Internet Explorer 7 web design problem
Apr. 29th, 2008 05:10 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
memevectorLong time no post here... have got some stuff cooking for my other blog though.
In connection with that, I have a request for help from the web-design enthusiasts/experts among us (if any are reading).
The problem I'm having is that in IE7, some of the links on my other-blog pages don't work. (Thanks to Annie for pointing this out!)
It's everything in the "content" div, basically the right hand side of the page. Header, footer and sidebar are OK. (Pretty sure that IEs 5, 5.5 and 6 deal with the page OK, though wouldn't swear to that at this precise second.)
Further examination shows that it's not actually the links themselves that are malfunctioning. If you tab to them, and use "Enter" to activate them, they work.
What it seems to be is that the cursor seems to think that the right hand half of the page is empty. Within that right-hand area, it never displays the text-cursor, only the arrow which it would normally be showing over empty space. So if you just go straight to the right hand side, you can't select text for copy & paste either, although you can if you start at the top, hold the button and drag down. That highlights first the header, then content, then sidebar, then footer, which is the order it appears in the HTML. (It's a "float" in the CSS which puts the sidebar apparently ahead of the content on the visible page.)
My HTML and CSS validates OK. Googling does reveal various vaguely-similar-sounding problems with IE7, but I haven't seen this one described. I can't help wondering if it's IE7's fault via one of those classic Microsoft failures to comply with standards - maybe hasLayout, which I only heard of today and haven't grasped at all.
I would be very grateful if someone can tell me "It's probably THIS! and the fix is THIS!"
Other clues also welcome :-)
Thanks for any help!
In connection with that, I have a request for help from the web-design enthusiasts/experts among us (if any are reading).
The problem I'm having is that in IE7, some of the links on my other-blog pages don't work. (Thanks to Annie for pointing this out!)
It's everything in the "content" div, basically the right hand side of the page. Header, footer and sidebar are OK. (Pretty sure that IEs 5, 5.5 and 6 deal with the page OK, though wouldn't swear to that at this precise second.)
Further examination shows that it's not actually the links themselves that are malfunctioning. If you tab to them, and use "Enter" to activate them, they work.
What it seems to be is that the cursor seems to think that the right hand half of the page is empty. Within that right-hand area, it never displays the text-cursor, only the arrow which it would normally be showing over empty space. So if you just go straight to the right hand side, you can't select text for copy & paste either, although you can if you start at the top, hold the button and drag down. That highlights first the header, then content, then sidebar, then footer, which is the order it appears in the HTML. (It's a "float" in the CSS which puts the sidebar apparently ahead of the content on the visible page.)
My HTML and CSS validates OK. Googling does reveal various vaguely-similar-sounding problems with IE7, but I haven't seen this one described. I can't help wondering if it's IE7's fault via one of those classic Microsoft failures to comply with standards - maybe hasLayout, which I only heard of today and haven't grasped at all.
I would be very grateful if someone can tell me "It's probably THIS! and the fix is THIS!"
Other clues also welcome :-)
Thanks for any help!
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(no subject)
Date: 2008-04-29 08:53 pm (UTC)It's unusual to float the main content of a page. Why not try floating the sidebar instead? It might just evade the bug that the current layout is triggering.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-04-29 09:35 pm (UTC)Thanks, I'll certainly try that.
Why not try floating the sidebar instead?
ummm well I'm sure there was a reason... :-)
I can't remember now if it was something to do with how I wanted the page to look - I know I didn't want the content to wrap around beneath the sidebar after the sidebar finishes - but it might just have been someone's recommendation for SEO, because of (alleged) higher weighting for terms towards the top of the page.
It might just evade the bug that the current layout is triggering.
True, and I guess I'll have to do that if it works and if I can't fix it another way. Doubt if I'll get to that in the next few days though... have put up a workaround note for now.
Thanks!
(no subject)
Date: 2008-04-30 12:52 pm (UTC)That's easy to avoid by putting the content in a div whose left margin is wider than the sidebar. It can still be a %age of page width (the margin, as well as the columns). I think IE7 even honours min-width, though earlier versions of IE certainly don't.
(alleged) higher weighting for terms towards the top of the page
I don't think your sidebar has enough content to make it worth worrying about such factors, if they even exist.
(no subject)
Date: 2008-05-02 07:25 am (UTC)I notice I feel very reluctant to reorganise my pages any further just to humour IE7! I think before resorting to that, I might try a few of the hasLayout workarounds where you put in an extra bit of CSS which doesn't really do anything. ... when I have time & headspace for that.
Another thing about having the content first is it means on a slow connection it appears first, which (though again non-crucial) is desirable behaviour I think.
Thanks again for your expertise...