CSS1 Test Suite: Configuring Your System

In the first place, you will need to make sure that your browser is configured to pay attention to style sheets at all. This is typically done by finding an entry in your preferences dialog which says something like "Enable style sheets" and making sure the appropriate box is checked. You may have to enable other features as well. Please read the article Enabling Your Style Sheets if you need further information.

You will also need to be using a browser which is able to load LINKed style sheets. Every test page in the suite uses the style sheet base.css. This provides a consistent look to the pages, and so when something overrides the base style sheet, you'll know it. If the current page has a white background with a light gray grid, then the base stylesheet has been imported via the LINK element. If not, you should double-check to make sure that you do not have a user stylesheet set (see next section).

Disabling User-Defined Style Sheets

Furthermore, you will need to make sure that you are not using a user-defined style sheet. If you have set up your own style sheet and have your browser configured to use it, then you will need to disable this feature before you start.

Under Internet Explorer 4.x for Windows, you should take the following steps:

1. Select "Internet Options..." under the "View" menu.
2. Select the "Accessibility..." button near the bottom of the Internet Options dialog.
3. Check to make sure that, under "User Style Sheet," the checkbox is not checked. There may be a file listed under it, although you're probably safer if there isn't.

As of this writing, user-defined stylesheets are not supported by any other popular browser.

Units and Monitor Settings

Some of the CSS1 Test Suite's test pages use "real-world" lengths; that is, they are units such as inches or centimeters. However, your computer may or may not have the slightest idea how far a "centimeter" really is, in terms of the number of pixels. On Windows95/98, using some display drivers, it is possible to find out by taking the following steps:

1. Open your Display Settings.
2. Select the "Settings" tab.
3. Select the "Advanced" button near the bottom.
4. Select the "Fonts" tab.
5. You should now see a ruler.
6. Hold a (physical) ruler up to the screen, and click and drag the screen ruler to resize it until it matches the physical one.
7. Click "OK".

Under WindowsNT and the MacOS, the system should have already determined real-world distances for your particular monitor and its settings. It is assumed that the user agent will take advantage of this, although it's always a good idea to check for yourself, using an actual ruler.