Entries for Rowan

Can change pages, but can't create thread with JavaScript disabled [Can change pages, but can't create thread with JavaScript disabled]

Rowan — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 08:58:56 GMT

There seems to be a catch-22 with this site.

I had disabled JS to browse for an existing thread on a particular issue and when I was ready to create a new thread; I couldn't. Please make it so JavaScript isn't required to use this site. There's no point making parts of the site work without JavaScript, while leaving other critical component broken.

in reply to Can change pages, but can't create thread with JavaScript disabled

The New Standards Compliance Mode [The New Standards Compliance Mode]

Rowan — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 05:56:57 GMT

http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2008/01/21/compatibility-and-ie8.aspx
http://www.alistapart.com/articles/beyonddoctype

<meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=8" />

Digg This

in reply to The New Standards Compliance Mode

Firefox 3 [Firefox 3]

Rowan — Sat, 29 Dec 2007 07:41:43 GMT

For your information, there are major problems with C8, C9 beta, on10, TechNet Edge and Mix with Firefox 3. I'd hazard to guess that you're using browser sniffing for specific versions of Firefox.

The problems range from broken layouts, to content not appearing, to links/buttons not doing anything.

C8

Silverlight doesn't load, obviously due to browser sniffing, because it works on most other sites.
Comments do not load

C9 Beta

All of the above
Forum threads and icons don't load (listing + individual posts)
The main navigation bar does not fully stretch across the page

on10

The main image/video doesn't show up beside posts on the home page, except for the top post.
Comments are all messed up and avatars don't load

TechNet Edge

The main navigation bar does not fully stretch across the page
The layout of each post on the home page is completely messed up.
Comments seem to load normally. :O
The "Perimeter" page looks nothing like it does in IE7, "sniff sniff", and the layout is broken.

Mix

On the home page, the layout for each post is broken
Comments are viewable, but the layout is again broken

Firefox 3 may be a beta, but I've never encountered such major problems on any other sites before.

in reply to Firefox 3

Opera won't deter Microsoft [Opera won't deter Microsoft]

Rowan — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 09:07:50 GMT

From w3.org:

"Some people seem to think that Opera's recent legal action against Microsoft will cause relations in the CSS Working Group to deteriorate and thereby damage our group's ability to function. But neither Håkon Lie nor the Microsoft reps foresee any problems working together because of Opera’s antitrust complaint."

From Alex Mogilevsky (Microsoft):

"As far as Microsoft is concerned, I have not received any instruction to change my participation in W3C in any way because of this or any other lawsuits. Personally, I love working with Håkon and all CSSWG members... whatever Opera's intentions are, I can't imagine it involves not being interested in working together on a standard that is worth implementing. I am certainly interested and plan to keep doing that, to the best of my abilities and any time that I can afford to invest."

in reply to Opera won't deter Microsoft

More RAM? DEEENIED [More RAM? DEEENIED]

Rowan — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 10:32:36 GMT

OK. Vista threatened to "stop working" after I doubled my RAM from 1GB to 2GB. "OK then no worries, I'll just use the automated phone system" I thought to myself.

"Please dial the code on the screen..."

I enter all the numbers as instructed...

Phone's response: "This copy of Windows is already activated on another computer, if you believe this is in error please press one to talk to a representative."

Presses 1...

"Beep beep, beep beep, beep beep, beep beep, beep beep, beep beep, beep beep, beep bee... silence."

Hmm, no answer. Great service there, guys... hello..? :|

Try again two days later, same deal. "Windows will stop working TODAY, if you don't activate".

I remove one stick (1GB) of DDR RAM...

"Windows is activated" :s :@

Now did I waste my money on the RAM or Vista?

Oh yeah, I added an extra hard drive a few weeks earlier, what am I supposed to do if I'm running out of space and need slightly better performance?

in reply to More RAM? DEEENIED

Scrolltabs vs Ordinary tabs [Scrolltabs vs Ordinary tabs]

Rowan — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 10:03:24 GMT

Can you improve browser tabs by adding more and more functionality, or do you just think outside the square?

