Odd Display Resolution

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Level 3

742 points

Odd Display Resolution

1280 x 800. Is this the default display resolution for the MacBook? Sorry for this trivial question, but I am in a hotel room using the WiFi here and one of the web-pages I customarily view looks different. Of course this is really rather minor, but on account of jet lag, I am wide awake and this is somewhat worrying me. Is it possible that a display resolution can fluctuate without me adjusting it manually? The news web-page I check daily, is never displayed with a scroll bar at the bottom. Now, however it's there, and I am wondering if the resolution setting somehow got changed. So what is the standard one, anyway?
Thanks kindly in advance.
~ john

MacBook, Mac OS X (10.4.11)

Posted on Apr 20, 2008 9:44 PM

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Answer 1

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stedman1

Community+ 2024

Level 10

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Apr 20, 2008 9:50 PM in response to boksey

Hi boksey: You are correct, the Native resolution of the MacBook is indeed 1280X800. Is it possible that the size of the web page just needs to be increased. If so, this can be done by dragging the little triangle in the bottom right corner.

Good Luck
Stedman

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Answer 2

boksey Author

Level 3

742 points

Apr 20, 2008 10:07 PM in response to stedman1

Hey stedman 1, thanks for the quick reassurance. As I see you too are from BC, why don't you go to the Globe and Mail website, and see if perhaps you too now get a scroll bar at the bottom of the screen. I've previously attempted to re-size the web page with the triangle and it's on maximum size already. No difference, except that earlier today, the scroll bar wasn't there.
Cheers.

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Answer 3

Apr 21, 2008 6:27 AM in response to boksey

Hi Boksey: Sorry, I didn't get a chance to get to the Globe site last night, but this AM there is no bottom scroll bar.

Stedman

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Answer 4

boksey Author

Level 3

742 points

Apr 21, 2008 7:09 AM in response to stedman1

Hello Stedman,
Thanks for checking.
Just went over to the online version of the Globe from the hotel in Toronto, and - sure enough, the scroll bar is there at the bottom. Odd. None of the other sites I navigate to appear in this fashion. Anyhow, in the scheme of things this is quite minor. Interested to see if upon returning to BC, it'll display in the usual fashion. Which of course makes no sense to me...
Cheers,
boksey

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Answer 5

BSteely

Level 5

7,643 points

Apr 21, 2008 5:24 PM in response to boksey

It sounds like your screen may have gotten zoomed in one step. Try going into System Preferences/Universal Access and under the Seeing pane turn Zoom to off.

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Answer 6

boksey Author

Level 3

742 points

Apr 22, 2008 10:18 PM in response to BSteely

Thanks for your idea BSteely. Good thought but the Zoom is Off, and the scroll bar is still there at the bottom - even when I've returned to my usual ISP. It can't be the web-site, as others view it in the customary fashion without the bottom scroll bar, so somehow the MacBook - mine only? - has "decided" for some reason to distort how the webpage is rendered. Curious how suddenly this happened - without any input from me.
Cheers,
john

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Answer 7

boksey Author

Level 3

742 points

Apr 23, 2008 5:36 PM in response to boksey

Did a bit of troubleshooting since my previous post.
Opening the web page that started this whole thread with FirFox, and it displays the Globe site perfectly, without the bottom scroll bar. So perhaps Safari itself somehow became the culprit. Although even with Safari, it's only on the start-up page where this bottom scroll bar business happens. Once I click on links to news articles on the opening page, subsequent pages (still within the Globe and Mail site) all appear without the bottom of the screen displaying the bar. How can just viewing the Homepage of a site get corrupted like this?
Cheers,
john

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Answer 8

BSteely

Level 5

7,643 points

Apr 25, 2008 5:48 PM in response to boksey

The horizontal scroll bar will show up in any application, including Finder windows, anytime there is more to be presented horizontally than the width of the current window allows. It could be that the width of the content of that Globe site you reference is right on the edge of being too wide for a full width browser window on your MacBook. Accounting for slight differences in how information is rendered between the two browsers, Safari and Firefox, Safari is pushing it over the edge and the horizontal scroll bar appears automatically as it should. I imagine the scroll amount has very little stroke or range to it, correct? Like maybe just a few pixels?

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