Not compatible with Firefox and other browsers - WHY?

L

longhag

I have completed a very lenghtly publication and it is up and running. How
ever I have received a great deal of feedback from visitors to my website
that they use Firefox, etc and the formatting of my website and functionality
has been lost in translation.

Can anyone suggest why this would be?
 
D

DavidF

Assuming that you are using Pub 2003, go to Tools > Options > Web tab and
uncheck "rely on vml..." and "allow png...". Publish to the Web and upload
new web files.

If that doesn't fix all the issues, then post back with the link to your
site and specifics about what is not working in FF.

You should download and install FireFox so you can test your pages before
you upload. It is a small download, easy install, and you don't have to make
it your default browser.

DavidF
 
L

longhag

I'm on Pub 2007, will this make a difference


DavidF said:
Assuming that you are using Pub 2003, go to Tools > Options > Web tab and
uncheck "rely on vml..." and "allow png...". Publish to the Web and upload
new web files.

If that doesn't fix all the issues, then post back with the link to your
site and specifics about what is not working in FF.

You should download and install FireFox so you can test your pages before
you upload. It is a small download, easy install, and you don't have to make
it your default browser.

DavidF
 
L

longhag

I'm using Pub 2007, is this different?

DavidF said:
Assuming that you are using Pub 2003, go to Tools > Options > Web tab and
uncheck "rely on vml..." and "allow png...". Publish to the Web and upload
new web files.

If that doesn't fix all the issues, then post back with the link to your
site and specifics about what is not working in FF.

You should download and install FireFox so you can test your pages before
you upload. It is a small download, easy install, and you don't have to make
it your default browser.

DavidF
 
D

DavidF

Yes. If you had tried to follow my directions you would have noticed that
the "rely on VML..." option has been removed from 2007, because of this
cross browser issue. So, post the URL of your website and tell us what is
not working in FF, and we help you. Also, how did your produce your web
files? Did you use Publish to the Web to produce the files?

DavidF
 
L

longhag

I did 'Publish to the web' to produce the files as my knowledge of this stuff
is limited I'm afraid. So is it best I download firefox and find out what's
not work?
 
D

DavidF

I think that anyone that is using Publisher or any other program to build a
website should test the site in both IE and FF. If you get a site to work in
both of those it will work in most every browser, so you can be assured that
anybody that views your site is seeing it in the way you intended. So, yes I
think you should download and install FF. Here is the link to make it
easier:
FireFox (5.7 MB): http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/
Just remember that when you install it to opt out of making it your default
browser and it shouldn't create any problems for you.

And in the meantime, if you want to post the link to your site, we will
start helping. Don't worry, we won't make fun it or you...everyone is a
beginner at some point.

DavidF
 
D

DavidF

And you should be pleased...

I spotted at least a couple things. On your home page the links in the New
Flash and Common Links text boxes do not work in FF. If you view the page in
FF, you can try to select some of the text and won't be able to because the
text has been converted to an image which kills the links. In this case the
most common reason is because you have those text boxes grouped with other
design elements. Open your publication in Publisher and select the text
boxes and if they are grouped with something else, ungroup them, Publish to
the Web and test.

Assuming that you have installed FF now, the easiest way to test your pages
is to not upload each time. Instead when you Publish to the Web direct the
output...the web files, to a working folder on your hard drive where you can
easily find it. Perhaps on your Desktop. Then after you have created the
index.htm file (your home page) and the index_files folder that contain your
other pages and all the supporting graphics, go to that working folder, find
the .htm files and right click > open with FF. Or you can open FF and File >
Open and browse to the working folder to find the .htm files.

If the "ungrouping" does not fix the problems with the New Flash and Common
Links text boxes, then look at your Latest News box and compare what you did
with it, as it does work ok in FF.

The second thing I notice on your home page is the "background" behind the
main menu in the left column. It does not display in FF. This is may not be
an easy fix or even a necessary fix. It does not affect the functionality of
your page in FF...the main menu works just fine, and the page still looks
ok. To fix it, you will probably have to change your design. But first go to
Tools and run the Design Checker. It is usually the first thing you should
do to see what it finds that might pose problems, and offers fixes. I doubt
though that it will catch this issue.

