Variable+Fixed Width tables shwoing improperly in Netscape6

[Andrew]

Could someone please tell me why this simple table test is completely
mangled by Netscape?

HTML:
<TABLE WIDTH="90%" ALIGN="center" BORDER="0" CELLPADDING="0"
CELLSPACING="1" BGCOLOR="Black">
<TR>
<TD WIDTH="100" HEIGHT="20" ALIGN="center" BGCOLOR="#eeeeee"
NOWRAP>Left Cell</B></TD>
<TD WIDTH="100%" HEIGHT="20" ALIGN="center"
BGCOLOR="#ffffff">Middle Cell</TD>
<TD WIDTH="100" HEIGHT="20" ALIGN="center" BGCOLOR="#eeeeee"
NOWRAP>Right Cell</TD>
</TR>
</TABLE>

In IE4+/Mozilla/Opera/etc. this table shows three columns, the left
and right cells at 100 pixels, the middle cell taking the reminaing
space, with the text centered in each cell.

In Netscape6 the left and right cells are squished as far as they will
go, and the text is wrapped. All this despite the explicit stating of
left and right cell widths and the no wrap attribute.

Why??? This is standard coding per HTML 3.0 for crying out loud! So,
I ask all of you for both a possible explanation and a "fix" that will
help me deal with this corss-browser display issue.

Thanks in advance.

[David Dorward]

Andrew wrote:

Could someone please tell me why this simple table test is completely
mangled by Netscape?

<TD WIDTH="100"
<TD WIDTH="100%"
<TD WIDTH="100"

Given that there isn't enough space for one cell to take up *all* the space
and the other cells to take up 200 pixels. The browser has to do the best
job it can. Obviously Netscape 4 can't do as good a job at guessing what
you really mean then other browsers.

--
David Dorward http://dorward.me.uk/

[Andrew]

David Dorward <do*****@yahoo.com> wrote in message news:<bp*******************@news.demon.co.uk>...

Andrew wrote:

Could someone please tell me why this simple table test is completely
mangled by Netscape?

<TD WIDTH="100"
<TD WIDTH="100%"
<TD WIDTH="100"

Given that there isn't enough space for one cell to take up *all* the space
and the other cells to take up 200 pixels. The browser has to do the best
job it can. Obviously Netscape 4 can't do as good a job at guessing what
you really mean then other browsers.

Two things...

First, this is taking place in Netscape 6. Don't get me started on
N4.

Second, if N6 isn't smart enough to "figure out" that in this case
100% means "give me 100% of the left over space", what is it you need
to state here? IE, Mozilla, Opera, for crying out loud even AOL, all
can figure this out. What must be done to dumb down the code enough
for Nestcape to understand this concept?

-- Andrew

[David Dorward]

Andrew wrote:

First, this is taking place in Netscape 6. Don't get me started on
N4.
Oh, must have misread.
Second, if N6 isn't smart enough to "figure out" that in this case
100% means "give me 100% of the left over space"
No. 100% means 100% even if YOU mean something else.
, what is it you need to state here?

Nothing at all. Don't specify a width and let the usual table cell width
algorithum work it out.

--
David Dorward http://dorward.me.uk/

[Alan J. Flavell]

On Wed, 19 Nov 2003, Andrew wrote:

Second, if N6 isn't smart enough to "figure out" that in this case
100% means "give me 100% of the left over space", what is it you need
to state here? IE, Mozilla, Opera, for crying out loud even AOL, all
can figure this out.
I think you mean that their error fixup happens to appeal to you. If
you asked for something that was within the published specifications,
you wouldn't be needing to rely on browsers' error fixups.

Well, apropos "ask for", it seems to me that one of the keys to
flexible web page design is knowing when it's better _not_ to specify.
HTML and CSS between them offer a vast number of possible parameters
that one _could_ specify. One has to ask oneself why authors seem
quite content to leave most of the parameters unspecified, yet there's
a shortlist of parameters which they seem stubbornly determined in
every last detail, even though they know very little about the wide
range of presentation situations in which the page will be rendered.
What must be done to dumb down the code enough
for Nestcape to understand this concept?

Browsers don't "understand concepts". To a greater or lesser degree
they implement interworking specifications, and perform error fixups.

What did you mean by "Netscape", anyway? Netscape 7 is just a
packaging of Mozilla. The geriatric Netscape 4.* range of browsers
behave noticeably differently in their Win, Mac, and various Unix
variants.

good luck

[Peter Foti]

"Andrew" <an********@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:12**************************@posting.google.c om...

David Dorward <do*****@yahoo.com> wrote in message

news:<bp*******************@news.demon.co.uk>...

Andrew wrote:

Could someone please tell me why this simple table test is completely
mangled by Netscape?

<TD WIDTH="100"
<TD WIDTH="100%"
<TD WIDTH="100"

What if you omit the width on the middle column? You have a width defined
for the entire table, so if you have 2 of the columns set at 100 pixels,
then I think the natural action of the browser will be to make the 3rd
column stretch to fit the table width. I haven't tried it though.

Regards,
Peter Foti