prevent horizontal scrolling

I have an application that sends HTML emails. The HTML is basically a
template that I provide, but part of the HTML is supplied by the
user. Sometimes the user inadvertently supplies HTML which cause the
the email recipient to have to scroll horizontally to see it. Is
there any tag that I can use in my template to enclose the user HTML
to make sure that doesn't happen? I've tried enclosing it in <table
width="100%"> but that doesn't prevent the problem.

On 2008-02-06, Jason <Jason.Davis.KC (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote:

I have an application that sends HTML emails. The HTML is basically a
template that I provide, but part of the HTML is supplied by the
user. Sometimes the user inadvertently supplies HTML which cause the
the email recipient to have to scroll horizontally to see it. Is
there any tag that I can use in my template to enclose the user HTML
to make sure that doesn't happen? I've tried enclosing it in <table
width="100%"> but that doesn't prevent the problem.

In general, no, apart from a rule like body { overflow: hidden }. Then
they wouldn't be able to scroll, but the missing content would just be
clipped, which would be even worse.

Ben C scribed:

On 2008-02-06, Jason <Jason.Davis.KC (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote:
I have an application that sends HTML emails. The HTML is basically a
template that I provide, but part of the HTML is supplied by the
user. Sometimes the user inadvertently supplies HTML which cause the
the email recipient to have to scroll horizontally to see it. Is
there any tag that I can use in my template to enclose the user HTML
to make sure that doesn't happen? I've tried enclosing it in <table
width="100%"> but that doesn't prevent the problem.

In general, no, apart from a rule like body { overflow: hidden }. Then
they wouldn't be able to scroll, but the missing content would just be
clipped, which would be even worse.

How about limiting the body width:

body {
max-width: 1100px;
width:expression(document.body.clientWidth > 1100? "1100px": "100%" );
}

The 2nd line (width:expression....) is to limit the width in IE(6), which
doesn't support the max-width property. It's a conditional expression that
says 'if the width is greater than 1100px, then width = 1100px, else
width = 100%.
--
Ed Jay (remove 'M' to respond by email)

On 2008-02-06, Ed Jay <edMbj (AT) aes-intl (DOT) com> wrote:

Ben C scribed:

On 2008-02-06, Jason <Jason.Davis.KC (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote:
I have an application that sends HTML emails. The HTML is basically a
template that I provide, but part of the HTML is supplied by the
user. Sometimes the user inadvertently supplies HTML which cause the
the email recipient to have to scroll horizontally to see it. Is
there any tag that I can use in my template to enclose the user HTML
to make sure that doesn't happen? I've tried enclosing it in <table
width="100%"> but that doesn't prevent the problem.

In general, no, apart from a rule like body { overflow: hidden }. Then
they wouldn't be able to scroll, but the missing content would just be
clipped, which would be even worse.

How about limiting the body width:

body {
max-width: 1100px;
width:expression(document.body.clientWidth > 1100? "1100px": "100%" );
}

It doesn't make any difference. Descendents can still overflow the body.

There's no way to stop someone putting

<div style="width: 10000px">

in the document. If they do it will overflow, and either be clipped, or
be scrollable-to (I haven't encountered a UA that implemented overflow:
visible on the viewport).

On 2/6/2008 6:02 AM, Ed Jay wrote:

Ben C scribed:

On 2008-02-06, Jason <Jason.Davis.KC (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote:
I have an application that sends HTML emails. The HTML is basically a
template that I provide, but part of the HTML is supplied by the
user. Sometimes the user inadvertently supplies HTML which cause the
the email recipient to have to scroll horizontally to see it. Is
there any tag that I can use in my template to enclose the user HTML
to make sure that doesn't happen? I've tried enclosing it in <table
width="100%"> but that doesn't prevent the problem.
In general, no, apart from a rule like body { overflow: hidden }. Then
they wouldn't be able to scroll, but the missing content would just be
clipped, which would be even worse.

How about limiting the body width:

body {
max-width: 1100px;
width:expression(document.body.clientWidth > 1100? "1100px": "100%" );
}

The 2nd line (width:expression....) is to limit the width in IE(6), which
doesn't support the max-width property. It's a conditional expression that
says 'if the width is greater than 1100px, then width = 1100px, else
width = 100%.

Because my eyes are getting older, my screen resolution is 800x600. A
max-width of 1100px would still require horizontal scrolling.

Many people still prefer ASCII-formatted E-mail. Some even trash any
HTML-formatted messages.

--
David Ross
<http://www.rossde.com/>

Have you been using Netscape and now feel abandoned by AOL?
Then use SeaMonkey. Go to <http://www.seamonkey-project.org/>.

David E. Ross scribed:

On 2/6/2008 6:02 AM, Ed Jay wrote:
Ben C scribed:

On 2008-02-06, Jason <Jason.Davis.KC (AT) gmail (DOT) com> wrote:
I have an application that sends HTML emails. The HTML is basically a
template that I provide, but part of the HTML is supplied by the
user. Sometimes the user inadvertently supplies HTML which cause the
the email recipient to have to scroll horizontally to see it. Is
there any tag that I can use in my template to enclose the user HTML
to make sure that doesn't happen? I've tried enclosing it in <table
width="100%"> but that doesn't prevent the problem.
In general, no, apart from a rule like body { overflow: hidden }. Then
they wouldn't be able to scroll, but the missing content would just be
clipped, which would be even worse.

How about limiting the body width:

body {
max-width: 1100px;
width:expression(document.body.clientWidth > 1100? "1100px": "100%" );
}

The 2nd line (width:expression....) is to limit the width in IE(6), which
doesn't support the max-width property. It's a conditional expression that
says 'if the width is greater than 1100px, then width = 1100px, else
width = 100%.

Because my eyes are getting older, my screen resolution is 800x600. A
max-width of 1100px would still require horizontal scrolling.

You could change it from 1100 to 800, or whatever you want. That said, the
other fella who posted was correct...my technique won't stop someone from
typing 'width:2000px' and defeating the purpose of max-width.

Many people still prefer ASCII-formatted E-mail. Some even trash any
HTML-formatted messages.

People stubbornly do a lot of foolish things...trashing HTML emails without
bothering to note the sender is only one example.
--
Ed Jay (remove 'M' to respond by email)