21.5 Imac all in one

[mountainrivers]

My new Imac 21.5 all in one will load some pages in full screen and others it only shows a small window in the middle of the screen with white panels on either side. It overlaps some of the text making it impossible to read. How can I change this to load all windows in full screen mode? Thanks for any help!

 

[harryb2448]

G'day and welcome to the forums.

Which iMac, as 21.5" models have been on the scene since around late 2008, and what operating system?

http://www.mac-forums.com/forums/news-community-announcements/313284-writing-quality-post.html

 

[ron4mac]

And what applications / what windows? If you what help, you need to provide sufficient information for someone to be able to advise you without numerous messages back and forth, trying to get the details that you've failed to provide.

 

[mountainrivers]

My Imac all in one

And what applications / what windows? If you what help, you need to provide sufficient information for someone to be able to advise you without numerous messages back and forth, trying to get the details that you've failed to provide.

Sorry for the lack of information. This is a whole new thing for me as I have always used PC's and never have seen this problem before. It's hard to describe. When I click a bookmark, for instance, say the National weather service, the screen loads the site but it only fills about the middle third of the screen. The other two thirds are blank spaces on either side of what was loaded. On other sites, it will load the site page in full screen. In the first instance, some of the text overlaps, due to not enough space available for the size of the font I suppose. Reducing the size of the font doesn't solve the problem and I'm very frustrated trying to figure it out. My Imac is a late 2013 according to the "about this Mac". This a brand new computer with less than two hours user time. When I click on the full screen icon, it jumps a little but doesn't fill the screen anymore than before I did it. If any more information is needed, please tell me what would be helpful.
thanks again for any help.

 

[mountainrivers]

Sorry for the lack of information. This is a whole new thing for me as I have always used PC's and never have seen this problem before. It's hard to describe. When I click a bookmark, for instance, say the National weather service, the screen loads the site but it only fills about the middle third of the screen. The other two thirds are blank spaces on either side of what was loaded. On other sites, it will load the site page in full screen. In the first instance, some of the text overlaps, due to not enough space available for the size of the font I suppose. Reducing the size of the font doesn't solve the problem and I'm very frustrated trying to figure it out. My Imac is a late 2013 according to the "about this Mac". This a brand new computer with less than two hours user time. When I click on the full screen icon, it jumps a little but doesn't fill the screen anymore than before I did it. If any more information is needed, please tell me what would be helpful.
thanks again for any help.

Here's a discussion of the problem I'm having on another forum. After reading the replies, I still have no idea what to do to solve this problem. Hopefully someone can explain it to this old unsavvy guy.
Maximizing iMac font/screen size? - MacRumors Forums

 

[MacInWin]

OK, I think what is happening is that you are getting to some pages that are pre-sized for width, and when you make your browser window wider than that pre-sized width, you get empty space left and right because the browser puts the image in the middle of the window. There is no fix. However, try this to verify: Open one of the sites that show this behavior, then hold down Command and the "+" key. That will increase the font/pictures/whatever it can from the site. Get it large enough and the window will fill. However, when you go somewhere else, you may find the effect is that now you can only see the middle of the page, not the edges because it's TOO big. Command and the "-" key will make it smaller.

Those key combos are, by the way, Zoom functions.

Some website adjust to your window width automatically (this site does that) and some do not. You just have to put up with it.

 

[mountainrivers]

OK, I think what is happening is that you are getting to some pages that are pre-sized for width, and when you make your browser window wider than that pre-sized width, you get empty space left and right because the browser puts the image in the middle of the window. There is no fix. However, try this to verify: Open one of the sites that show this behavior, then hold down Command and the "+" key. That will increase the font/pictures/whatever it can from the site. Get it large enough and the window will fill. However, when you go somewhere else, you may find the effect is that now you can only see the middle of the page, not the edges because it's TOO big. Command and the "-" key will make it smaller.

Those key combos are, by the way, Zoom functions.

Some website adjust to your window width automatically (this site does that) and some do not. You just have to put up with it.

Thanks! However, I never had this problem with a PC and both my daughter and SIL plus my sister and her husband all have macs and they have not seen this problem. Could it be a flaw with this particular computer or this series of Macs?

 

[docx]

What browser are you using?

 

[mountainrivers]

Firefox

 

[docx]

OK. have you tried other browsers?

 

[mountainrivers]

No. Suggestions?

 

[docx]

OK. have you tried other browsers?

I asked this question to try and determine if this is browser specific or a general problem.

 

[mountainrivers]

Just tried Safari. Same results.

 

[vansmith]

OK, I think what is happening is that you are getting to some pages that are pre-sized for width, and when you make your browser window wider than that pre-sized width, you get empty space left and right because the browser puts the image in the middle of the window. There is no fix.

I'm inclined to agree that this is the case. More and more, sites are designed to make use of row metaphors in their layout - content is arranged in rows with columns, some of which are designed only to take up some space. Maybe an example will help. Let's say you've got a piece of content. If you're using rows and columns, you may say "put this content in a row, a column width of 4 and offset it by 4 columns on each side" (more often than not, for whatever reason, the use of rows assumes a 12 column wide row). No matter what you do to your screen, the content will only ever take up the space in the middle (since you offset it equally on both sides).

My only hesitation in jumping behind this solution completely is that you're talking about weird font issues which shouldn't happen in this case. Can you take a screenshot of this happening (Command-Shift-3 and the look on your Desktop)?

 

[MacInWin]

I see the same phenomenon on Safari, so it's probably not Firefox. Firefox is pretty crappy as a browser, however.

I think the issue is that 99.9% of websites are developed for Internet Explorer and may take advantage of some function in IE that is not standard HTML. Safari and Firefox don't seem to be implemented in the same way as IE, so those website get "strange" sometimes. This site, for example, expands and contracts properly to fit the Safari window, but FoxNews.com and Abcnews.com both demonstrate the Fixed width problem the OP is citing. I don't think there is anything to be done, it's in the code at the website.

 

[mountainrivers]

So, my question then is: Why does this not happen on other Macs using those two browsers?

 

[MacInWin]

You didn't need to ask it twice.

It's happening to me on ALL of the macs in my house (iMac 2008, MacMini, two MBPs) so you aren't unique. There may be some setting somewhere that overcomes the limitation, but I don't know where. I've looked at Safari preferences and see nothing obvious. I do have it set to use a minimum font size suitable for me, but I otherwise use pretty much default settings.

 

[mountainrivers]

LOL! It took a while for the first post to appear, so I thought I hadn't posted it. I also posted an "oops" and it hasn't appeared yet. Maybe the site is busy.

 

[vansmith]

Can you provide an example of a website where this is happening? If not, a screenshot would do wonders.

 

[MacInWin]

I can happily provide examples, except that for some reason the website has started to refuse any and all pictures I post, it only shows the links with question marks. I'll put them here anyway, but you'll have to open the link yourself to see the pictures.