Browser Question

[mary]

Hi,

Using: Publisher 2003 and Internet Explorer

Question 1: My page works when I test it/view it using Internet Explorer but
if I go to it/view it using Mozilla or other browsers it shows a blank screen
with only one of my textboxes visible---no images or navigator bars.

How do I fix this?

Question 2: I've been uploading using the steps suggested by publisher 2003
which do work, however, the url always becomes something like
address/index_files/aboutus.htm instead of address/aboutus.htm. i've fixed it
in the past but off hand/at the moment don't know how i did it. does one
upload to a different host file, such as public_ htm to fix it?

thank you for your help,
~mary

 

[DavidF]

Publisher code is designed to work best in IE, and you have limited cross
browser support. However, I have seen Pub 2003 sites that work just fine in
FireFox. Post the URL of your site, and perhaps we can help you trouble
shoot it.

Question 2 might have something to do with the problems you are having with
viewing your site with Firefox. Publisher is setup by default to produce an
index.htm file and a supporting folder called index_files that contains all
your images and your other *.*htm files...your other pages. Therefore when
it writes links to those other pages, it will have to include the folder in
the link. If you tried to "fix" this by rewriting the links, without the
folder index_files, then you may have messed up the structure. Furthermore,
Publisher uses relative links in the navbar, so don't try to "fix" the links
manually...they are being written as designed.

With that said, you do have the option of not using the supporting folder.
Tools > Options > Web tab and untick "Organize supporting files in a
folder". While you are there, untick "Rely on VML..." and "Allow
PNG..."...this will reduce the size of your file and increase the loading
speed. If you do not use the supporting folder your additional pages will
then be named index_aboutus.htm, instead of aboutus.htm. Sometimes it helps
to understand all this when you Publish to the Web, to publish to a folder
on your hard drive where you can study the files and folder that are
generated. Be sure to have your computer set up to show extensions...

DavidF

 

[mary]

hi david,

using: publisher 2003

i've made all the changes that you suggested below. however, by doing so
i've lost the only textbox that used to appear while using firefox. when i
try to view another page within the site, besides home, by typing in a URL,
an alert message appears saying "421 Too many connections (8) from this IP".
when i click 'ok' on the alert another alert appears saying "530 This is a
private system - No anonymous login". if i keep clicking a working 'contact
us' link, which is part of the page, does appear. all of the pdfs that i
attached by going into my host's control panel work in firefox.

my URL is: www.wsforchildren.org

thank you for any help.
~mary

 

[DavidF]

Whew! I have never seen that before. While you do have a lot going on with
your site, I am thinking that your problems have more to do with your server
than Publisher. I googled both errors you cite, and all point to problems
that are server sided.

I would suggest that you go to your web host support and post this question
to them. Include the error messages, and see what they have to say.

Let us know what you find out, please.

DavidF

 

[Rob Giordano \(Crash\)]

Both are host problems, talk to them.
500 series are usually permissions errors on the server.
421 sounds like they have concurrent connections set really really low!

Are you hosting this yourself?



| hi david,
|
| using: publisher 2003
|
| i've made all the changes that you suggested below. however, by doing so
| i've lost the only textbox that used to appear while using firefox. when i
| try to view another page within the site, besides home, by typing in a
URL,
| an alert message appears saying "421 Too many connections (8) from this
IP".
| when i click 'ok' on the alert another alert appears saying "530 This is a
| private system - No anonymous login". if i keep clicking a working
'contact
| us' link, which is part of the page, does appear. all of the pdfs that i
| attached by going into my host's control panel work in firefox.
|
| my URL is: www.wsforchildren.org
|
| thank you for any help.
| ~mary
|
| "DavidF" wrote:
|
| > Publisher code is designed to work best in IE, and you have limited
cross
| > browser support. However, I have seen Pub 2003 sites that work just fine
in
| > FireFox. Post the URL of your site, and perhaps we can help you trouble
| > shoot it.
| >
| > Question 2 might have something to do with the problems you are having
with
| > viewing your site with Firefox. Publisher is setup by default to produce
an
| > index.htm file and a supporting folder called index_files that contains
all
| > your images and your other *.*htm files...your other pages. Therefore
when
| > it writes links to those other pages, it will have to include the folder
in
| > the link. If you tried to "fix" this by rewriting the links, without the
| > folder index_files, then you may have messed up the structure.
Furthermore,
| > Publisher uses relative links in the navbar, so don't try to "fix" the
links
| > manually...they are being written as designed.
| >
| > With that said, you do have the option of not using the supporting
folder.
| > Tools > Options > Web tab and untick "Organize supporting files in a
| > folder". While you are there, untick "Rely on VML..." and "Allow
| > PNG..."...this will reduce the size of your file and increase the
loading
| > speed. If you do not use the supporting folder your additional pages
will
| > then be named index_aboutus.htm, instead of aboutus.htm. Sometimes it
helps
| > to understand all this when you Publish to the Web, to publish to a
folder
| > on your hard drive where you can study the files and folder that are
| > generated. Be sure to have your computer set up to show extensions...
| >
| > DavidF
| >
| > | > > Hi,
| > >
| > > Using: Publisher 2003 and Internet Explorer
| > >
| > > Question 1: My page works when I test it/view it using Internet
Explorer
| > > but
| > > if I go to it/view it using Mozilla or other browsers it shows a blank
| > > screen
| > > with only one of my textboxes visible---no images or navigator bars.
| > >
| > > How do I fix this?
| > >
| > > Question 2: I've been uploading using the steps suggested by publisher
| > > 2003
| > > which do work, however, the url always becomes something like
| > > address/index_files/aboutus.htm instead of address/aboutus.htm. i've
fixed
| > > it
| > > in the past but off hand/at the moment don't know how i did it. does
one
| > > upload to a different host file, such as public_ htm to fix it?
| > >
| > > thank you for your help,
| > > ~mary
| >
| >
| >