The basic problem is that you can do some things in a print publication that
simply do not convert well into html. There are design techniques that won't
convert. You appear to be using a text box with a curled corner effect with
a gradient fill. When you Publish to the Web and try to convert that to
html, Publisher basically produces two sets of code...one for IE and one for
all other browsers. Publisher is designed to optimize the results in IE. It
succeeds in creating the text box with the curled corner and the gradient
fill for IE, but fails to produce that for FF. You can leave it as it is, or
you can check for the "grouping" issue to see if this is why it doesn't
work, or perhaps play with the options under Arrange...bring forward or
back...or you can redesign that text box and find something that works in
both IE and FF. Maybe get rid of the curled corner. That is part of the
design process and it is a matter of tradeoffs and trial and terror. The
pages don't have to look exactly the same in both IE and FF, but the pages
should function correctly.

While I don't have time to study each page, I took a look at your About Us
page, and noticed what may be another common problem. It appears that you
have put the banner and some other design elements on a Master Page. This is
again something that works in a print publication, but not in a web
publication. Anything placed on a Master Page does not display in FF. The
answer...don't use a Master Page in a web publication.

Just work your way through your publication viewing each page in FF and IE
and see if you can spot any anything else. If it something you can't fix,
post back with the specifics and a link to that page.

DavidF
 
B

Brad Kolar

We are having similar problems. We are running publisher 2003 and using "publish to web". We unchecked the boxes that you mentioned above.

The problem we are having is that FF doesn't seem to display anything that was placed on the "master" in publisher. If we copy all of the elements from the master and put them on each individual page it seems to work but this seems like a hassle.

Any ideas?
 
D

DavidF

Sorry, but you can't use the Master Page feature in a Publisher web, for a
number of reasons...one being the one you discovered. And yes, it would be
nice if it worked in a web...sorry.

DavidF
 
L

longhag

David,

It was painful, but its done. I had to go through and copy & paste my
'template' look for my website on to each of the 85 pages in my publication.
Also the "un-group" solution works like a gem! If you re-visit my site
(www.tredegartownband.org) in either IE or FF you should now see that it is
pretty sorted.

Now to tweek those little things frustrating me, if you don't mind:

In IE all the images / icons that are present are smooth and look relatively
high quality, and in FF (basically) lool cack!!!

Being a brass band, I would like to have audio sample's people can play from
the site, at the moment (see
http://www.tredegartownband.org/index_files/news_grand_shield_2008.htm) I
have to link it like a downloadable document in full??? Any suggestions

Finally, when people click links in my website to go to others web pages,
how do I change it so that it opens in a seperate wndow, instead of replacing
my webpages???

I really appreciate your help with this, look forward to your response!
 
D

DavidF

Congrats! Sorry you didn't find out about the problems with using a Master
Page earlier. It is too bad that you can't use a Master Page in a Publisher
web...sure would make some things a lot easier.

I am not sure that I can see any difference in the images. If you look at
the home page, the band picture is:
http://www.tredegartownband.org/index_files/image1108.jpg
and is the same in both IE and FF. It might actually look a tad more crisp
in FF to my eye, but that is probably my imagination. If you have examples
of images that don't look good, please provide a link to that page. Also be
sure to run the compress graphics feature:

Reference: Compress graphics file sizes to create smaller Publisher Web
pages (2003):
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/publisher/HA011266301033.aspx

Reference: Compress Pictures dialog box (2007):
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/help/HA100363901033.aspx?pid=CL100605171033

As per your audio file question...I think you are probably doing it the best
way by providing a link to the file so people can opt to download it. You
can insert a background sound into a Publisher web page, but that has the
danger of alienating those of us that hate background music on websites.
Don't get me wrong...I like music, but I like to choose when and what I
listen to, and not have it forced on me. Also, I clicked the link to
download the vienna_nights.m4a file, and it is 15.2 MB. That file would take
me about an hour and a half to download on my dial-up connection. I was glad
to see that you warned people of the file size. If you embedded that file in
your page in some sort of auto-run mode when I went to that page, I would
never hear it, as I certainly wouldn't be staying on that page for that
length of time. Also, I was curious about that file format and googled it,
and one of the first 10 hits for that was a post saying "I have an audio
file which won't run on media player. A box saying that the audio has an
..m4a extension which media player doesn't recognize. How can I fix this
problem?". If you have your file set to auto-run, some people will not be
able to play the file. Once again a reason for not setting things up for
auto-run. Perhaps someone else will have better advice about how to share
music files, or embed media players, but at this point I think the way you
are doing it now works fine. I believe that you should always give people
options.