Scrolltabs

in reply to Scrolltabs vs Ordinary tabs

Overlay, the Div [Overlay, the Div]

Rowan — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 01:19:34 GMT

One of my biggest concerns with the new pup-up comment box was that it would be difficult to read the previous comments while typing your reply.

This is OK for most people since if your window is tall enough the box leaves some room around the edges, however, now you can't select text or use links from previous comments in the thread while the comment box is open.

In the current C9, if I wanted to re-read the thread I was replying to I could middle-mouse click on the back button and it would open the previous page in a new tab (great FX feature btw).

In the new C9 we're denied the ability to select text or open links because of the Div known as Overlay. So I called upon Firebug to destroy Overlay and light was returned to the Coffee House.

I could find out what that link was and complete my reply! :O

Unfortunately Overlay has risen from the dead and continues to haunt the forums... [C]

in reply to Overlay, the Div

My Feedback Thread [My Feedback Thread]

Rowan — Sat, 09 Jun 2007 05:59:03 GMT

My Gripes:

Where are the page headings? All the text is the roughly same size and nothing is bold. It's very difficult to find things on a page.
Segoe UI at .78em is freaking small compared to Verdana at the same size. In fact all Vista fonts are tiny in comparison to existing web fonts. Please stick to standard web fonts on the web, please.
javascript:void(0); in hyperlinks prevents users from opening links in new windows or tabs, will some degradation be implemented in the future?
At 1024px wide, my browser window still isn't wide enough to view the entire width of the page. Current C9 site is fine though.
No breadcrumbs?
The thread list takes up too much space and thread titles don't stand out.

in reply to My Feedback Thread

Dear Pandora listener [Dear Pandora listener]

Rowan — Thu, 03 May 2007 10:32:03 GMT

Pandora wrote:
Due to international licensing constraints, we are deeply, deeply sorry to say that we must begin proactively preventing access to Pandora's streaming service for most countries outside of the U.S...

...your IP address is '---.---.--.---', which indicates you are listening from Australia.

It was good while it lasted. :$

in reply to Dear Pandora listener

Virtual PC 2007 too good for Home Premium? [Virtual PC 2007 too good for Home Premium?]

Rowan — Sun, 18 Feb 2007 04:38:07 GMT

Microsoft wrote:

The following versions of Windows Vista are supported: Windows Vista Business, Windows Vista Enterprise, Windows Vista Ultimate.

Why?

Microsoft wrote:

[Virtual PC 2004 runs on:] ...Windows XP Professional or later...

- except Vista apparently.

Is there something wrong with Home Premium?

Premium: ~~having or reflecting superior quality or value~~?

:@

I didn't think a "premium" version would have such limitations.

in reply to Virtual PC 2007 too good for Home Premium?

What happens when IE7 is released? [What happens when IE7 is released?]

Rowan — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 15:00:29 GMT

As we all know, IE7 will be delivered as a critical Windows update which will come fairly soon. For web designers/developers such as myself it will be difficult to continuously test two separate versions of IE.

I can see 4 different choices to take when IE7 is released:

Don't install IE7 and continue testing with IE6, while hoping IE7 doesn't misbehave.
Install IE7 and hope to God that all my sites work in IE6 (high risk).
Install IE7 every second day, to alternate between versions (time consuming).
Buy another version of Win XP SP2, install Virtual PC, partition the hard drive and install the other version of IE on that partition (expensive, time consuming, less hard drive space, yet the most convenient).

I'm leaning towards option number four as it achieves the most ideal result, however I don't see why I should pay a few hundred bucks for a supposedly free web browser.

What will you do?

p.s. I won't install them both side by side, because I don't like to jeopardise my system.

in reply to What happens when IE7 is released?

Re: An end to the monopoly [Re: An end to the monopoly]

Rowan — Tue, 12 Sep 2006 13:20:14 GMT

"Installation information data unavailable."

