"Preview post" button gives a different (larger) post-width than actually posting

[enderlord99]

Why does it do that? Shouldn't a button designed to show you ahead of time what your post looks like actually, y'know, who you what your **** post looks like?

[Douglas]

Post width is not a real thing. How wide your post is depends on the size of the browser window it's displayed in, which will vary a great deal over all the people who might see your post. If the exact width of your post is relevant to what you're doing, you're doing something wrong.

[ChristianSt]

If you want exact control over how things look you are pretty much forced to post your post as image, which would be a pretty bad idea :smallwink:.

On top of that width thing (you could try to mitigate that by using a table with a specific width and enclose your post within) pretty much any browser has the power to render things different (like the user controlled zoom level or available fonts). Considering on top that each post is also accessible through a mobile version of the forum, there is NO way to get a 100%-consistent exact preview: because there is not a single consistent post view, but a collection of possible ones with the preview being one of them.

The previous paragraph is inside a table with width:400 and (depending on your browser settings) should look different than the other paragraphs. But since I can't control your browser window, I can't control how much width is available: If your window is to small, then my table will either have scroll bars or will have a reduced width. Which option is used probably also depends on your browser.


Imo the preview function is best used to see if your bbcode-tags work correctly (links, images, tables...) and not to get an exact render of your post on all browsers.

[Rawhide]

Why does it do that? Shouldn't a button designed to show you ahead of time what your post looks like actually, y'know, who you what your **** post looks like?

I'd be more inclined to provide you with a full answer including workarounds if you asked politely and watched your language.