Techno geeks -- I have a pc vs. mac question

[Doran]

I tried posting this on the How To board a week ago but received no replies. I'm thinking that someone MUST have a solution, or at least an explanation to a problem I'm having. The OP is here (http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=34327). I'm curious about why the "Display Modes" (Linear, Hybrid, etc.) are perfectly functional for me on my iMac desktop, but on our Dell laptop, or on the library desktops, those features are basically useless due to the screen configuration. Can anyone offer some wisdom?

[OnTheBrink]

Yes. Macs rock and everything else doesn't. :lol:

I have no clue what the problem is; I just felt bad your post got to page 2 with no responses. :D

[sdWTMer]

Yes. Macs rock and everything else doesn't. :lol:

I have no clue what the problem is; I just felt bad your post got to page 2 with no responses. :D

Macs do rock! Love my macs!

[Ellie]

I don't know what to tell you. Those features work just fine on both of my PCs.

[Jenny in Atl]

Yes. Macs rock and everything else doesn't. :lol:


:lol::lol::lol:
:001_tt2:

[dragons in the flower bed]

I'm curious about why the "Display Modes" (Linear, Hybrid, etc.) are perfectly functional for me on my iMac desktop, but on our Dell laptop, or on the library desktops, those features are basically useless due to the screen configuration.

Are you using the same browser on each machine? Your Mac might be set to use Safari or Firefox as the default browser, but Internet Explorer is the default on many PCs. Both modes work in Flock, but I can't get them to work in Internet Explorer. Try installing Flock on your laptop.

If that doesn't work, try adjusting the screen resolution so everything's smaller.

[dragons in the flower bed]

I don't know what to tell you. Those features work just fine on both of my PCs.

Ellie, what browser are you running?

[Doran]

Are you using the same browser on each machine? Your Mac might be set to use Safari or Firefox as the default browser, but Internet Explorer is the default on many PCs. Both modes work in Flock, but I can't get them to work in Internet Explorer. Try installing Flock on your laptop.

If that doesn't work, try adjusting the screen resolution so everything's smaller.


On the iMac, I use Firefox for the most part. On the home laptop, I tend to also use Firefox, but have probably also tried IE. The library uses IE.

What is Flock?

I can't quite imagine that "smalling" everything on the laptop would do the trick, but I'll give that a shot...just as soon as we get our power cord replaced and I can USE the laptop again (sigh). The thing is, the display mode screen and toolbar are so very far off from everything else. I'm not particularly savvy on this kind of thing, but it seems unlikely that changing screen resolution will bring that screen in enough to make everything visible - because right now the hybrid mode puts the text awfully far over to the right.

Does anyone else experience this so that you can help me explain the problem...I fear I'm really butchering it in my attempts. I have a vague recollection of Colleen mentioning this way back when the new boards were first getting going. Anyone else?

[flutistmom]

Yes. Macs rock and everything else doesn't. :lol:

:D

:iagree: Oh, boy! Are we helpful today, or what?:lol:

-Robin

[dragons in the flower bed]

What is Flock?

Flock is a browser. If it's not the browser, I don't know what it could be, because HTML isn't platform specific, as far as I know. I'm sorry, Doran. Maybe some of us could ask our teenage sons. I'll bring it up at my Dungeons & Dragons game tonight.

[dragons in the flower bed]

Oh, I just thought of something. Can you go into preferences in your browser and fiddle with the default display settings?

[OnTheBrink]

:iagree: Oh, boy! Are we helpful today, or what?:lol:

-Robin

Oh, I'm in a smart-arse mood today; I'm REALLY having to control myself with not giving snarky (in a fun way) responses to posts. I may have to go clean the bathroom or something soon. LOL

[Doran]

Oh, I'm in a smart-arse mood today; I'm REALLY having to control myself with not giving snarky (in a fun way) responses to posts. I may have to go clean the bathroom or something soon. LOL


http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/chores034.gif (http://www.freesmileys.org)





That's what happens to people who snark me!










Just kidding! If anyone understand smartarse 'tis moi! :)

[Ellie]

Ellie, what browser are you running?

Internet Explorer on both. Also, my desktop computer has XP, the laptop has Vista (don't know if that makes a difference or not, but I thought I'd throw it in:D).

[Doran]

Internet Explorer on both. Also, my desktop computer has XP, the laptop has Vista (don't know if that makes a difference or not, but I thought I'd throw it in:D).

I'm assuming the library computers are also XP.

The Mac is OS X - 10.3.9

[Ellie]

I'm assuming the library computers are also XP.

The Mac is OS X - 10.3.9

The computer I'm using right now runs XP. No problems.

[Doran]

The computer I'm using right now runs XP. No problems.

...but I clearly don't have your touch! :D


So, for my sake, please help me "see" what you see on your screen. Here's what I see: I go to a specific thread, and I click on the Display Modes button, Then I choose either Hybrid Mode or Switch to Threaded Mode (I'm generally in Hybrid), a small screen appears at the top of the big screen. This houses a bunch of little document-type icons, which are either blue or orange, depending on whether or not I've read them, followed by a person's name, followed by whatever title they chose or by the entire content of their post if they did not fill in a title. The problem seems to lie - on my Windows computers - in the fact that the computer does not position the up/down scroll bars overtop of any text that may appear there. Instead, those buttons appear all the way over to the right, where the text actually ends. Does that make any sense.

So, on your screen, do you see it like I do on my iMac? A few words of text, followed by your scroll buttons which likely appear on top of some of the text in any given post?

:confused: Man, it's hard to find words to describe this!