Items lining up differently on different computers

[Dennis G]

I have designed a simple one-page site using Publisher 2007 and am finding
that it loads differently for different people even using IE7. My big
problem is that the horizontal lines, which I used to create using the HR
tag, are not lining up the same way for different users.
http://galletta.business.pitt.edu/icis2011

Two questions:

1. Is there any way to assure that the document will line up properly for
different users? I do not expect it to work with Firefox, but I would expect
IE7 to behave consistently

2. Failing that, is there a way to create the HR tag using publisher so that
the horizontal bars will "float" with the text? If the text runs longer for
some, then the HR tag would be perfect. I try to insert HTML but all I see
is a phantom-like box with HTML in it. Is that what is intended?

 

[Don Schmidt]

Looks neat and clear at this terminal.

 

[DavidF]

Dennis G,

I looked at your site with both IE6 and FF. While it looked fine in IE6, I
think I can see your problem by viewing it in FF. In FF you can vary the
text size, and when you do, the horizontal bars do overlap some of the text.
I suspect that the reason you are seeing different things on different
computers all using IE, is that they are being viewed at different DPI
settings. I am viewing your site with my monitor set at 96dpi, and I would
venture a guess that the computers that are not seeing the page correctly
are set at 120dpi, which renders a different text size, and thus skewers
your page. I would imagine that the computer you used to generate the HTML
output from Publisher is also using a monitor set at 96dpi.

Publisher makes it easy to build a web page, but with that convenience comes
limitations. I have found when I bump up against one of those limitations I
frequently have to rethink my design to work around the limitation. One
workaround that might work for you is to break up your one large text box
into individual text boxes. Remove the bars. Take each section as you have
currently organized it with the horizontal bars, and put that text in
individual text boxes, and leave a gap between each text box the size of the
bar you are currently using. You could use one of your bars as a spacer.
Just let it snap to the bottom of one text box, move the second text box up
until it snaps to the bar, and then move the bar down to space the next text
box, etc. After you have the text boxes aligned as you prefer, then set the
background color of the page to the "burgundy" color you are using. Format >
Background. You will have the same effect of the bar, but the gap will
adjust/move with the text box size.

DavidF

 

[Dennis G]

Thank you so much for your very helpful reply! By coincidence, I had thought
to split up the text fields and it was nice to see your confirmation that it
was the right thing to do.

How can I provide a "very helpful" flag to your answer? I only see a link
that says "why should I rank replies" but cannot provide a nice high rank for
yours.

 

[DavidF]

Dennis G,

I don't know if it is the "right" thing to do, as there is always another
way to do things, but I hope it works for you.

As per ranking the answer, you just did in my book. Thanks for posting back.

DavidF