Opening links in a new browser window? There are a number of ways to do
this, and this article describes two:
Reference: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/publisher/HA011587451033.aspx
I found it easier to use the html method at first, but eventually found the
ECMAScript code approach more versatile, as I could insert that hyperlink
into a normal text box with other text.

This was also after I found out that to use the ECMAScript code approach
note that the first javascript code snippet is incorrect on the website. Use
this instead:

<script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript">function Show(Url,
Name, Features) { window.open(Url, Name, Features); }</script>

As I use this a lot, I created a separate text box that I drug off into the
scratch area, where I can construct the hyperlink code snippet. I pasted the
link code snippet from the article:

javascript:Show('http://www.fourthcoffee.com/
', 'newwindow', 'toolbar=no,scrollbars=yes,resizable=yes,height=

into that text box, and made the box wide enough so that the code snippet
does not wrap to two lines. Then I tested it by copying it, and followed my
normal process of inserting a hyperlink, but just pasted the string into the
address field by using CTRL + V. I did a web page preview and tested it, and
then I had a "template" of the code snippet that I knew would work. I could
from that point on just copy and paste different URLs into my "template",
and I was less apt to make mistakes when I built other hyperlink code
snippets.

DavidF
 
M

MICHAEL SCHAPS

Hi DavidF,
I created with Publisher 2003 in 'www.hispanic-american-connection.org' a Newsletter (NL).
With Internet Explorer7, it looks very similar to the 'Printed Newsletter'. Unfortunately Firefox2 and 3.0.1, barely see 5% of the whole Web Page.
I am a beginner and did not use the Master Page to create the NL. I used Web Preview and it look great. Then I publish the Web Site getting the index.htm and the index_files in html.
I have spent more time looking for an answer to the incompatibilty of both browsers (IE & FF), than Web Designing the NL.
I have seen many people with similar problems, but no solutions.
I read, that FF is incapable to read Microsoft Publisher 2003 code.
www.hispanic-american-connection.org has an index.htm and index_files in htm, which I downloaded from the Web Host with FTP.
I don't understand, why FF cannot read htm correctly like IE.

Is there a patch, that I can download?
There must be something we can do!

YOUR ARE A WIZ! Please, please hhheeeeeeeeeeeellllllllllllllllpppppppppppppp

Sincerely,

Michael
 
R

Rob Giordano [MS MVP]

I don't see ANY of the page in FF3.

IE is more forgiving of non-standard code than FF is that's probably why it
can display the stuff that Publisher puts out.

Try moving your content and design onto the page, currently you have stuff
hanging off into the scratch area...that might help.



--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rob Giordano
Microsoft MVP Expression






in message news:[email protected]...
 
D

DavidF

Go to tools > options > web tab and uncheck "rely on vml..." and "allow
png...". I suspect this is your biggest problem.

While you are at it go to tools > Design Checker and run it to spot other
problems.

Be sure to compress your images before you upload again.

Reference: Compress graphics file sizes to create smaller Publisher Web
pages (2003):
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/publisher/HA011266301033.aspx

Consider removing the background music. It will tend to alienate more people
than it attracts.

When you are ready to publish new web files, be sure you are using File >
Publish to the Web....not Save As a web page.

If you get your current home page to view ok in FF and IE, consider
reworking your home page design. You have used tiny fonts that are very hard
to read and you have used non web fonts and non web text box formatting
which may also be contributing to why the page doesn't load well. If you
click in one of the text boxes in your Pub file > format > font, look under
the font field and you will see the option of show only web fonts. Click
that and convert your non web fonts to one of those. Also consider
lengthening the page and increasing the font size.

Reference this article for other tips about converting a print formatted
newsletter to a web formatted newsletter: Convert a print newsletter for use
on the Web (2003):
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/publisher/HA011030981033.aspx

Primarily try the changes in the VML option, and see if that doesn't fix the
primary problem of the pages not loading in FF.

DavidF
 
K

K F

Hi,
I built my website with publisher and my website works perfectly in Internet Explorer but my music does not play in Fire Fox.
I would also like to know how to input an off/on music button in publisher. It doesn't look as though that capability exists.
Thanks for your help
K
 
K

Karl Patel

I having the same issue, but i using front page 2003 still to build website, also using a ccs file. page will load perfectly in internet explorer but not in chrome or firefox, who knows in others browser its causing same issue...? Anyone how to fix this issue?
 

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