Publisher 2007 problems with links, pictures and colours (colors?)

[Matt Kilfeather]

Hi,

I'm using Publisher 2007 on Windows XP to create my first web site.
Everything looks fine in Firefox on my own PC but other folks are having
problems. It looks fine in web preview and when I log on the the host. The
site is: www.glamorganbook-keeping.co.uk

The site has five pages and two navigation bars per page.

On my own PC in IE6 the homepage looks fine but the links take you to a
blank page.

On other people's PCs using IE, the navigation works but the jpegs are
missing. Also a text box fill which should be brown shows up as blue.

Any help will be much appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Mary Sauer]

Works for me... I am using IE 7. Are you asking about text that should be
placed beside the man & woman image?
How Much is missing, as well as About Us. Not sure about Contact Us. There is
small print comment.

 

[Matt Kilfeather]

Thanks for looking Mary.

There should be the same two pictures on each of the five pages, one of a
calculator and one of two people.

Each page should have the same header, a brown text box box with Glamorgan
Book-keeping on a grey rectangle and the words "Saving you time and money"
in white.

Does that show up for you? Which browser are you using?

Thanks again.

 

[Mary Sauer]

Yes it shows up fine. I use IE 7. It is a really nice site. Simple but
effective.
David should be around soon, he has all the other browsers covered.

 

[Matt Kilfeather]

Thanks Mary. I will re-phrase the question and re-post.

 

[DavidF]

Matt,

You are using a webhost that is framing your site. If you use the Publisher
navbar wizard to produce your navbars, the links are relative. For example,
if you view your site in IE, and mouseover the link to Contacts, you will
see the link in the status bar "/index_Page433.htm"...or in other words, it
is looking to: http://www.glamorganbook-keeping.co.uk/index_Page433.htm The
actual path to the page is
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/m.kilfeather/index_Page433.htm.

If you want to continue to use the current host, and fix the site, you will
need to abandon the navbar wizard, build your own, and write absolute links
to the other pages. This will be true of both navbars on your pages.

Here is a link to an article about building your own textual navbar for
further reference:
http://msmvps.com/blogs/dbartosik/archive/2006/01/16/81255.aspx
But of course use .htm extensions instead of .aspx.

Make the changes to your navigation system and if you still have problems
with any images, post back with the specific pages and issues.

DavidF

 

[Matt Kilfeather]

Thanks. That gives me something to work with.

Matt,

You are using a webhost that is framing your site. If you use the
Publisher navbar wizard to produce your navbars, the links are relative.
For example, if you view your site in IE, and mouseover the link to
Contacts, you will see the link in the status bar
"/index_Page433.htm"...or in other words, it is looking to:
http://www.glamorganbook-keeping.co.uk/index_Page433.htm The actual path
to the page is
http://homepage.ntlworld.com/m.kilfeather/index_Page433.htm.

If you want to continue to use the current host, and fix the site, you
will need to abandon the navbar wizard, build your own, and write absolute
links to the other pages. This will be true of both navbars on your pages.

Here is a link to an article about building your own textual navbar for
further reference:
http://msmvps.com/blogs/dbartosik/archive/2006/01/16/81255.aspx
But of course use .htm extensions instead of .aspx.

Make the changes to your navigation system and if you still have problems
with any images, post back with the specific pages and issues.

DavidF

 

[Matt Kilfeather]

David,

I deleted the existing navigation bars and inserted the following code
fragment on each page:

<a href="http://homepage.ntlworld.com/m.kilfeather/index.htm>Home</a> <br>
<a
href="http://homepage.ntlworld.com/m.kilfeather/index_Page937.htm>Services</a>
<br>
<a href="http://homepage.ntlworld.com/m.kilfeather/index_Page484.htm>How
much?</a> <br>
<a href="http://homepage.ntlworld.com/m.kilfeather/index_Page385.htm>About
us</a> <br>
<a href="http://homepage.ntlworld.com/m.kilfeather/index_Page433.htm>Contact
us</a> <br>

and similar but adapted for a horizontal bar (ie with the pipe instead of
<br>). I also inserted a yellow filled text box in the page header,
saying,"WEBSITE UNDER CONSTRUCTION".

