WebView does not render css like the browser does?

Question

As far as im aware, the WebView is the same thing as the built in browser? Right?

I am facing an issue where a page that contains some absolute positioned div elements all stack on top of eachother instead of finding their correct location, AND background-image gets completely ignored.

This said, in the browser on my phone (HTC Incredible S - 2.3.3, stock browser) renders it out correctly, and on top of this, applications that use an embedded webview that i can point it to the page, renders correctly. Which leads me to beleive that the webview I have in my application is bjorking somehow.

import android.app.Activity;
import android.content.Intent;
import android.graphics.Rect;
import android.graphics.drawable.AnimationDrawable;
import android.os.Bundle;
import android.view.View;
import android.view.View.OnClickListener;
import android.webkit.WebSettings.LayoutAlgorithm;
import android.webkit.WebView;
import android.webkit.WebViewClient;
import android.widget.Button;
import android.widget.ImageButton;
import android.widget.ImageView;
import android.widget.Toast;

import java.util.*;

public class ShowWebView extends Activity {

    public WebView web;
    public String baseURL = "http://test.dev/";

    @Override
    public void onCreate(Bundle savedInstanceState) {
        super.onCreate(savedInstanceState);
        setContentView(R.layout.webpage);

        web = (WebView) findViewById(R.id.webpage);
        home = (Button) findViewById(R.id.tool_Home);
        back = (ImageButton) findViewById(R.id.tool_Back);
        forward = (ImageButton) findViewById(R.id.tool_Forward);
        refresh = (ImageButton) findViewById(R.id.tool_Refresh);

        ajax = (ImageView) findViewById(R.id.test_anim);
        ajax.setBackgroundResource(R.drawable.ajax_animation);


        // Settings
        web.getSettings().setJavaScriptEnabled(true);
        web.getSettings().setLayoutAlgorithm(LayoutAlgorithm.SINGLE_COLUMN);
        web.setWebViewClient(new WebViewClient());

        Bundle extras = getIntent().getExtras();
        if(extras != null) {

            String url = baseURL+extras.getString("page")+"?androidApplication"; // The Basics, page gets added to baseURL
            String id = "";
            String push = "false"; // false by default

            // If an ID exists, lets get it
            if(extras.getString("id") != null) {
                id = extras.getString("id");
            }

            if(extras.getString("push") != null) {
                push = extras.getString("push");
            }

            // Build the URL
            if(id != "") url = url + "&id="+id;
            if(push != "false")     url = url + "&pushVersion";

            web.loadUrl(url);
        } else {
            web.loadUrl("http://www.bing.com");
        }
}

also heres my webview xml

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<LinearLayout
    xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
    android:layout_width="fill_parent"
    android:layout_height="fill_parent"
    style="@style/MainPage"
    android:orientation="vertical" >

    <LinearLayout
        android:id="@+id/Header"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:orientation="vertical" >


        <ImageView
            android:id="@+id/ImageView01"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="42sp"
            android:scaleType="fitXY"
            android:src="@drawable/top_header" />

    </LinearLayout>
    <LinearLayout
        android:id="@+id/SubHeader"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="wrap_content"
        android:orientation="vertical" >


        <ImageView
            android:id="@+id/imageView1"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="28sp"
            android:scaleType="fitXY"
            android:src="@drawable/top_sub_header" />

    </LinearLayout>

    <LinearLayout
        android:id="@+id/linearLayout1"
        android:layout_width="match_parent"
        android:layout_height="match_parent"
        android:orientation="vertical" >








        <LinearLayout
            android:id="@+id/linearLayout2"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="0dip"
            android:layout_weight="1"
            android:orientation="vertical" >

            <WebView
                xmlns:android="http://schemas.android.com/apk/res/android"
                android:id="@+id/webpage"
                android:layout_width="match_parent"
                android:layout_height="match_parent"
                 />

        </LinearLayout>




        <LinearLayout
            android:id="@+id/toolBar"
            android:layout_width="match_parent"
            android:layout_height="40sp"
            android:layout_marginTop="2.5sp"
            android:orientation="horizontal" >

            <Button
                android:id="@+id/tool_Home"
                android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:text="Home" />


            <ImageButton
                android:id="@+id/tool_Back"
                android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:src="@drawable/backward" />


            <ImageButton
                android:id="@+id/tool_Forward"
                android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:src="@drawable/forward" />


            <ImageButton
                android:id="@+id/tool_Refresh"
                android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:src="@drawable/refresh" />


            <ImageView
                android:id="@+id/test_anim"
                android:layout_width="wrap_content"
                android:layout_height="wrap_content"
                android:gravity="center"
                android:layout_centerHorizontal="true" />

        </LinearLayout>

    </LinearLayout>

</LinearLayout>

any help resolving this issue would be truly amazing!

Solution

Apparently:

web.getSettings().setLayoutAlgorithm(LayoutAlgorithm.SINGLE_COLUMN);

was causing the webview to freak out, as it reorganizes the html renderer to place everything in a single column (or try to anyways). Disabling this line or using NORMAL causes the render to be just fine.

I was only using this line to disable horizontal scrolling. So now i have THAT issue to deal with again and still.

Comments

[Jason]

Tried everything and this finally worked for me. If you're having issues with CSS, try this. Thanks!

[blueware]

Yep, This line fixes the CSS issue rendering: web.getSettings().setLayoutAlgorithm(WebSettings.LayoutAlgor‌​ithm.NARROW_COLUMNS)‌​; , +1 for the answer

[Lorenzo Vincenzi]

WebSettings.LayoutAlgorithm.NARROW_COLUMNS is actually deprecated, use WebSettings.LayoutAlgorithm.NORMAL