Html code fragment home page doesn't work

[Deb]

I have the below HTML code fragment on several pages on my web design. The
code works from ALL pages EXCEPT from the home page. I get the "page cannot
be displayed" error.

The code is :
<p style="font-family:verdana;font-size:80%"><a href="buying.htm#year
end">year end</a>
<a name="year end"> </a> </p>

As I said this code works from my ten other pages but not from the home
page. I have even created a duplicate of the home page (which became page 2)
and the link works. When I deleted the original home page, and page 2 (the
duplicate) became page 1, the link didn't work.

Hope someone can help with this strange behaviour!

PS: I am new to web site building and I have found this site amazing! I
have found so many helpful suggestions, tricks and info on html code and
because of the posts on this site I was able to create a decent web site (my
opinion of course).

 

[DavidF]

Deb,

I would guess that this is because you are using the default option of
"organizing supporting files in a folder". This means that all your other
pages except for your home page which is named "index.htm", are stored in a
subfolder called "index_files". In your code snippet you have written a
relative link to a page within that subfolder, and the link on the index.htm
page doesn't know where that page is.

Try changing the code to:

<p style="font-family:verdana;font-size:80%"><a
href="index_files/buying.htm#year
end">year end</a>
<a name="year end"> </a> </p>

and see if that works on your index page. If it doesn't work, perhaps write
an absolute URL.

DavidF

 

[Deb]

Excellent, this works perfectly! Thanks so much for your help.

I have another question about the default file organization. Is this the
right way to go or should I unclick this?
--
Many thanks,
Deb

Deb,

I would guess that this is because you are using the default option of
"organizing supporting files in a folder". This means that all your other
pages except for your home page which is named "index.htm", are stored in a
subfolder called "index_files". In your code snippet you have written a
relative link to a page within that subfolder, and the link on the index.htm
page doesn't know where that page is.

Try changing the code to:

<p style="font-family:verdana;font-size:80%"><a
href="index_files/buying.htm#year
end">year end</a>
<a name="year end"> </a> </p>

and see if that works on your index page. If it doesn't work, perhaps write
an absolute URL.

DavidF

 

[DavidF]

Deb,

Thanks for posting back. Glad to hear that it worked.

I don't know that you gain any advantage by not using the subfolder option,
as long as you understand how the links are written. And if you changed it
now, you would have to change the code fragment on all pages. So probably
not.

I guess I would recommend that you untick "Rely on VML..." and "Allow
PNG..." under the web options, as this will probably decrease your file size
and potentially decrease the time it takes your pages to load in a viewer's
browser. I would also be sure to use the "compress images" feature, as this
has a big effect on file size and loading time. Read "Compress graphics file
sizes to create smaller Publisher Web pages":
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA011266301033.aspx

Good luck.

DavidF

Excellent, this works perfectly! Thanks so much for your help.

I have another question about the default file organization. Is this the
right way to go or should I unclick this?

 

[Deb]

Hi David, I'll look into your suggestions.

On another note. I see that a lot of people mention that their actual web
site is out of wack but is ok in Publisher and on the web preview. I just
experienced the same thing. I just published our web site for the first time
and everything looks ok on my IBM ThinkPad, with IE6 (14 in screen), but on
my husband's Dell Latitude, with IE6 (17 in screen) everything is out of
whack.

I noticed on another post you mentioned that if this kind of thing was
unacceptable that the user should invest in a serious web development
software. We are now considering this as the site is for a business. What
do you recommend? I have used FrontPage (long, long ago) but I'm also hearing
a bit about Dreamweaver. I need something simple and easy to use and
something that will be able to use my existing web layout (I don't want to
have to recreate all of this!).

Our site is www.a2bhomeinspections.com, any comments you might have will be
very appreciative.

 

[DavidF]

I looked at your site, and it is both attractive and has a lot of good
content. I can see why you don't want to have to recreate it. Unfortunately
the code that Publisher produces cannot be imported into other web building
programs...it is just too different and you won't be satisfied with the
result.

If you decide to switch, and having used FrontPage before, that would seem
to be the logical choice. FrontPage is being phased out and Microsoft is
offering among other programs Microsoft® Office SharePoint® Designer 2007 &
Microsoft® Expressions Web Designer. I suspect that SharePoint will be way
overkill for what you are doing as would be DreamWeaver. I also suspect that
if you shopped around you will be able to find a copy of Frontpage 2003 on
sale. There are lots of other web building programs out there. Perhaps live
with Publisher until you find something that meets your criteria of being
easy to use, and is cost effective.

And by the way, I noticed that you are only using two images on your site on
most pages, so the need to compress your images is not there. They take a
while to load on the home page, but after that they load quickly as they are
already on the viewers computer.

DavidF

 

[Deb]

Thanks so much David for your reply. I'm glad the site looked ok to you. I
checked on several other people's PCs (various brands and sized monitors) and
all were able to see the site as I saw it. We changed the resolution on the
Dell and now it is working fine on that laptop. I had a huge disappointment
as it takes a lot of work to do a site (especially when you have no idea what
you are doing), so it was quite the relief to see it on other systems.

I appreciate your comments on the site and was glad it loaded correctly and
was not out of whack - what a relief. I will keep your suggestions about
software in mind when it is time to move to a more web specific software.

Again, thanks for your help!