WD2002: Double Border Appears As Single Border in Internet Explorer (273955)


The information in this article applies to:

  • Microsoft Word 2002
This article was previously published under Q273955
For a Microsoft Word 2000 version of this article, see 209848.

SYMPTOMS

When you apply a double border to a paragraph in a Microsoft Word document, and then you do one of the following
  • View the document in Web page preview (on the File menu, click Web Page Preview)

    -or-
  • Save the document as a Web page, and then view it in Microsoft Internet Explorer (on the File menu, click Save as Web Page)
the double border appears as a single border.

CAUSE

This behavior is caused by limitations in the border-width resolution within all versions of Microsoft Internet Explorer.

In Word, when the width of a border is such that a line or gap would be less than 1 pixel wide, Word enforces a 1-pixel minimum width. This ensures that even a very thin double border is at least 3 pixels wide (line + gap + line). Therefore, the individual lines can be resolved. (One pixel is a measurement that represents the smallest amount of information displayed graphically on the screen as a single dot.)

By contrast, Internet Explorer attempts to preserve total border width, rounded to the nearest pixel. This allows double borders to blend into a single border (at a width of less than 1.9 points), and single lines to disappear entirely (at a width of less than 0.38 point).

To summarize, on standard display devices with 96 dots per inch (dpi), double and single border styles are not displayed correctly when the following conditions are true:

  • The double border width is less than 0.63 point (total width is less than 1.9 points).
  • The single border width is less than 0.38 point.

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem so that your borders can be viewed correctly in Internet Explorer, make double borders at least three-fourths point wide, and single borders at least one-half point wide.

To change the border width, follow these steps:
  1. Select the paragraph for which you want to change the border width.
  2. On the Format menu, click Borders and Shading.
  3. In the Width list on the Borders tab, select the border width that you want.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.
Modification Type:MajorLast Reviewed:3/29/2001
Keywords:kbbug KB273955
©2002 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.