How can I view a web page that my browser has difficulty displaying?

Because the web is built on a patchwork of standards and proprietary technologies, occasionally you will encounter a web site that doesn't display correctly in your browser. Often you can find a way to resolve or work around the problem. However, if the site or the server it resides on is no longer available, or if its maintainer made serious coding errors, you may not be able to do anything to access it. See the suggestions below for details:

• Update your browser: If you have an older program, see if an updated version is available. Because the web evolves rapidly, older programs sometimes get left behind. This is particularly true for sites that require a secure connection. In some cases, however, you may actually have better luck with an older program. If you do have a recent version, try using an older one.
  
  
• Try a different browser: Frequently, site maintainers will design their sites with a specific browser in mind. In the process of optimizing it for that browser, they make it less available to others. Try using a different browser to access the site. For example, if you are using Internet Explorer, try Firefox. In extreme cases (if the site works only for one operating system, for example), you may even have to use a different computer.
  
  
• Install plug-ins: Some sites heavily rely on Flash, PDF, and other formats that require browser plug-ins to display. For help, see What are plug-ins?
  
  
• Enable or disable scripting and embedded programs: Many sites make use of scripting languages (e.g., JavaScript, VBScript), Java applets, or ActiveX controls to enhance their content. If you turn these features off in your browser, you may not be able to correctly view the pages. Other times, if a site's enhancements are incompatible with your browser, cause it to slow down, or make it crash, you may want to disable these features. For instructions, see In Firefox, how do I turn Java and JavaScript off or on? or In Internet Explorer, how do I turn Java or JavaScript off or on?
  
  
• Change your color preferences: If a site's link, text, and background colors are difficult to differentiate, it my be very difficult to read. Most browsers give you the option to override a site's colors with those of your choosing. For information, see How do I set my web browser's default text, link, and background colors?
  
  
• Check your monitor resolution and color depth: The resolution and color depth are a measure of how many pixels the screen is divided into, and how many colors are used to display images. Many web pages are coded so that the page or images on the page use a certain number of pixels (rather than a portion of the screen), and thus will look smaller when more pixels are being used (at higher resolutions), or larger when fewer pixels are being used (at lower resolutions). If you are viewing a page that looks correct on one computer but won't all fit on the screen on another, try increasing your screen resolution. If the colors don't look correct, try increasing your color depth.
  
  
• Clear your cache: If other computers running the same browser and version as yours display certain pages correctly, but your browser doesn't, perhaps the cache entry on your hard drive for that page has been corrupted. When you view a web page, your web browser stores the file temporarily on your hard drive and displays this version the next time you view the page. These temporary files can become damaged. You can fix the problem by emptying the disk cache; see How do I clear my web browser's cache and cookies?
  
  
• Search for a copy of the site in a web cache: Even if the site you're trying to visit is no longer on the web, traces of it may remain. Google, in particular, caches many web sites on its own servers. This cache is periodically refreshed, so a site that has been offline for a long time may not be represented, but one that is temporarily down likely will be.
  
  
• View the source: If coding errors or browser incompatibility prevents you from viewing a page, you might be able to access the content by viewing its source. In this mode, there is no formatting and the content is often difficult to read, but the information should be there. For instructions, see How can I view the HTML code of web pages?

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