[thelist] Netscape 4.7 playing havoc with form pages

[Phil]

>Date: Thu, 2 Aug 2001 11:55:04 +0100  alastair wrote
>
>Netscape usually does this, can't remember the exact reason but basically it
>measure character widths differently (??).  One way to fix is to use css.
>
>> From: "sfmalo" <sfmalo at email.msn.com>
>>
>> Just revised a client's site and discovered that the two form pages
>> are displaying catywampus in NN4.7 at 800x600 resolution. The boxes in
>> the forms are distorted and I'm getting horizontal scrolling on each

<tip>
When making cross browser forms, Netscape Navigator does not inherit
fonts from outside a container like a table, while IE does (from the body or 
any container).  This applies to both style properties and font tagging.

If a form has an "intimate" font or style directly associated with it, N4
will 
apply the font face to the form elements as well, with a much wider spacing.
This is often undesirable, and Netscape Gekko has now inherited IE's bad 
habits.

If CSS styles (text/css) can be avoided, the simplest work around is to use 
Netscapes original, native (text/javascript) style language which will
correct the 
N4 presentation and be ignored by other browsers which now only use the css. 

Since N4 also recognizes the css language, they must not conflict, so ids or
span classes may be in order.
</tip>

Phil Stark
webdisplays