects Fusion tries to account for these discrepancies, but as the browsers evolve and new tags are introduced, special tags or variations in interpretation of standard tags
can cause display differences. For assistance in optimizing your layout for changing browser conditions see our User Guide, Chapter 7, Controlling Your Layout. Why do my fonts look different in different browsers? Each browser and each computer platform display
fonts slightly differently. Netscape Navigator uses a more common point-based font display. Microsoft Internet Explorer uses a relative sizing method where fonts are Medium, Small, or Large. Internet Explorer fonts tend
to have a slightly larger leading (the distance between lines of text) and kerning (the distance between characters) than the fonts in Navigator.Fonts are also different on different platforms. Fonts on the Macintosh
platform display an apparent three point sizes smaller than the equivalent font on the Windows platform. In other words, 12 pt Times Roman displayed on a Macintosh takes up approximately the same amount of screen real
estate as 9 pt Times Roman displayed on a Windows machine. To account for the differences in font size, you should view your pages on different machines to see how the changing font sizes affect your layout. To simulate
different machines, alter the size of the display font in your browser settings. This will also give you an idea of how a custom font setting on a viewer's machine may affect the overall design. For assistance in
optimizing your layout for changing browser conditions see our User Guide, Chapter 7, Controlling Your Layout. How can I get my content to be flush
against the top and left edges of the browser window? All browsers, when displaying information in tables, leave a gap at the top and left
edges of the browser window. Although the background image still begins at the upper left corner, the page content does not display until a little bit further down and to the right. Different browsers leave a different
amount of space. NetObjects Fusion includes HTML tags to account for these gaps. To set the values for the margins at the top and left of the browser window, choose the Preferences option from the Edit menu and
select the Page tab. At the bottom of the preferences is the Background Image setting. The pixel settings adjust the position of the background image in NetObjects Fusion to reflect the final position of the content in
relation to the image when the page is generated NOTE: The HTML tags which NetObjects Fusion 4.0x includes are recognized by all 4.0 browsers and IE 3.0, but not Netscape 3.0x or earlier. Netscape 3.0x automatically
offsets the content of a page 10 pixels in from the left and 16 pixels in from the top on the Windows platform, 8 left and 8 top on the Macintosh platform. If you place objects, particularly images, such that they are
exactly flush against the upper and left edges in the NetObjects Fusion page area this can cause the browser to display other elements on the page shifted slightly down in their table cells. This is primarily noticeable
when you have several images which are designed to be flush with each other. To make everything appear correctly, select all elements on the page using ctrl+a (either in the layout or MasterBorder area, depending on
which region contains the objects) and using the arrow keys, nudge all the selected objects down one pixel and to the right one pixel. The page should now preview and publish correctly. |
