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**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 27, 2000, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/htmlers-can-you-help-me-with-aol/47442 "2000-12-27T22:19:07Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 12\
**Page:** 1
**Author:**  [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\
**Post date:** [December 27, 2000, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/htmlers-can-you-help-me-with-aol/47442/1 "2000-12-27T22:19:07Z")
I hope it’s OK to recruit some help here. I just built out an HTML version of a Flash site, and was told to build it for 800x600 (760x420). It looks just fine in IE and Netscape, but like absolute sh\*t in AOL. My guess is that AOL either displays images in some deeply crappy way, or that it’s scaling the site down to fit 640x480.
Can anyone help me on this? Here’s a link to the site. Maybe it’s a layout issue. I dunno.
[http://dev.usinternet.com/introplace/tour/](http://dev.usinternet.com/introplace/tour/)
(Please keep in mind that I did NOT design this puppy).
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**Author:**  [@AndYrAStar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndYrAStar)\
**Post date:** [December 27, 2000, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/htmlers-can-you-help-me-with-aol/47442/2 "2000-12-27T22:38:35Z")
What version AOL are you looking at it in? I have 6.0 and it looks fine. I opened it in IE 5.0 and it looks the same.
AOL does display images crappy though, if you go into the browser preferences and uncheck “compress graphics” (something like that) they look much better. Is that what you meant?
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**Author:**  [@CnoteChris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CnoteChris)\
**Post date:** [December 27, 2000, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/htmlers-can-you-help-me-with-aol/47442/3 "2000-12-27T22:43:54Z")
Looks fine to me too. I’m using IE 5.5 at 1280x1024.
Check out the setting **Beadalin** mentioned. AOL wants to keep the graphics simple and uses the compressed format as its default.
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**Author:**  [@Timothy\_Campbell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Timothy_Campbell)\
**Post date:** [December 27, 2000, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/htmlers-can-you-help-me-with-aol/47442/4 "2000-12-27T22:45:10Z")
I just looked at the site on AOL 5.0 and it looked perfect.
Speaking of which, I also have an HTML problem. My web site (“Overcome Your Fear of Flying”) is:
[http://members.aol.com/timxcampbell](http://members.aol.com/timxcampbell)
There’s a picture of an airplane at the top left of the page, and I’ve had a problem where one person had the picture cut in two (just below the door of the airplane). Is anybody else seeing that?
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**Author:**  [@Arjuna34](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arjuna34)\
**Post date:** [December 27, 2000, 10:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/htmlers-can-you-help-me-with-aol/47442/5 "2000-12-27T22:57:18Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Timothy Campbell \*
> \*\*
> There’s a picture of an airplane at the top left of the page, and I’ve had a problem where one person had the picture cut in two (just below the door of the airplane). Is anybody else seeing that? \*\*
It happens to me. I’m using Netscape 4.75 on a Windows 98SE machine.
Arjuna34
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**Author:**  [@Arjuna34](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arjuna34)\
**Post date:** [December 27, 2000, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/htmlers-can-you-help-me-with-aol/47442/6 "2000-12-27T22:58:48Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by Arjuna34 \*
>
> It happens to me. I’m using Netscape 4.75 on a Windows 98SE machine.
>
> Arjuna34 \*\*
I forgot to mention that it looks fine for me with IE on the same machine.
Arjuna34
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**Author:**  [@MinkMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MinkMan)\
**Post date:** [December 27, 2000, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/htmlers-can-you-help-me-with-aol/47442/7 "2000-12-27T23:18:08Z")
The problem occurs when the width of the browser window causes the “Are you afraid of Flying?” to be wraped to two or more lines. This makes the table row you are using taller than the graphic of the bottom of the plane. The browser then centers the gif in the cell, giving the gap. Try adding a “VALIGN=top” in the cell. Your code should read:
```auto
 |
.
.
.
```
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**Author:**  [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\
**Post date:** [December 27, 2000, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/htmlers-can-you-help-me-with-aol/47442/8 "2000-12-27T23:35:38Z")
Ah HA! It worked! I took off the “Always compress graphics” preference, and the site looks normal! WOO HOO! **AndYrAStar** , you really _ARE_ a star! I no longer feel ready to throttle everyone around me. Thanks so much for the responses, guys.
**Timothy Campbell** , along with the excellent advice from MinkMan, I suggest you specify border=0 around each image. That can sometimes make a real difference (sometimes not, but it’s a good practice to get into).
So, \
\\
\
That should solve your problem.
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**Author:**  [@Timothy\_Campbell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Timothy_Campbell)\
**Post date:** [December 27, 2000, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/htmlers-can-you-help-me-with-aol/47442/9 "2000-12-27T23:39:45Z")
Locally, on my machine (i.e. not on the site itself) I added the “VALIGN=TOP” you recommended, but it didn’t fix the problem that occurs when the first text line wraps.
However, you may be on to something! It’s not clear to me why there should be that extra space (with the background showing through) if the text gets wrapped.
Anybody have any insight into this?
Incidentally, for those of you who have wondered what I look like, that’s me in the pictures. 🙂
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**Author:**  [@Timothy\_Campbell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Timothy_Campbell)\
**Post date:** [December 28, 2000, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/htmlers-can-you-help-me-with-aol/47442/10 "2000-12-28T00:36:10Z")
Minkman: Your observation helped me figure out the problem. While I have not yet taken Beadalin advice (which I think makes sense), I’ve managed to fix the wrapping problem. My mistake was breaking up the graphic across two separate tables. When the text wrapped at the top of the second table, the browser would put space BETWEEN the tables for no good reason that I can think of.
Anyway, if anybody wants to see the new and improved version, with the airplane intact (I hope), it can be found at [http://members.aol.com/timxcampbell](http://members.aol.com/timxcampbell)
If there’s still a problem, though, please let me know.
Thanks, people! SDMB rocks!
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**Author:**  [@AndYrAStar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndYrAStar)\
**Post date:** [December 28, 2000, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/htmlers-can-you-help-me-with-aol/47442/11 "2000-12-28T05:46:30Z")
\<\< **AndYrAStar** , you really _ARE_ a star! \>\>
:::beams:::
timothy, no problems here.
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**Author:**  [@Timothy\_Campbell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Timothy_Campbell)\
**Post date:** [December 29, 2000, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/htmlers-can-you-help-me-with-aol/47442/12 "2000-12-29T03:59:44Z")
I’ve taken Beadalin’s advice and I believe I’ve managed to make my web site look good on both IE and Netscape. For those who (like me) aren’t exactly HTML experts, let me tell you what the main problem is…
In IE, if you don’t specify an attribute, it appears to assume that the value is ZERO (which is a reasonable assumption, and quite consistent with the HTML philosophy). Netscape, however, assumes certain values. For example, if you don’t set HSPACE and VSPACE everywhere possible, graphics won’t come out exactly where you expected them to.
Thanks, all, for your help!