Re: What do I do to my web site for MAC users be able to click on

Devra,

Yep, the links (except for the Web Cam) all seem to work in Mozilla. However, the page is too wide for me to view without a scroll bar and I'm running at 1024 resolution. Web stats suggest that only 30 percent or less of general users have a resolution higher than 1024, which mean over 2/3 of your visitors will have to scroll. One-third of those people will be using 800 px wide screen and they will quickly leave.

Mike

Devra wrote:
David,

Just wanted to let you know that all of your efforts into helping me have paid off! I had it done by noon yesterday but was waiting for the owner of the website to make sure it worked correctly and it did!!!!

Your instructions were very simple and concise and I appreciate your help immensely!

Thank You Again!!!
Devra
"DavidF" wrote:


Devra,

By the way, I didn't read your original post very well. You did say that you were using Pub 2007 and I just didn't notice. I tend to assume people are using 2003 and thus the directions about VML...sorry.

You have fallen into the common trap of using print document formatting, fonts, and design techniques. Web pages are a different medium, and you can't convert everything you do on a print document to html. You have to change your mindset.

This is probably why the hyperlinks do not work on an MAC, or in FireFox as Mike points out. Everything including the links are converted to images in FF, and this kills the links.

You should design and test your Publisher webpages so that they work in both IE and in FF. If you accomplish that goal, then I would bet that your MAC friends will also find the links work.

The first thing you should do is download and install FireFox.
http://en.www.mozilla.com/en/firefox/
It is a relatively small file size and a quick download...and is free. Then you can install it, but opt out of making it the default browser, so you can still use IE as the default.

Then when you want to test your Pub webpages in FF, just Publish to the Web and direct the html output, the index.htm file and the index_files folder, to your computer where you can easily find them. I use a folder on the Desktop. Then open FireFox and go to File > Open File and browse to where you put the index.htm file. This way you can preview and test the page before you upload it.

As you now have FF installed and have produced test files, when you open either your internet home page or the test "index.htm" file of your web site on your computer, try to left click, drag, select any text on the page and you will notice that you can't. It has all been converted to an image. And of course the hyperlinks are dead.

To fix your page so it will work in FF, you are going to have to change some stuff...and should probably redesign most of the page. First to the stuff:

Run the Design Checker in Publisher and see what it finds are design problems. It will likely find most of the things I noticed, and perhaps more.

First of all if you are using a Master Page in your document, then don't. This works fine in a print doc, but not a web doc. If you were using a master page and have fixed all the issues found by the design checker, then much of the rest of this reply may not apply.

You probably need to get rid of that green border. It appears that you drew lines around the content and in doing so you created one big image in FireFox.
http://www.islandtimerealty.com/index_files/image408.gif
This means everything within it is also converted to an image and that the page is forced to be as long as the image, even though the page length isn't needed. Publisher normally automatically ends the page after the last design element, and thus will produce custom length pages. In this case, you end up you forcing a 4608 pixel length page...the length of that border.

Another possible reason for everything being converted to an image is that you have apparently "covered" the background image that was in the original publication. It is in the code, and in the background, but it does not show on your page. Here is the background image:
http://www.islandtimerealty.com/index_files/image321.gif

Here is the image that you "covered" the background with:
http://www.islandtimerealty.com/index_files/image809.gif
This is a white colored image that is 1344 X 4608! I am not sure how you did this, but if you added the image to cover the background or a white filled text box, that was the wrong approach. If you want a solid white background on your web pages go to Format > Background. Under Apply a background select the white color. That will replace image321.gif as the background image, and you will not need the white image or text box you added to the Pub document as a background. Fix this and you may fix the page length problem and everything turning into an image when you create the html.

The next problem to fix is the fonts you have chosen to use. Papyrus is not a web friendly font, and as a result Publisher converts it to an image, and kills the links. Change your nav bar button fonts to a web friendly font. Select the text, go to Format > Font and in the dialog make sure that Show only Web fonts are selected. Choose one of those. Test to see if this alone will fix the problem of killing the link in FF. You may also have to remove the border on those text boxes. If you prefer to use a non-web friendly font in a title or some other way, then might be ok if you are ok with it being an image. However, that text will probably look a little fuzzy as an image...and of course the search engine robots won't be able to index your page cuz they don't read images...your choice.

