Re: scroll bar size in width calculations

On Jan 7, 2008, at 4:13 PM, Robert O'Callahan wrote:

> On Jan 6, 2008 3:46 PM, Brad Kemper <brkemper@comcast.net> wrote:
> Well, I know there are edge cases where one scrollbar causes a  
> reflow that could also make the other one needed. And I know that  
> content height will never be 100% predictable, even when specified  
> in ems, due to various glyph sizes. Does that summarize what you  
> just wrote? I don't have a problem with that. But there are one or  
> two browsers (I think IE6 and IE7, and maybe FireFox 2 also, but I  
> don't have the right computer to check these right now), where the  
> horizontal scrollbar appears even when there is clearly no need for  
> it, when overflow is set to auto and overflow-x is not set to  
> hidden. There is no thumb button, mind you, just an empty, unusable  
> bar. Safari never had this same problem.
>
> We had bugs in this area and probably still do --- it's tricky to  
> get right --- but we (FF) work pretty hard to minimize the number  
> of scrollbars we display. Specifically, *I* work pretty hard to  
> ensure that :-). http://bugzilla.mozilla.org if you have problems  
> reproducible in FF3 betas...

Rob, I didn't mean it as a criticism, if it is a bug, as I know it  
can get complex. I think in IE6, at least, it just goes ahead and  
draw two scrollbars whenever it needs even one, which is what I feel  
is incorrect behavior by design. I don't recall  if it was changed in  
IE7, but I don't think so.

I have FF3 at home and FF2 at work. At home with FF3, this problem is  
not there on a simple test case. I will have to try to get more  
specific info, and will file a bug report if there still is one.