When I log in to the site http://www.glamorganbook-keeping.co.uk , in IE7, I
note the following:

the homepage has no vertical navigation bar (or it is misshapen and
misplaced). It should be in the top left.
the horizontal bar at the bottom of the page is only partly visible
the links cannot find the appropriate pages
the above mentioned yellow text box comes out plain text with no background
at the bottom of the page

In Firefox the homepage still has the old navigation bar but other pages the
new bars. But again, the new bar links do not work.

Thanks,

Matt.

 

[Matt Kilfeather]

David,

Further to my last post where I tried the code fragment you suggested. The
host still holds the site with the code fragments for you to see the
results.

I continued and deleted out the code fragments and inserted 5 text boxes
containing hyperlinks with the absolute adresses. In Publisher each link
seems to work okay. But when I try the web preview (from page 1 in Pub) only
the homepage text box nav is complete. The others have only two lines and
they do not work. Also, I notice that I get different reults if I run the
preview from, say page 2. In this case there is no nav nox on the homepage
at all. I also notice that there is a partial horizintal nav bar on page 2
in the preview despite the fact that I deleted all the horizontal nav bars.

Publisher seems to be holding on to code even after it has been deleted.

I hope these observations are useful for you.

Thanks

Matt

 

[Matt Kilfeather]

Hi David,

If you have have had the stamina to read through all my posts...

I have moved on again. What is on the host now was created using the navbar
wizard and modifying the links to absolute addresses. It works in IE7 but I
don't know about IE6 yet. The links are dead in Firefox. If it works in IE6
I have made progress.

I'd better take a break before my head melts.

Thanks,

Matt

 

[DavidF]

Matt,

I have the stamina, but haven't had the time. I do work for a living and
have only so many hours I can devote to helping out here, so sorry I haven't
been able to respond before this.

I just viewed your site with IE6 and FF2.0. It looked and worked great in
IE6, and as you said the links are dead in FF, but it viewed ok. In FF they
have been converted to an image.

It sounds like you reverted to using the navbar wizard again, given your
problems trying to use the html code fragment approach. As a general rule FF
has problems with the navbar wizard generated navbars, and always converts
bottom, horizontal menus to an image. Usually the vertical one works.

I have two suggestions. David B. suggests that using the code fragment
approach saves on unnecessary code bloat, and that is probably true.
However, I personally found it easier to just use text boxes or even icons
or images when building a menu, and then manually insert the hyperlinks.
This might create more code, but it has always worked for me. I wouldn't use
separate text boxes...not necessary. But you will have to play with how you
write the links until you find it works in both sites. I suspect that if you
go back to a single text box, and insert the links that are working in IE
now, that you will eventually get your site working in both browsers.

You are obviously making progress, and since around 85% of people use IE,
your site will be viewed by most people. However, given this is a business
site (and a pretty nice one, I must say), perhaps you should invest $5 a
month and move your site to a real host. Publisher obviously doesn't play
well with framing, plus even if you do get it working under the current
host, the browser webots are not going to be able to index your site, which
would be unacceptable to me if I was building a business site. So my second
suggestion is spring for a non-framing web host. If you need a referral to a
good host, let me know. I use one that is $5 a month.

DavidF

 

[Mike Koewler]

perhaps you should invest $5 a month and move your site to a real
host. <<

I agree with David. I even spend $6 a month, but it is worth it. It's
like a bottle of pop or beer a week. Be sure the web host supports php
and Front Page Extensions. Fantastico and a good Control Panel, along
with a static web site are other things to consider. Even if it costs a
buck a month more, it will serve you well into the future.

As for Nav Bars - today they are in vogue, but you might be surprised
how easy it is to create a site that is easily navigated without relying
on javascript or nav bars. I've seen articles that say that bots don't
follow nav bars done in js, plus my experience is that if you ever
decide to redo your site to more than a minor extent, you'll have to
completely redo the NBs.

<oration> IMO, people lose track of what a home page is supposed to be.
It's a Store front, a place people can drive by on a high speed cable or
phone line. Make it easy for them to see the most important things
available inside the store, while keeping it attractive. Once they get
inside, make it easy to find the aisle with product they are looking for.

The Net got a nickname of the Information Superhighway, but so many
people forget that Interstates have off ramps that lead to roads that
lead to lanes that in turn lead to a building. Make it easy to get to
the building (including designing the site so the "map makers, aka
search engines can find it), but don't try to put them all on the
superhighway. Drivers won't have time to see all the trees if they are
in the middle of a forest. </oration>

Mike

 

[Matt Kilfeather]

Thanks for your help guys. I am appreciative.

Matt