Mozilla (Firefox) problems using Publisher Links and pics inop, Lo

[Custom Musclecars]

For some crazy reason I decided to design my first website using Publisher
2003 with all current SP and updates. Although it was user friendly for a
first timer, i realize now that it is not all that compatible with other web
design software or other non MS browsers. My site is:custom-musclecars.com
And when using firefox, it wants you to login to the ftp for some reason.
Then my whole top navigation menu and graphics dont show up. Many of my
hyperlinks also dont work. Please help.
(e-mail address removed)

 

[DavidF]

I am not totally sure why you are having all your problems, but the biggest
part of it is probably the way you have organized your directory. If you can
explain how you did it, it would easier to suggest a solution.

If you use Pub 2003 with the default settings and the subfolder option, when
you Publish to the Web you will get an index.htm file and an index_files
folder. The index.htm file is generally the home page, and all your other
pages are contained in the index_files folder. If you use the navigation
wizard in Publisher to produce your navbars, it writes relative links to
your pages...relative to the index.htm file...the home page. But your home
page is not index.htm, thus your problems.

When you go to your website http://custom-musclecars.com/, the browser takes
you to a "splash" page where you enter the site. (NICE looking car by the
way) You then enter the site, and go to your current "home page"
http://custom-musclecars.com/index_files/Page266.htm , but you have another
index.htm file that you are using for your About Us page:
http://custom-musclecars.com/index_files/index.htm . I believe that FF is
choking on this confusion. I know that I am left confused as to how you have
the directory set up.

I could offer a way to organize your directory that would work in IE and in
FF, but before I do, post back specifically how you have your directory
organized at this point. I don't want to suggest a totally different way, if
we can just tweak the way you are currently doing it.

As per some of the links not working on your site in FF, if we can fix the
primary issue of how you have things organized, we can get your links to
work, with one exception. Navbars produced using the navbar wizard in Pub
2003, for the bottom of the page, are converted to an image by FF, which
kills the links. I don't know why...it just does. This means that if you
want a navbar on the bottom of the page, you will have to build it by hand,
and use absolute links. But we can get into that as a second step.

Bottom line is that the site that you built with Publisher can be tweaked so
it will work just fine in both IE and FF...you just need to organize it in a
different way. Post back with the specific details of how you are currently
organizing the directory, and how you produce the bottom navbar, and we will
be able to fix it.

DavidF

 

[Custom Musclecars]

I appreciate the help David! That totally makes sense now. I let Publisher
2003 create all of the default directories and files, then my host (network
solutions) makes me upload to a file called "htdocs" Then yes, they are in
the "indexfiles" folder. I rearranged the site as it evolved, but never
thought about how the formatting affected other browsers until I tried to
show it to a hard core FF user. I use the "publish to the web" feature to
upload it, then Cute FTP pro to add other things directly to the index files
directory. I will fix the things you recommended, and try it again. I will
at least have to make it better for FF users, as they are 12% of my visitors.
Do you know of a simple, free app to create new nav bars for my site without
totally re-doing it? I am using the template or master page for all of my top
and bottom nav bars, i just move the bottom accordingly.

 

[DavidF]

Ok. First of all, if you want to build a website with Publisher or any
software that has cross browser support, you need to test the HTML for
compatibility. This means that you should download and install FireFox 2.0.
You can't rely on your friends to test it for you, and you should test
before you upload.

Go to http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/ and download and save the FF
program to your computer. Then install it, but during the installation you
will be given the option of making FF your default browser. Choose no for
now. You may find that like your friend that you may ultimately like FF, but
for now we just need a working copy on your computer. Downloading and
installing is your first job to do in getting your website FF friendly. You
will need it later to test the results of what I am going to suggest to fix
your site.

Now, I see from looking at your link that you changed some things including
getting rid of the splash page. I generally don't like splash pages, but in
your case I did, so at a later time if you want to incorporate it again, we
can come back to that. For now let's concentrate on what you have working.
The site looks to be fully functional in IE, but in FF you are missing the
top banner and menu, and the bottom navbar is visible but the links are not
functional.

While you didn't give me the answers I was looking for, you did say
something that might explain why the top banner and menu are missing in FF.
You said "I am using the template or master page for all of my top
and bottom nav bars, i just move the bottom accordingly". Does this mean
that you are actually using a Master page in your Publisher doc, and that
your navbars, top and bottom are on the Master page? If so, you need to move
all the navbars and other content off the Master page and not use Master
pages in Publisher web documents. Master pages are fine for print docs, but
create unpredictable results in web pages...such as not showing up at all in
FF.

