Browser Notes - Historical Information

Browsers have proprietary rendering engines with idiosyncrasies that may cause a difference in the appearance of a page when compared with other browsers. Current evergreen browsers (Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer 11, Edge, etc.) are continually updated (assuming permission is granted) and are standards-compliant with insignificant cross-browser differences. Notes and options for older versions of Google Chrome/Opera, Firefox/SeaMonkey, and Edge/Internet Explorer follow. Note that if you are using a recent browser version, the following problems are not likely to appear; also that since we no longer have access to the older versions of browsers other than Internet Explorer, we do not know if past issues are still relevant - use an up-to-date browser for the best results.

Google Chrome & Opera: Opera is now using the Chrome rendering engine so our references here to Chrome include Opera (or is Chrome using the super-fast Opera engine?). Chrome responds correctly to standard styles with some exceptions. Occasionally a page may open with unexpected scrollbars - reloading the page usually fixes it (press F5 or click the recycle icon on the address bar).

From Firefox: “Firefox on Windows is now following display scaling options which may render text [and images] larger on high resolution displays. You can adjust your screen resolution. To modify it do the following:

Type about:config into the Firefox address bar and tap on the Enter key.
If the warning This might void your warranty appears, click I'll be careful, I promise.
Search for layout.css.devPixelsPerPx (tip: copy from here & paste it)
Double-click on layout.css.devPixelsPerPx to modify its value. The default is -1.0 in Firefox 22 and above.
Change it to 1.0 to make it work like in previous Firefox versions. ”

Sidebar: The statement This might void your warranty is an intentional joke by Firefox - there is no warranty! Their intent seems to be to impress upon us the need to proceed with caution (understood).

Firefox 22+ & SeaMonkey: Firefox and SeaMonkey changed their scaling algorithm for higher resolutions with Firefox 22. This can be problematic in certain instances - like on my old laptop with a medium-high resolution - web pages were huge, spilling off the screen with horizontal and vertical scrollbars. The solution is in the sidebar.

Changing -1.0 to 1.0 returned Firefox on my laptop to the way it displayed pages before v23.0.1 changed it. An alternate solution is to hold Ctrl and press minus a couple of times to get the desired window size, but that only works on the active window - it would get tiresome doing that every time a new window opens - photo windows in particular (I have noticed recently that it does carry forward in some browsers - it need be done only once). I should note that the default works perfectly on my new high-resolution monitor and laptop without the modification - Firefox did a good thing for high-resolution displays.

Also note that the Adobe Reader X plugin for Firefox may or may not work properly in recent versions of Adobe Reader, opening an error bar at the top of the document when it fails to open a pdf correctly. Somtimes it still works ok, other times some functions of Reader do not work correctly, or work not at all. If Reader opens an error-bar, select the open with different viewer option, select the Open with Adobe Reader (default) option, and the document should open correctly in a new window with the desktop version of Reader (assuming the desktop version of Reader has been downloaded/installed).

Edge & Internet Explorer (IE): Recent testing indicates that Edge on Windows 10 is now playing friendly with existing code. If you are using an older version of Internet Explorer, Microsoft may be inviting you to upgrade your browser (It's time to update your browser). We recommend updating your browser to the latest supported version - IE 11 for Windows 8.1 & Windows 7 64-bit SP1, IE 10 for Windows 8.0 and Windows 7 32-bit SP1, IE 9 for Windows 7 (no SP) and Vista SP2, and IE8 on Windows XP SP2+. Note that IE11 and Edge use aggressive tracking, learning the financial benefits from Chrome's tactics. We have noticed a problem with IE 11 if the window resolution is changed - it might be extremely large or small after the change (similar to Firefox as noted above). The solution is to close IE, return to the previous resolution, open IE and resize it with Ctrl-/+ (that's hold Ctrl and press - or +), then change the resolution back to the desired resolution, and IE should open resized. Internet Explorer has such a small market share now that we wonder shy we continue mods for IE 7 & 8...

Internet Explorer may do some weird things while an auto-show or photo gallery is loading if the photos have not yet loaded into cache, but they will look like they are supposed to and work correctly when it has finished loading.

Internet Explorer sometimes kicks us into compatibilty view or quirks mode which can blow our look and feel off the planet (and other sites as well). To fix this, click the blue icon Compat in the address bar, turning it to gray. If the icon is not present, for IE10 or IE11, press F12 and change browser mode to IE10 or IE11, whichever version is installed, and/or document mode to standards.

To clear compatibility view in earlier IE versions, if the menu bar is not present, press Alt to open it, select Tools => Compatibility View Settings =>, click the site you are on (sceniccolorcountry.com or .net or SCCnet.net, however you got here) in the 2nd box, click Remove, then Close, and our site then should be mobile friendly and appear with the latest and greatest technology.