help! the look of my website is different on different windows pcs

[Drwyd]

Hi Seekertom

Could you upload a web/xar file showing this problem ?

[steve.ledger]

Load up the firefox website and do the ctrl- or + thing a bunch of times, and the webpage always shrinks or grows proportionately.... mine don't, not even when created with xara.

So now you are saying that sites you have built with other software also exhibit the same problem?
Also, could you please respond to post#2 - thanks

[jonazen]

If I could jump in for a moment -- I've put up a couple of very simple sites using Xara Designer Pro 6, and just tested CTRL +/- text zooming in Firefox (3.5.12 right now -- I have to upgrade to 3.6 soon!), and the site scales just fine, both up and down, returning to "normal" when I hit CTRL+0.

Take a look at http://www.njrenfaire.com and give it a try in Firefox. I also verified that the site zooms perfectly well in IE8 also using CTRL +/- ...

I did nothing special -- just built basic pages using Xara Pro Designer. I'm wondering what you might have done differently that prevents your page from scaling normally in Firefox and IE...?

- Jon

[Drwyd]

Does "HTMLBlockText" give you the effect you are after ?

[seekertom]

Hey, sledger!
Thanks for the help. To answer your #2 post questions, (at this time speaking only of xara) when I create a new web page, I always use the text tool to enter text. I expand the dotted lines until I think I have enough room, then type away. If I need more room, I use the grab handles and further expand the dotted line text box. After I'm all done typing, I then select the font face and size. Sometimes I will need to expand the text box a bit more, so I do it with the grab handles. As for using hard returns for formatting the text within the text box, I don't. I just type and when I'm done, I resize the text box width and heigth to gain the desired layout.

Since opening this question, I have done a lot of research, and the best thing I can find is some input from another guru who says the problem is due to how (probably all) the program outputs html code, setting the element positions to 'absolute' with the statement "position:absolute...". This is in the </head> section.

When I look at my test page's source code, sure enough I see the absolute statement. It's there in the xara demo web site too. I have not seen that statement when i view the code from what i called commercial sites, for examply, www.talkgraphics.com. In my test www.poorclaresdelray.org/xara955e the web page shows how two lines of numbers, one below the other, get mis-aligned as browser text size is changed. This doesn't happen to the talkgraphics site. This demos the crux of the problem.

If this assessment of the problem is correct, and xara web designer pro v6 does it, do other users see this problem? I wouldn't be surprised if the answer is 'no', because I had my website out there for months before I happened to view it on a different pc and hit ctrl- to get a better picture. Just dumb luck to see the results. So, whaddya think, is this what it's all about?
tom

[seekertom]

Yo, Jon,
Using ie6, I can't get a size change. It is in the menu under view, but doesn't change anything for me. Maybe ie8 is different.
When I went to your site (Super looking!) in firefox, I see it does scale normally. I even looked at the source code, and yup, the absolute statement is there under </head>, so that about blows my theory away about absolute being the cause.

Did you have a chance to look at my test in firefox and does it exhibit the problem for you? I'd really appreciate it if you could. www.poorclaresdelray.org/xara955e
To eliminate my own mistakes, I also uploaded xara's demo site to www.poorclaresdelray.org/xdemo1 I made no changes to it. The second time I hit ctrl- the first line under 'read me first' ducks behind the picture on the right.... for me, anyhow. Please also look at this one too. This is something I just can't let go of.... too interesting (too much ocd?)
thanks, tom

[seekertom]

Hey, Drwyd!

I'm not an html guy. That's why I'm using canned softwar to do the html coding for me. Maybe it's what I will have to do if I want to run with the big dogs, eh?

Stay tuned, This is interesting.
tom

[Drwyd]

You don't need to know html just add the name "htmlblocktext" to the text area.

[seekertom]

I might if I understood what you are asking for.... sorry to be such a noobie at this... I can give you the link to look at it if that is what you mean... www.poorclaresdelray.org/xara955e just hit ctrl- a few times and watch how the text gets jumbled, especially the rows of numbers. I don't see that this is supposed to happen. What am I doing wrong?
tom

[Drwyd]

Hi Tom

This jumbling of text is quite common. see http://www.nytimes.com/ and http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/ and not just a Xara quirk.

In the attachment in post #14 the effect is less obvious.