My site looks ugly in FireFox! Why?

[buddytd]

I am a totally self-taught web maintenance person. We paid money to a developer to do our site. She used Dreamweaver. It looks just fine in IE, but weird in FireFox, which I personally prefer.

I am able to change the basic information on most of the pages in order to keep the site information current, but do not know near enough to figure out the FireFox incompatibility.

If anyone could help me out with this, I would surely appreciate it.

I'm also brand new to this board, so I'm not sure if a reply to this message will be sent to my email. Just in case not, my email is budizen@msn.com.

Thanks in advance!

Bud Izen
Salem Oregon

[Centauri]

Er, if you give us a link to the site then we may be able to help .........

Cheers
Graeme

Do you mean the scrapbook site in your profile? - it does need some work, but is doable, and everything can be simplified considerably.

[Jeff Mott]

We paid money to a developer to do our site. She used Dreamweaver. It looks just fine in IE, but weird in FireFoxSeems like your company hired someone who is not very good at her profession.

If anyone could help me out with this, I would surely appreciate it.We'll need to see the site to help. Can you provide a link?

[Kor]

It does not matter which editor she used (Dreamweaver, FrontPage or ... Notepad). It does matter the coder's knowledge and skill. An editor is nothing but a simple tool.

[Jeff Mott]

It does not matter which editor she used (Dreamweaver, FrontPage or ... Notepad). It does matter the coder's knowledge and skill. An editor is nothing but a simple tool.I can't tell if this was directed to me or not. If it was, then yes, you are right. It isn't the use of Dreamweaver that indicates she isn't good at her job. It's that she apparently didn't have the knowledge or skill to build a good Web site that works in all browsers. She didn't even check if the site would work in other browsers, or if she did, then she ignored it.

[Kor]

My post was directed to buddytd which said
She used Dreamweaver
Yes, a professional should check his/her work in the most popular browsers (IE, Moz, Opera, Netscape...). I know it's not quite an easy task, as there are several differences in javascript, CSS and even in HTML between different browsers, but, gee!, this is the job. Nothing is easy on this Earth (nor should it be:D )

[roondog]

You get told not to use tables and then you see 'professionals' getting away with it. I like how they put ____________ instead of a <hr> or a border or something. It should be ok with a bit of work and simplification as centauri said. Good luck with it and I'm sure everyone here will help you if you need to direct help follow this ****

[buddytd]

I'm sorry, I should have indicated that it was the site set up in my profile or otherwise spelled it out. The site is www.scrapbookfeveronline.com. I really appreciate all the offers of assistance and look forward to your replies.

Thanks very much.

Bud

[WebJoel]

Other than a couple dozen+ proprietary ("IE-only") tags and a missing !doctype statement (which would probably bust the design in even lax IE), there isn't that much wrong with the page. A re-do in TABLE-less design would be in order and get that excessive width under control (it's about 1/3rd wider than my screen).

Site is visually stunning, btw. :) I like the colors, graphics and deal of white space background on the page.
I'm working on another's page at the moment so, -anyone? :rolleyes:

[toicontien]

There are a whole lot of markup errors and invalid nested tags. To get more info:

1. Head to http://validator.w3.org/

2. Scroll down to the "Validate by Direct Input" box. Click the "Extended Direct Input Interface" link.

3. Select "HTML 4.01 Transitional" from the "Document Type" drop down.

4. Check "Show Source"

5. Check "Verbose Output"

6. Copy the full source code from one of your pages. Paste the source code into the large text area.

7. Click "Validate this document"

The page will reload with a list of errors. Many of them, like "required alt not specified" can be ignored. Things like "TR not allowed here" or having an Id declared more than once in the HTML document can cause problems, as will missing end tags. If you have any questions as to what the errors mean, let us know.

[buddytd]

Thank you both for your assistance. I am a computer consultant and project manager by profession. I wanted a more artistic person than myself to design our site. I believe she accomplished, visually, what we wanted, but I am disappointed that it only works well in one browser.

I only mentioned Dreamweaver because she told me that is what she used. When I load the pages into Front Page (which is what I use), I try to change as little as possible because FP just doesn't have as much control over the visual aspect of the design as Dreamweaver apparently does. I got myself a copy of Dreamweaver, but the learning curve seemed astronomical to me.

I have no intention of expanding my skill set so spending a lot of time learning Dreamweaver did not seem worth it. Also, a lot of the pieces were developed in Photoshop (same learning curve problem) so i got the developer to send me easy to alter pieces, so I can add or remove nav buttons at will.

I find it's easier, faster and better to get an answer from a competent professional than to trial and error my way to success with this stuff. I am now sufficiently dangerous to change text on the various pages, create new pages from a master "template," change nav button text and such like simple things but that is truly my limit.

I have just now sent an email to the developer along with your suggestions and comments and have asked her if she feels willing to address these issues. If she tells me I am on my own, then I will try your suggestions myself.

Either way, I will get back to you to let you know how it all turns out.

Thanks again!

Bud Izen
Scrapbook Fever
Salem Oregon

[buddytd]

Oh, and before you get too upset at my designer, some of the pages like the Classes page, the Kit of the Month page, and the more obviously amateur-designed pages were "created" by me using the "template." Not knowing any better, I used a lot of tables especially to insert pictures.

From your comments, it seems there is a better way to do it to avoid tables. I am TOTALLY open to any and all suggestions.

Again, thanks much.

Bud

[toicontien]

No problem. Good luck. :)

[sitehatchery]

In the HTML, do a search for <td colspan="2" rowspan="3"> and change it to <td rowspan="3">

That will fix the problem.

[Jeff Mott]

I wanted a more artistic person than myself to design our site. I believe she accomplished, visually, what we wanted, but I am disappointed that it only works well in one browser.It's been my experience that good graphic artists are rarely good coders as well and vice versa. Web sites are therefore best developed in teams, each person working to their strengths.

I've attached an example (not a full site) of your page rebuilt using best practices and techniques. The most important of which is separated content and design, which simplifies future design changes and makes the page usable on all browsing devices (all visual browsers, visually handicapped persons, search engines, PDAs, etc.). I also re-saved all the graphics; they were twice as large as they needed to be. The code of the page attached here is also about 5x smaller.

You may freely play with, use it, delete it, pass it on -- whatever.