Now those are just the problems I caught on your home page...there may be more. Remember some things you do in print, just won't convert to html. Here is a good reference and though it is talking about formatting an email message in html, many if not most of the formatting issues it discusses also apply to web pages. So you can use this list to help you troubleshoot any other issues you have on your page(s). Reference: Tips and troubleshooting for sending a publication page as an e-mail message:
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/publisher/HP010390591033.aspx?pid=CH062524821033

Now I also asserted that it would probably be a good idea to do a complete redesign. As you will already be making a lot of changes that will probably require you to change your layout, I would suggest that you reconsider your page width. If you purposely chose to make your page 1344 +/- pixels wide, then in my opinion that is a major mistake. That is way too wide.

If you go to Edit > Page Setup you will notice that you have three default web page widths of 600, 760 and new to Pub 2007, 984 pixel wide pages. And if you see these measurements in inches then back up a step and go to Tools Options and on the General Tab change the Measurement units to pixels from inches. It is much better to design a web page using pixels rather than inches. But I digress...there are reasons the widest default page width is only 984 pixels wide. The primary one being that pages wider than that are going to require horizontal scrolling on way too many users' computers. Yes, monitors are coming bigger and bigger, but think about the 14" and 15" screen laptop users. Chances are they are going to have to scroll sideways to read your page, and guess what...they won't. They will leave the page rather than deal with the hassle.

With this said, though you can probably make your pages work at their current width in FF and thus on MACs, since you are already redesigning and redoing much of the page anyway, I would suggest that you also change the width of your page to either 760 pixels wide or at most the 984 pixels and change your layout to fit that width. The people that view the page will thank you.

As you redesign, you should also read this: Understanding background padding in a Publisher web (aka white space) :
http://msmvps.com/blogs/dbartosik/archive/2006/01/07/80563.aspx
Until we figure out a way to do it with code, the best you can do is simulate centering your web page in 2007.

OK, now that I have written a small book, I will turn it over to you. I know I have suggested a lot of work, but if you want a functional web site, you will have to make changes. Work through what you can, and if you need more help please post back with the specific problem and the URL pointing to it, and we will try to help more.

Good luck.

DavidF


"Devra" <Devra@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:D95F974B-A43B-4240-A841-B2C9472D1C90@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

David,

I didn't use a normal navigation bar, I just put a box and typed the page
names inside the box and created links to the other pages and also links
within the pages to either e-mail or take them to another page on the site.

The website is: www.islandtimerealty.com

Thanks for your help!
Devra

"DavidF" wrote:


Ok...you didn't specify which version of Publisher you were using and the
"rely on vml..." option was removed in Pub 2007.

Please post the URL of the website, and we might be able to help you
further.

Chances are the navbar is being turned into an image by the browser that
doesn't work. This kills the links. If you are per chance putting the navbar
on a master page, that would also mess things up...don't use a master page
with Publisher web pages.

What you might have to do is build a textual menu and place it on your site,
perhaps at the bottom that will work in all browsers...will explain further
after viewing your site.

DavidF

"Devra" <Devra@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:D51F97C5-F8FB-4410-B4D4-E004B356F95B@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I have Publisher 2007. When I go to "tools" and then "options" and then
the
"web tab" the box to "allow png....." is already unchecked and there is
nothing that says anything about "rely on VML....."

The only problems that I am aware of is they can't click on ANY links,
thus
not being able to navigate through the website. It's as if there are no
links made, but I have checked on 3 computers (not MAC) that it works fine
on.

Any other suggestions?

Devra

"DavidF" wrote:


Have them buy a PC. <g>

Getting full cross browser compatibility is a challenge with any program
you
use to build a web site. In most cases you can work through some of the
issues with Publisher, but probably not all. All browsers will simply
will
not view all pages the same all the time. Ultimately if you want to
approach
full cross browser capability, then move to programs such as Web
Expression.

With that said, and assuming that you are using Pub 2003 or 2007 then go
to
tools > options > web tab and uncheck "rely on VML..." and "allow
png...".
Also be sure to compress your images before you upload. Those thee
changes
alone will help and result in most Publisher pages viewing ok in IE and
FF.

I would also suggest that you download and install FireFox, and test your
sites with that browser. At least if your site views well with FF and IE,
you will know that the vast majority of viewers will be ok.

If there are specific pages or parts of pages that are creating problems,
then post the address of the page(s) and we will try to offer more help.

DavidF

"Devra" <Devra@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:3538E70C-4227-40B0-A253-52957B36CDD3@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I have created a website on my Publisher 2007 and have uploaded it to
the
server. I have no problems with any of the links but anyone with a MAC
cannot click on the links.

Is there a setting or settings that I need to change in order for MAC
users
to use my website?

Help, I can't figure this out!








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