All Website Pages Display No Background or Definition

Question

Good evening, Forum.

One of our computers using Windows XP Professional, SP2, Mozilla Firefox (with Internet Explorer still enabled) displays incomplete web pages. For example, if I Google The Dell Community Forum, let's say this page, the blue across the top links for technical support, customer service, etc., shows, but the gray bar beneath it does not.

Dropdown menus - pretend, for example that "Community Forum" above in its blue box actually had a dropdown menu - the words displayed in the dropdown menu would have no background color. Those words would cascade down over other words making them virtually impossible to read because I could see right through the dropdown menu to those other words.

Another example: On sites that have a long list of links on the left hand side, where you are supposed to see each link in a color block that defines it clearly, our computer displays no defining color or lines between the links.

In other words, all text that should appear on any given web page appears on this computer, but most of the background colors, color definitions, and any 3-D type effects, are missing. I can set my laptop next to the offending computer, call up the same site on both computers, compare the two and clearly see what's missing.

And most frustrating of all: We can't view our own webpage properly to make changes and tweak it where we want to because we can't see a good half of the background colors and design on it.

Perhaps it will also be helpful for you to know that this computer is at our family business. It is relatively new and replaces our first computer at the family business.
That first computer had the same problem the new one has. And both of these computers were set up by a friend of ours who can clearly see what's missing from all web pages, but he has no idea how he accomplished this or how to fix it. (Mind boggling, when you realize he set up his own computer as well and it does not have the problem ours have.)

I hope my ignorance of correct technical language will not impede your understanding of the problem we are facing, and I look forward to hearing from anyone with suggestions on how to correct our problem.

Thank you all so much for taking the time to consider my post.

Squirrelly

dunedin · Answer

Hello Squirrelly :smileyhappy:

All I can think he could have done is changed the colour settings somewhere

Try
1. Control Panel/Accessibility Options/Display

"Use High Contrast" should not be checked

2. IE/Tools/Internet Options/General/Colours
Make sure "Use Windows Colours" is checked

3.Same General Tab in IE.
Click Accessibility
Nothing should be checked here

You might have to reboot for changes to work

Squirrelly · Answer

Dear Dunedin:

Thank you for responding.

I tried your first suggestion: It has o effect on website page appearance. It did, however, change my desktop rather dramatically. I changed everything back.

Re your 2nd and third suggestions. Please tell me what you mean by "IE."

Thank you so much.

Squirrelly

dunedin · Answer

IE is Internet Explorer

Squirrelly · Answer

Dear Dunedin:

Can you see me blushing with shame for not recalling that IE is Internet Explorer?...

I'll never forget that one again.

I've tried all your fixes now and none of them have any effect on webpage appearance. And I not only went into IE to make changes, but into Firefox as well to make the same changes.

Thank you again for trying. This would seem to be one of those glitches that is so arcane no one has ever run into it before. I certainly hope I'm wrong about that and someone will come along who knows exactly what it is and what to do about it. If the answer comes from outside this Forum, I'll post the fix for anyone else who might run into the same problem.

Squirelly

dunedin · Answer

Squirelly   My first option 1. Control Panel/Accessibility Options/Display 'Use High Contrast' should not be checked   As far as I am aware this is the Windows default setting and should be unchecked.  All options in this section are meant for people with impaired sight/vision/hearing and are not normally checked otherwise. It is not checked on any of my machines.  Have a look at this setting on your laptop which does not have the problem and make sure you are checking the correct options. I don`t know why unchecking it messed up your machine.   I have known this to be the solution for others with your exact problem so please investigate it further. Did you reboot afterwards?   It is not a 'glitch' since it affects both you machines set up by your friend.  It is something he has done.

Squirrelly · Answer

Hello again Dunedin: 'High Contrast is NOT checked on my home computer--which works just fine. When I unchecked it on my computer at work, I wound up with a black screen and excessively large fonts. When I saw that--no, I did not reboot. I panicked and rechecked high contrast. I will try rebooting tomorrow when I get back to work. Thanks again for all your efforts. Squirrelly

Squirrelly · Answer

Good evening, Forum:

To everyone who attempted to solve my problem with no background or definition
on web pages--and to anyone who may have the same problem and be unable to solve
it...

A "SuperGeek" friend of mine found the answer. It was so simple, it didn't occur
to him until he'd spent half an hour "spelunking" through various programs and
settings for the solution:

Start: Control Panel: Internet Options: Window opens saying Internet Options; click on the General Tab. At the bottom at the left hand corner, click on "Colors." Find the box next to the phrase: "Use Windows Colors," and make sure there's a check in it.

Bingo! The web looks like it should.

And the added bonus was that in Word 2003, all the gray, one-dimensional toolbars, suddenly became 3-dimensional, solving another problem I've written this forum about.

Thanks, everyone. And I certainly hope this solution is helpful to someone out there.

Squirrelly

Message Edited by Squirrelly on 12-12-200606:20 PM

dunedin · Answer

Squirrelly   Check out my first reply to you   2. IE/Tools/Internet Options/General/Colours Make sure 'Use Windows Colours' is checked   :smileyhappy:

Squirrelly · Answer

I got it Dunedin, but there was too much info for me to grasp it all
in one breath. I was looking mostly at the "High contrast
should not be checked." The rest just didn't seem clear to me. Too cryptic
for this non-geek brain of mine. I can see NOW that it was all there--but before
I really understood it, it just didn't make sense.

I'm sure that's hard for you to understand...but if instructions aren't totally
clearcut, precise, step-by-step, no computer jargon, I just don't get it.

Like my bestest Geek friend tells me all the time: "...here's another instance
that reminds me that I know one of a lot more than I think I do or give myself credit for...and ordinary people just don't know what I'm talking about unless I take
a real deep breath before I talk..."

Squirrelly

dunedin · Answer

Okay dokey.   Glad it is sorted now :smileyhappy:

Windows General

All Website Pages Display No Background or Definition

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