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

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  • 5 have this problem
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  • Last reply by j3cfii

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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").

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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?


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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?