Re: Publisher 07 Form Won't Work With Mac

Hello again,

Well, mission finally accomplished!

The good news is that by downloading Firefox, changing the design as
suggested, comparing the site in IE and Firefox for each step, plus a good
deal of trial and error, I finally did produce a site that can be viewed and
used by IE, Firefox, and Mac users alike. My "Mac Site Tester" gave it the
thumbs up, with all navigation, links and form working OK.

I knew that eventually I'd need to address the browser compatibility issues,
but was fully occupied and sufficiently challenged just designing the site
and keeping it updated.

However, Rob and David gave me the push I needed, plus the how-to's to
re-design the site and learn how to test it for more universal compatibility
with other browsers. It wasn't easy, but I feel I've passed another hurdle
on site design now. Forgive a small cheer at this point...!

The downside is that maintaining that level of compatibility will now take
much more time and attention. Each small update will require several more
steps, constant comparing in different browsers, etc. The price of being a
barely competent "webmaster," I guess.

I thought I'd help others in the same boat by detailing some solutions and
work-arounds, and a possible problem I found:

1) David was right to say that in general, it was the grouping of elements,
and background tints/fill in text boxes that caused most of the compatibility
issues. Borders did play a part in a few cases, but were not always the
culprits. We're mainly talking about areas with links, navigation, or
otherwise, and pages with forms.

2) I usually left some common design and text groupings left grouped before
uploading, because they were easier to move around when updating or adding
infomation. Now, it seems I have to ungroup them all before saving and
uploading. This means, of course, there's more time and work needed for the
next update, since I have to re-group those elements again before I can move
them around, then un-group once again, etc. So be it, but I wish there were
an easier way.

3) My goal in all of this was to keep close to the same general design for
the site. Light background tints in some text boxes and navigation bars were
an important design element I was unwilling to lose.

But, I discovered a work-around. If you have a text box with a background
tint that includes a link or form, first delete the tint or fill using Format
Box. Then, select and cut a block of text containing the links. Next create
a new text box within the current one, and paste the text back inside the new
text box. Re-size and re-position your new box as needed. Then, click on
the outside or original box only, and using Format Box, re-click on your
original background tint/fill.

What happens is that while the outside box has a tint/fill, the inside box
with the links technically does not. When viewed in both IE and Firefox,
however, both boxes show the tint or fill seamlessly. Because the computer
thinks the inside box doesn't have a fill, the links contained therein
actually work in both browsers.

You end up with what looks more or less like your original tinted text box,
but with live links in both browsers. On slow dial-up, that page may
download a tad slower, but on broadband, I'll bet you won't see the
difference.

4) The only possible problem remaining is how text looks in both IE and
Firefox. My Mac Tester didn't see any problems visually, but when I tested
each page in both browsers on my computer, some text that looked OK in IE
appeared slightly wavy in Firefox.

I use Internet ready fonts like Verdana, Arial, Times New Roman, etc.
Interestingly, when I did the box-within-a-box trick above, re-typed text
appeared clean and sharp in both browsers. Do I have to re-type all text in
the site now to make sure it all looks sharp and clear? Any advice on this
would be helpful.

In all, I've learned a great deal about site design and browser
compatibility, and for that, I'm most grateful to our resident experts.
Thanks for coming to my rescue once again.
--
Liz4.0


"Liz" wrote:

Thanks for your detailed reply. It will take me awhile to work through all
your suggestions for the entire site. When I do, I'll send you an update.

Greatly appreciate the help.
--
Liz4.0


"DavidF" wrote:

The form does not work in FireFox either because the form has been converted
to an image. Generally if you can get your Publisher web page to work in
both IE and FireFox, then it will also work in Safari for MAC users and most
other browsers. It is good that you test your pages with IE before uploading
them, but you should take it one step further. Download and install FireFox
and test your pages with that browser too. Instead of uploading directly to
your site via HTTP, for testing purposes, temporarily, when you Publish to
the Web, choose to direct your web files to a temporary folder somewhere on
your local computer where you can easily find them (like your desktop), then
go to the index.htm file, right click, open with, FF. Or open FF, File, Open
File and browse to where the local files are to open. Don't forget that you
other pages are in the index_files folder...test those .htm files too. Then
once you know the web files work ok, you can republish using HTTP the normal
way.

As to the fix. Publisher basically produces two sets of code...one for IE
and one for all other browsers. The code for Safari...and FireFox results in
your form being converted to an image. Here is what FF sees on the page:
http://www.nflaace.org/index_files/image1134.gif
Once the form is converted to an image, the form will not work. Solution,
change the design such that the form is not converted to an image. You can
test to see if text has been converted to an image by left click, drag to
try to select some of the text in FF. If you can't, then it is an image. Try
it on the link I gave you and you will see that you can't select any of the
text.

My best guess in this case is that either you have grouped all the elements
of the form together or the border you put around all the elements is
causing the form to be converted to an image. If you grouped all the
elements together, ungroup them and test in FF. If that isn't the problem,
then remove the border and test again.

The bottom navbar has also been converted to an image. Try removing the fill
color to fix that, if it is not grouped with something.

The top navbar on the forms page also does not work in FF, but the does work
on your home page. Once again, check for grouping.

Just work through each page of your site, testing the links in both IE and
FF. All you have to do is mouseover the link to see if it is active in the
status bar at the bottom left of the browser window. If the text has been
converted to an image, then fix that and your forms page and the rest of the
pages should work fine for your MAC users.

DavidF

"Liz" <liz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:F0879D37-68D1-43D8-AA06-1C57E1B5DBF2@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Certainly.

It's at
http://www.nflaace.org/index_files/Page858.htm. Feel free to submit a
test
form if needed.

Further update: our Mac user now reports he can't use our site at all --
it
displays OK but the links don't work, nor can he navigate around the site.

Again, no problems have been reported from any other members or site
visitors. I always test everything I post, and have found the site works
just fine with my IE browser.

Thanks again.

Liz4.0


"Rob Giordano (Crash)" wrote:

Is it ok for us to view the problem page?




--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rob Giordano
Microsoft MVP Expression






"Liz" <liz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:D8410344-4792-44BF-A785-CD199353C16F@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hi,

Hope this is the right place to ask this question.

Have produced and maintained site with Publisher 2007 using Windows XP
Pro/IE7. Server has FrontPage extensions installed and working. All
went
well until I added a simple registration form. I followed all the
instructions provided here and in Publisher Help.

Those with Windows/IE compatible browsers can use it just fine.

However, Mac users cannot make the form work at all. The form loads OK
visually, but they can't fill in the forms, nor submit it.

I gather from previous related posts that I'm probably out of luck,
since
Publisher and Mac don't play well together.

However, am hoping someone has a hint of a new or different solution,
other
than telling our Mac users to install Foxfire for Mac.

Any advice greatly appreciated.
--
Liz4.0





.

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