A word of caution. Before you make any major changes to your Publisher file,
do a Save As under a new name, and keep a copy of your old site....you may
need to come back to it if something goes wrong.

If you do have the navbars on a master page, and move them, then your top
menu and banner will probably work in FF. However, if you aren't using a
Master Page then tell me in detail exactly how you are producing your top
banner and the top navbar.

Now as to the bottom navbar, as I have already stated, the bottom navbar
that is created with the Publisher navigation wizard is converted to an
image for FF, and the links don't work. This means you need to replace the
bottom navbar with a hand built one. It isn't that hard, and once you have
one built, you can copy and paste it to each page.

Here is David Bartosik's instructions on how to build your own textual
navbar, which will work in FF: Code your own textual navigation menu in
Publisher:
http://msmvps.com/blogs/dbartosik/archive/2006/01/16/81255.aspx
But of course don't use .aspx extensions as in the example, use .htm.

An alternative that I worked out this morning will work in your case,
because you are using absolute links in your current bottom navbar. As David
suggests, it will result in more code in your final html output, but it
might be easier and faster for you.

Steps to convert your bottom navbar to a FF friendly format:

1. Open your Publisher file.
2. Below your existing bottom navbar, create an empty text box the size of
your existing navbar box.
3. File > Web Page Preview
4. Scroll down your Preview page to your existing navbar. Left click and
drag over, and select all the text and dividing pipe symbols of that navbar,
right click, copy.
5. Go back to your Pub file, left click once in the new, empty text box that
you created. Then Edit > Paste Special > and choose Formatted Text > OK.
This new navbar box will work in FF.
6. Assuming that you did this on your home page, the link to the Home page
will not be active when you previewed the page, and copied the navbar. So,
select the Home page link in the new nabar box you just created and insert
that hyperlink manually. Be sure to use an absolute link to the index.htm
page in the same format as you did the other pages. If you do a web page
preview now, each of those links should show as active when you mouseover
them. Now you are ready to test in FF....you did download and install it,
right? ;-)
7. Publish to the Web to a folder on your computer where you can find the
HTML output. Open FF, go to File > Open File and browse to that folder, and
double click the index.htm file. Scroll down and mouseover the links in the
new navbar to confirm that all the links are now active. You can also
mouseover the original navbar and see that those links are dead, if you
want.
8. Assuming your newly built navbar works correctly, you can now go back to
your Publisher file and delete the old navbar and move your new one in place
of the old one. Then copy and paste your new navbar on each page in your
Publisher document, and remove the old. The easiest way to remove the wizard
built bottom navbar is to go to Format > Web Site Options. This will open on
the right side of Publisher. Then under Navigation Bar, choose Horizontal
only for the top navbar, instead of the Vertical and Bottom. Your bottom
navbar will automatically be removed from each page.

You now have a bottom navbar that will function in both IE and FF.

You now know how to fix and test the bottom navbar, and depending on how
your built the top navbar and banner, you might have the fix for that. As I
said, if you didn't use a master page, then tell me specifically how you
built the top, and I can offer some more fixes to that.

DavidF

 

[Kimberly]

David ... You seem to be a link expert. I am a total novice and just figured
out today how to both use publisher and publish to the web. I designed a
simple 4 page design but for some reason my links are broke. If I start
clicking through the links starting with Home they work to transition through
all the pages however once I get to page 4 it locks.
www.analyzeitconsulting.com. Any ideas?

Thanks ... kimberly ([email protected])

 

[DavidF]

So, you want me to analyze it and consult with me eh? ;-)

If you mouseover the home page link button, it does not link to the
index.htm file...it links to
http://www.analyzeitconsulting.com/index_files/Page508.htm.

Tried your other links, and I was able to move through your site, but your
navigation system appears to has been corrupted. The links do not correlate
with the pages. I suspect that you did some editing and added and took away
a few pages or you tried to edit the navbar buttons directly. Your fix is
probably to let the wizard rebuild your navbar.

Open your Pub file and go to your last page. Then Tools > Web Page Options.
In that dialog you will see the option to "Add hyperlink to new nav....".
Uncheck that option and that page will be removed from the navbar. Repeat
with page 3, then 2. Now on your home page you should see only one navbar
button. Open the Web Page Options dialog again, and confirm that you are not
giving that page any particular file name, but you do add your page title.
When you Publish to the web, you will choose to let Publisher use the
default index.htm file name. Now go to page two, confirm your page title,
and recheck the "Add hyperlink...", and a new navbar button should appear.
Repeat for each page, and you should be good to go. Publish your new html
output and upload it, and see if that doesn't fix things.

In the future I would suggest that you start a new message, even if your
subject is the same. Most will assume you are just adding a comment to the
existing thread.

DavidF