Browser and website problem

[Coldicote]

I have a website created with MS Publisher and use its integral facility to 'Publish to the Web'. The website works well with Internet Explorer browser, but I decided to download Firefox, in addition, and find it does not work satisfactorily. Some of the links on the website appear dead and various features overlap. Can anyone helps with this problem please ?

[squarebear]

Could you give us an example of one of your links?

Ensure you are using full path names rather than something like "bground\picture.jpg" as your directory structure may not be right.

[Coldicote]

My website is intended to support a Neighbourhood Watch System. Examples of the problem can be found (when I check with Firefox) on the opening page: http://www.skeef.freeserve.co.uk/ringmerwatch/ index.htm There is a dead link to Sussex Neighbourhood Watch Federation, also at the end of the page the word Top does not respond (this is so on several pages). Another example is on a page headed 'Anchor Housing' http://www.skeef.freeserve.co.uk/ringmerwatch/ index_files/Page708.htm where there should be a link to the Anchor website; there is also overlap near the bottom of that page and Top does not respond.

[squarebear]

"top " doesn't repsond because you've got it to open the index page again rather than going to a point on the webpage.

Put this:
< A NAME="topofpage">< /A>

at the top of your HTML just after the body section and this:
< A hREF="#topofpage">Back To Top< /FONT>< /A>

(miss out any spaces and make href all capitals)

at the bottom, then Firefox should work ok with it.
It tries to be clever and think, well you're already on the index page so why open it again.

[squarebear]

Try missing the final / from http://www.highdownnhw.org/federation/
to see if that cures it.

I looked at the source code of the page and MS Publisher doesn't half fill it out with rubbish! There's tons of unnecessary coding in there.

[sn�gs]

squarebear... didn't have you down as an HTML geek ;-))

[Coldicote]

Thanks a lot everyone - I'm overwhelmed sorting through these technicalities. It still seems strange to me that there's no problem with IE but Firefox has to be different. I'm wondering if Firefox simply doesn't like MS Publisher and perhaps I should try a different web creating program.

[squarebear]

To be honest I use notepad or Office 97 to create my websites as the later versions of Office add all that extra gubbins. If I get time, I'll have a look closer at that page and simplify it for you.

Hi snags - yep, I run a couple of websites and knowing HTML is useful for quick fixes if I spot errors.

[tboo]

Here you go. I redesigned your homepage to less than 8% of the original code and it now works in Firefox and IE:
http://www.square-bear.co.uk/temp/caldicote.ht m

Please feel free to look at the page source and use it in your own website. I couldn't figure where you were getting your images from so I uploaded them to these links:

http://www.square-bear.co.uk/temp/nwatchlogo.b mp
http://www.square-bear.co.uk/temp/bluearrow.bm p
http://www.square-bear.co.uk/temp/blackarrow.b mp
http://www.square-bear.co.uk/temp/ringmerview. jpg

You will need these on your server to display on the home page. You will also need to add your counter back in, if you wish.

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask.

[squarebear]

Oops sorry. My wife had left herself logged in.
I hope that looking atthe source code will give you a few hints on creating your own pages for the site. I wouldn't advise using MS Publisher. All it does is create bloated unnecessary code.

[Coldicote]

Thank you very much for your time and advice. I'm fascinated that my homepage could be re-designed to less than 8% of the original code and will certainly look at the page source and learn what I can from it. The N/watch logo I copied and saved as a picture, the arrows were a navigation bar option in Publisher and the ringmerview picture was downloaded from a digi camera. I'll have a look at FrontPage as a possible alternative to Publisher.

[fo3nix]

Here's the deal: Publisher, Word, etc. are very poor at creating websites.

Making websites (to look good cross-browser, anyway) is not an easy task. Microsoft, Apple, Google etc. pay people lots of money to get their sites looking good in all the popular browsers.

There are certain defined standards for website making. Internet Explorer follows them ok, but has a habit (as with many Microsoft products) for inventing their own standards when they want to. Firefox, Safari and Opera (other major browsers) follow the official standards very well.

Since Publisher is also a Microsoft product, they (understandably) make sure it looks good in Internet Explorer. But in doing so, they don't really stick strictly to the standards, so it looks a little off in Firefox, etc.

Frontpage (or WebExpression I think it's called now) offers better compatability with the standards. Dreamweaver even more so (though it's expensive). But the best way is to write the code that sits behind the website yourself. But it takes time to learn, which is why most people don't, or pay someone else.

So, either stick with what you have but understand the tools you're using are pretty poor for the job, or try Frontpage (WebExpression) and see if that improves the site.

[Coldicote]

More very helpful advice thank you. Must admit I'm a novice at writing code, but I've had a look at tboo's reply and the source code and this makes me want to try and learn it. I also intend to have a go at Frontpage but, whatever I do, it's going to take time to learn so for the time being I'll have to stick with what I have. These replies have really been an outstanding example of what can be achieved on AB and I'm most grateful to everyone who has contributed.

[PrettyAna80]

If you plan to give a logo quiz, here is help: You can find popular logo designs in logo quiz at http://www.companylogos.ws/articles.html