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How to force line-feed when displaying e-mail texts whose line-length exceeds screen-width?

  • 2 replies
  • 5 have this problem
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  • Last reply by j3cfii

I sometimes receive e-mails whose line-length exceeds the width of my screen. Firefox/Gmail (I'm not sure which is controlling at this point) knows this because it displays a horizontal slider at foot of screen to enable me to see the "hidden" right-hand portion of each text-line.

Why can't Firefox/Gmail (whichever is appropriate) forcibly truncate each "too wide" text-line at right-most space-character displayed within limit of my screen, and re-position rest of the original text-line on next line down on my screen?

(In olden days we would have called this, "inserting a forced line-feed character". But that was in days when single-chip transistor technology was still "new and wonderful").

I sometimes receive e-mails whose line-length exceeds the width of my screen. Firefox/Gmail (I'm not sure which is controlling at this point) knows this because it displays a horizontal slider at foot of screen to enable me to see the "hidden" right-hand portion of each text-line. Why can't Firefox/Gmail (whichever is appropriate) forcibly truncate each "too wide" text-line at right-most space-character displayed within limit of my screen, and re-position rest of the original text-line on next line down on my screen? (In olden days we would have called this, "inserting a forced line-feed character". But that was in days when single-chip transistor technology was still "new and wonderful").

All Replies (2)

There would have to be CSS code present to automatically wrap long lines and force a line break.

Did this work in previous Firefox versions?


There are other things that need your attention.

Your System Details List shows multiple Flash plugins.

  1. Shockwave Flash 13.0 r0
  2. Shockwave Flash 12.0 r0

You can find the installation path of all plugins on the about:plugins page.

You can check the Flash player installation folder for multiple Flash player plugins and remove older version(s) of the plugin (NPSWF32) and possibly (re)install the latest Flash player.

  • (32 bit Windows) C:\Windows\System32\Macromed\Flash\
  • (64 bit Windows) C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash\

Cor-el:

No, the "forced line break" did not happen in previous Firefox versions. I have suffered this problem as long as I have owned the Samsung Netbook (since November 2010).

Is Firefox doing the formatting of inbound e-mail message to fit (or not to fit) screen width, or is Gmail responsible to format the inbound message to fit (or not to fit) the screen width?

Or - put another way - Which program is aware of the physical limitations of the screen display during formatting of inbound text-message, such that it decides that a horizontal slider at foot of screen is (or is not) appropriate?