I've downloaded it numerous times to get different things from microsoft.com, but I can never install it for some reason. I've always just opened IE6 to get what I need.

Also, since it's a Firefox plugin shouldn't it just install as soon as it's clicked, like any other Firefox plugin?

in reply to WGA Plugin Install

Rejoice! Thanks to IE [Rejoice! Thanks to IE]

Rowan — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 04:07:33 GMT

Wow, I just got around an IE6 bug, after about 5 hours of problem solving! [C] That's what I call a relief.

The issue was an unwanted 3px gap between a header and a navigation bar. I tried literally everything I could possibly think of, such as using negative margins, negative padding, extra padding, changing height, line-spacing, font-size, removing all spaces from the HTML, removing and adding borders, what else would create a 3px gap? There were no floats or other trickery involved.

Turns out the problem was indeed in the CSS, but not what you would expect to have any effect. The main container div had 'vertical-align: top' on it, you see, I'm using an e-commerce solution called Zen Cart and I've basically taken the default stylesheet and changed it to suit my needs, it happened to use vertical-align on the container div. But since when is vertical-align supposed to create a 3px gap between two divs?!

I can understand that it's zen cart's fault in the first place, but vertical-align shouldn't affect anything other than inline elements and table cells. What's going on with IE?

I think I'll make a test case.

.end rant

in reply to Rejoice! Thanks to IE

IE and Form Fields: Rendering Nightmare [IE and Form Fields: Rendering Nightmare]

Rowan — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 03:38:57 GMT

I just tried putting a password field below a text field, for some reason in IE the password field is smaller than a normal text field. Both fields have a size of "20", so why should the password field be smaller than the text field when they both share the same visual appearance?

HTML:

<input type="text" size="20" /><br />
<input type="password" size="20" />

Screenshot:

I'm not surprised with this behaviour, considering IE is inconsistent in every other imaginable aspect of rendering form fields. For example put a button beside a text field and they'll be out of line, put a text field beside plain text and they're out of line, XP buttons distort when they reach more than 191px in length, buttons have their own borders which you can't get rid of, what else can be done wrong?

Will this ever be fixed, is anything planned for IE8, 9, 10?

in reply to IE and Form Fields: Rendering Nightmare

Arrange Icons by... [Arrange Icons by...]

Rowan — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 01:07:07 GMT

However the hell I want.

in reply to Arrange Icons by...

Microsoft is Promoting Apple [Microsoft is Promoting Apple]

Rowan — Thu, 01 Jun 2006 01:04:39 GMT

Spot the errors!

http://www.microsoft.com/germany/unternehmen/informationen/gesellschaftlicheverantwortung/dsin.mspx
http://www.microsoft.com/germany/unternehmen/default.mspx

in reply to Microsoft is Promoting Apple

MS employees fear losing admin rights? [MS employees fear losing admin rights?]

Rowan — Fri, 26 May 2006 06:44:28 GMT

Traffic tsunami created by Redmond admins

The equivalent of an electronic tidal wave -- originating from the Microsoft campus in Redmond -- hammered the ZDNet Australia servers earlier this week.

btw, This topic title was chosen just for rjdohnert. ;)

in reply to MS employees fear losing admin rights?

Simulating max-width for images in IE6? [Simulating max-width for images in IE6?]

Rowan — Fri, 07 Apr 2006 01:19:07 GMT

Since IE6 disregards max-width, I need to find a workaround for it. This person provides a 'solution', however it doesn't seem to work properly for images.

This is the "CSS" I've tried:

img {
   max-width: 14em; /* for browsers who understand me */
   border: 1px solid #369;
   width: expression(
       document.body.clientWidth > (500/14) *
       parseInt(document.body.currentStyle.fontSize)?"14em":"auto");
}

It shrinks large images to 14em, but it also expands smaller images to 14em, which defeats the purpose of max-width. I don't care how much proprietary code is used, as long as it does the job.

Have you got any ideas to make this work as W3 intended?

in reply to Simulating max-width for images in IE6?