 

[mary]

hi 'crash',

no, i'm not hosting the site myself. i've sent the host all of the past
threads to this message so hopefully she'll be able to figure some of it out
in a day or so.

thank you,
~mary

 

[mary]

program: office 2003
problem: firefox
website address: www.wsforchildren.org

hi guys,

i've talked to my host and i don't think she knows how to fix the site/get
more of it to appear. does anyone have any suggestions or has anyone
seen/written any good articles on the subject?

thank you for all your help,
~mary

 

[mary]

hi again,

i just read a bunch of old posts and have kinda figured out that the site
may not get any better than it is at the moment by bugging my host. oh well.
i read a post saying publisher 2000 is better for the problem so i might redo
a couple pages to see if it actually is better. oh well.

thank you,
~mary

 

[DavidF]

As both Rob and I said, it appears that it is a server problem, and if your
host won't fix the issue, then perhaps you should consider moving the site.
However, given that Pub 2003 does have problems with cross browser support,
I would be hesitant to suggest that without knowing for sure. You may have
the same problem on other hosts. There are no articles about this as this
problem appears to be an aberration.

I looked at your site again, and it does not appear to be built from a
template, and I found myself wondering if you are using a master page?
Master pages are for print docs, not web docs. I guess I am wondering if it
is how you designed your site that is creating the problem. There seems to
be lots of layers, and a simpler design might work better...and I guess I am
talking about the way you have built the background with a variety of shapes
with text boxes on top...sometimes these things just don't translate well
into HTML. How did you make the irregular white background?

Also are you using Publish to the Web to produce your HTML, or Save As a Web
Page? You should be doing the first. And finally, have you run the design
checker under tools, to see if it spots anything wrong?

If you do have Pub 2000, then yes, if you reproduce the site in Pub 2000,
you will likely get better cross browser support, but you will have to build
a new navbar.

Good luck.

DavidF

 

[mary]

hi david and rob,

as a sort of reply:

my publisher 2000 idea didn't go anywhere, or hasn't yet, as the program i
thought was publisher 2000 is actually publisher 2002. i tested that but it
ended up with the same results, although, i was just using a simple template
with nothing added to it.

As both Rob and I said, it appears that it is a server problem, and if your
host won't fix the issue, then perhaps you should consider moving the site.

i don't think she knows how to fix it as she has never worked with a
publisher site but is still working on the matter. but, in theory---me,
knowing very, very little about this---as my page works with explorer,
doesn't that indicate that it is a site problem or at least somewhat a site
problem?

I looked at your site again, and it does not appear to be built from a
template, and I found myself wondering if you are using a master page?
Master pages are for print docs, not web docs. I guess I am wondering if it
is how you designed your site that is creating the problem.

that is almost exactly what i am doing. i did not know. i must have skipped
over the "don't use master pages for websites" notice---it just seemed to
work so jolly well. thank you for noticing. in theory the easiest way to try
to fix that problem would be to start again with a new doc, create what i
call my "master page" or a template, copy it like 20 something times, and
then add in the extras, right?

the lines i have no control over. they were cut and pasted and fit together
from a read-only pdf doc. with the tools i have and without the orginals i
haven't been able to figure out how else to create them. the office just had
new docs printed with the lines/shapes so i thought it was important to get
the site as close as possible to all of the new docs. they have white edges
so i created the white middle with a large white textbox or square/shape to
piece it all together. i placed the text and everything over that---more or
less, the site has more than its share of layers.

Also are you using Publish to the Web to produce your HTML, or Save As a Web
Page? You should be doing the first. And finally, have you run the design
checker under tools, to see if it spots anything wrong?

i do the first. the design checker doesn't seem to find anything serious,
mostly that the text over flows and pictures don't have descriptions.

~mary

 

[mary]

hi david and rob,

i spent the morning redoing the site without using "master pages". the site
now works using internet explorer as well as firefox!!

thank you for all of your help---again.
~mary

 

[DavidF]

Mary,

Thanks for posting back with your success. What you discovered is that there
are things you can do when designing a print document, such as using a
master page, that simply don't translate well into a web page. There is no
notice that you shouldn't use a master page. We just noticed, while trouble
shooting issues, that using the master page has unpredictable results when
it is converted to HTML, and your experience was certainly unique.

Publisher is first and foremost a desktop publishing program with limited
web building capability. In order to gain the convenience of using it for
web building, there are going to be trade offs and limits with what you can
do with it. I am glad you found a way to make it work without having to give
up on, or change your design, which would have been my next suggestion.

If I can make one more suggestion, if you haven't done so already, be sure
to compress your images to maximize the loading speed of your pages.
Reference: "Compress graphics file sizes to create smaller Publisher Web
pages":
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA011266301033.aspx

DavidF