Bizarre browser problem with rendering CSS

Discussion in 'Computer Science & Culture' started by Pete, Jul 27, 2007.

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  1. Pete

    Pete It's not rocket surgery Registered Senior Member

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    My wife's laptop has a bizarre problem when displaying web pages.

    Internet Explorer isn't rendering some pages correctly. Updating to IE7 and resetting all defaults didn't fix it. No great surprise there, right?

    Now here's the bizarre part... I downloaded and installed Firefox, but it has the same problem! Now I was getting a bit freaked out. I checked latest video drivers and tried turning off hardware acceleration without any joy.

    Then I inspected the problem pages, and started testing with some basic hand-coded pages. The problem seems to be that color related CSS tags are ignored.

    Then I tried Opera... which works!

    So... what do Internet Explorer and Firefox share regarding CSS rendering that Opera doesn't? And why would they only be ignoring color specs?

    Here's the test code:
    Code:
    <html>
  <head>
    <style type="text/css">
      body {
        background-color:#FF0000;
      }
      .testbox {
	    width:5cm;
	    padding:0.2cm;
	    border:solid;
	    color:#0000FF;
	    font-weight:bold;
	    font-family:Arial,Verdana,Sans-Serif;
	    font-size:20;
	    text-align:center;
	    background-color:#FFFF00;
      }
    </style>
  </head>
  <body>
    <div class="testbox">Testing CSS</div>
  </body>
</html>
    And here's the results:

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    Pete, Jul 27, 2007
    #1

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  3. domesticated om

    domesticated om Stickler for details Valued Senior Member

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    Humph---- looks like it's rendering correctly in Safari, and choking on the other browsers---

    Sciforums needs a scratching chin smilie like this

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    domesticated om, Jul 27, 2007
    #2

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  5. Plazma Inferno!

    Plazma Inferno! Ding Ding Ding Ding Administrator

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    Ok. :scratchin:
     
    Plazma Inferno!, Jul 27, 2007
    #3

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  7. domesticated om

    domesticated om Stickler for details Valued Senior Member

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    Haha -- thanks. That's awesome.
    I'm going to use it all the time.




    As for the CSS issue --- I tried creating a quick little web page by directly copy/pasting your test into a notepad document, then used it on firefox/IE.

    It rendered correctly.......I dunno what's happening with yours.
     
    domesticated om, Jul 27, 2007
    #4
  8. Pete

    Pete It's not rocket surgery Registered Senior Member

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    Yeah - I should have said it works fine on other computers.

    I think this one is possessed?
     
    Last edited: Jul 27, 2007
    Pete, Jul 27, 2007
    #5
  9. Stryder

    Stryder Keeper of "good" ideas. Valued Senior Member

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    I tested both Firefox and IE (on Vista) both can view the page properly.

    There are only a few possible conclusions I could draw:

    Firstly do you have a Firewall/Antivirus package that could be blocking certain things for programs that are compatible with it? (i.e. Internet Explorer and Firefox) As the problem you are having to occur to both browsers and not another would suggest either some shared library being malformed (Scan for viruses/Trojans especially the sort delivered by Email) or by tight security settings locking potential script exploits from occuring (even if the script itself is plain, simple and doesn't do anything but set the colour).

    As for how my tests went:

    With IE the "Content Blocker" popped up asking if I would like to allow "Scripts and ActiveX", there was no Disallow option, just an Allow or Cancel option.
    Pressing either did not generate the results you've been getting.

    I did try messing around with IE's Internet Options by increasing the security levels etc, however again no effect. This would suggest if any settings were altered they would have to be some of the more advanced ones. Have you tried going to Internet Options, then the Advanced tab and selecting one of the Reset buttons?

    There should be something similar in Firefox too, just remember that firefox has the page: about:config (Just type that in place of a Http://URL) which should help you identify settings.
     
    Stryder, Jul 27, 2007
    #6
  10. mapsdnasggeyerg

    mapsdnasggeyerg fubar Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    63
    One thing to check in IE, go to Tools|Internet Options. Go into the Accessibility options, to see if the "Ignore colors specified on webpages" is enabled.
     
    mapsdnasggeyerg, Jul 27, 2007
    #7
  11. Pete

    Pete It's not rocket surgery Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    10,167
    Yeah, that's the logical one, but no.

    Stryder,
    I thought some of the same things, but it doesn't fit... there's no active code here, and there's no file access issues. And its happening in two different browsers, but not all browsers.

    Update:
    The problem appears to be in some user-level setting. I made a new user, and the problem does not occur when logging on with the new user.
     
    Pete, Jul 28, 2007
    #8
  12. achoi02

    achoi02 Registered Member

    Messages:
    1
    i think i figured it out

    i dunno if anyone ever figured it out or if anyone's still having problems on it. basically the issue is related to the HIGH CONTRAST accessibility option. the keyboard shortcut for it is alt+left shift+print screen. my dell desktop actually made a system beep when i did that and all the colors disappeared on IE as well as firefox.
     
    achoi02, Jan 28, 2008
    #9
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