Lesbian Fiction ForumThis post has three parts. The first deals with the problem of the posts column slowly moving to the left. I give up on that one. The second part deals with the expanding sidebar issue. Appearantly it tends to push everything over to the left, completely covering parts of the posts. I found the problem of that and I think I fixed it for now. The third section offers alternatives to M$ IE.
IE is like, way behind the rest of the browser world. As the internet evolves with the increasing use of XML, CSS and others, IE has not kept up.
Here is an example:
Click images for larger versions (opens into new window!!)
The image above shows the topmost post in the blog. Note the space between the left edge of the text and the line where the brown and the grey meet.
The image above shows one of the bottom-most posts in the blog. Note how the text has shifted over. The line where the colors meet has not changed. For some reason, IE causes the text to slide over. I don't know why.
As you can see in the image above, only the text is moving, not the background. The quote (the text within the grey 'box') should fit within its area. Instead, it has shifted over. And again, I don't know why.
CSS, or Cascading Style Sheets, are more accessible than tables. Tables are confusing and depend too much on all the other tables around them. CSS sort of depends on the stuff around it, but it remains proportional.
Look at it this way: Your screen is the main box. The header is a box within the main box. The space where the posts appear (the content), where the sidebar is, where the footer is - they are all boxes within the main box. The navmenu, that grey horizonal area just under the title, is a box within the header box. Each post is a box inside the 'content' box. Inside each post box is a box for the title, the text, the date, the little info at the bottom, etc.
That is where the 'cascading' part comes in. The page you are viewing is a series of boxes that are cascading together to form what you see. An inner box, for example the title of a post, will not effect any of the other boxes, other than to move the text below it to make room, but it all stays proportional. Tables, however, are different. A change in one cell can effect the entire table.
In a nutshell that is CSS. I am no expert, but that's how I see it.
My blog is currently relatively accessible. The key things for accessibility is the page's ability to fit any screen without the need for a horizontal scroll bar and that using the 'tab' key jumps through the links.
The point to all this is: IE is behind the times and needs to advance. Website designers should design a website that is accessible to all browsers. However, I won't try to figure IE's problems out while I could be doing some thing more productive, like clip my toenails. While this blog looks odd in places if the viewer is using IE, it is still viewable. I despise, hate, dislike, cannot stand websites that tell me I can't view their site because I am not using IE (one of my biggest peeves with McAfee).
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The next problem with IE is the expanding sidebar. (clicking some images takes you to the larger size and opens into new window)
The first image is what the site looks like with IE. See how the sidebar has expanded to the left? It covers almost a third of the pages. The second image is what it is supposed to look like.
I think I found the problem. For some reason, an image isn't showing up in IE and its alt tag pushes everything over. Why it does this instead of word wrapping, I haven't a clue. The image below is from IE:
I have since moved the graphic to the footer. But I also determined this is an IE problem, not a problem with the site that has the image.
First I tried to make it so that another image's alt tag would display, especially one that was long. I did this by changing the image's name. This is what I got using Firefox:
I thought perhaps, then, that the problem was with the image (it's not on my site). So I put it back in the sidebar and changed the image's name like the other one.
The other website had a work around it (which is a hoot!) so I changed the URL instead:
As you can see, the alt tag text word wraps in Firefox but not IE. This makes me think then that the error is IE.
So if you are having difficulty reading this site because of the sidebar, let me know what is so long and, if it is fixable by moving it, I will.
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There are alternatives to IE. I strongly suggest you look into one of the other browsers. I use Firefox although I have used Netscape, Mozilla and I tried Opera briefly.
- Firefox - highly popular. Kind of like Mozilla and Netscape all grown up. Pop-up blocking, tabbed browsing, plethora of extensions, truckloads of themes and has a great sidekick–Thunderbird–for email.
- Mozilla Suite - "Web-browser, advanced e-mail and newsgroup client, IRC chat client, and HTML editing made simple — all your Internet needs in one application." Mozilla, designed by the same folks as Firefox, also has plenty of extensions and themes.
- Netscape - "Netscape began by trying to make an Internet that users found easy to use. Today we offer integrations of intuitive digital tools, innovative attractions and infinite media content. The revolutionary new Netscape Browser 8 provides more security options, streamlines more standard browsing tasks and arms internet users with more timesaving solutions to their browsing needs than any other browser." I was a Netscape user for eons until I found Mozilla. I had grown disgusted with Netscape's capabilities.
- Opera - "The most full-featured Internet power tool on the market, Opera includes pop-up blocking, tabbed browsing, integrated searches, and advanced functions like Opera's groundbreaking E-mail program, RSS Newsfeeds and IRC chat."
- Lynx
- Avant - "Its user-friendly interface brings a new level of clarity and efficiency to your browsing experience, and frequent upgrades have steadily improved its reliability. Now, Avant Browser is available in 41 languages."
- C|Net's Browser downloads - a decent place to start.
In other words, there are a lot out there. Break the mold. Show M$ that you are tired of not being able to view the modern internet with an antique browser.
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last modified: 01/28/06 20:07