Shelagh ([info]ingaborg) wrote,
@ 2009-06-18 10:56:00
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The IE fun continues
I've made a Joomla template, hurrah! It loads without error etc. But because the content is inserted within its own divs, the layout is manked up and I need to find fixes for multiple IE bugs that have been introduced. Got the first few sorted out (haslayout and float bugs, all of familiar sorts but with novel manifestations) but now find that when I resize the text in IE (any version), the floated text overlaps the non-floated to its left: the div size is not being recalculated.

So that means I have to embark on a new quest, to find out what's likely to cause this and how I might fix it.

It's all very fiddly!

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[info]uk_sef
2009-06-18 10:40 am UTC (link)
Any public code anywhere (in case I actually get time to peer at it)?

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[info]ingaborg
2009-06-18 10:56 am UTC (link)
http://cheesyweasels.com/scratchpad/test_page_01.htm

What I've done is save out a page generated by Joomla as a static htm page so I can fiddle with the code directly. The oo-weird structure is because Joomla inserts the content within either extra divs or in some cases a table. There is apparently a way to remove the tables but I don't particularly want to go there yet.

The specific problem on this page is that if you increase the text size in IE, the main content text overlaps the User Login to the right. This content text is in a table, inside a div. The User Login is in a floated div. Basically when you resize the text, IE doesn't change the table size. I need to find a way to get this table to resize when the text is changed.

I've got silly colours and borders round all sorts of things so I can see what's going on.

All the other weird layout is either problems I've not addressed yet, or just placeholder stuff while I get the key problems sorted. Obviously this isn't how the final site will look! I'm just trying to get the elements to sit where they are supposed to, not overlap etc. I'll make it pretty later.

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[info]uk_sef
2009-06-18 11:15 am UTC (link)
On my system, WinV+IE8 the content block gets displaced to go below the user login block on enlarging the text. Only in "compatibility mode" (its attempt to emulate some previous version or other) does it overlap the boxes.

The content box (?table) is definitely acting as though it has a constant width though, only adjusting its height to fit its own text. I think this is something of a long-term/standard bug/feature of IE. I've certainly seen it around before. Whether it is avoidable is another matter ...

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[info]ingaborg
2009-06-18 02:17 pm UTC (link)
Yes - I think that's part of the same problem. Instead of overlapping it moves the text down, but it's equally wrong.

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[info]uk_sef
2009-06-18 11:20 am UTC (link)
I find it slightly disturbing that the table(s) (there are two) have their cells be 100% width rather than themselves be 100% width to fit. Again that reminds me of previous problems I've seen (but, annoyingly, don't quite recall). I wonder if this might be exposing you to that parent + grandparent wrapper issue.

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[info]uk_sef
2009-06-18 11:23 am UTC (link)
And why does the second table (of what probably ought to be a single table) have a colspan of 2 for its single cell in its solitary row?

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[info]ingaborg
2009-06-18 02:08 pm UTC (link)
The whole table is Joomla-generated. I believe that there is an option to over-ride this and have a proper html layout instead. This is one of several possible fixes that I will investigate.

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[info]ingaborg
2009-06-18 02:26 pm UTC (link)
< snigger > I've found a possible fix but it breaks Firefox at maximum text size!

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[info]uk_sef
2009-06-18 03:16 pm UTC (link)
Why does it break Firefox?

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[info]ingaborg
2009-06-18 03:29 pm UTC (link)
I worked out why. I cleared both left and right floats on one of the elements: actually I needed to only clear right float. Anyway, I've found a fix I'm happy with (giving the elements a fixed size in ems for IE only) and am now moving on to adding style. Hurrah! Structure is in place, now I can make it pretty!

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[info]uk_sef
2009-06-18 12:45 pm UTC (link)
On a completely unrelated matter (since I have a headache which won't go away so I've given up on going out and am playing instead) do you have a middle initial (or even two)? I only just realised I never generated your tartan with my tartaliser/tartaniser program ...

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[info]uk_sef
2009-06-18 12:52 pm UTC (link)
NB Your basic one is very classic - red and green adorned with white (silver) strands.

The CitiVillage tartan turns out to be, rather appropriately, a bluey mix but with a raspberry highlight.

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[info]ingaborg
2009-06-18 02:07 pm UTC (link)
I have no idea what you're talking about, but I am intrigued! My middle name is Christine.

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[info]uk_sef
2009-06-18 03:07 pm UTC (link)
Ooh: that adds a strong blue to it. You're really very bold and primary (in your tartan, anyway!).

Around the time of all the furore over the Da Vinci Code, I wrote a somewhat whimsical piece of software to auto-generate tartans (and plaids) from names (using simple rules). Every so often I explore different types of pattern anyway but this time I joked that I was also going to write a best-selling(?) book called The Tartan Code - in which the premise was that tartans carry coded messages and, if only we knew the correct letter substitution and language, they could reveal great clan secrets. NB In reality, "official" tartans are actually recent fictions and not the genuinely historically meaningful things people imagine them to be.

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[info]ingaborg
2009-06-18 03:28 pm UTC (link)
Cool! Is there anything online I could see?

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[info]uk_sef
2009-06-18 03:42 pm UTC (link)
Well I could upload the little tartan squares (for repeating as backgrounds) which I just generated using your name as the seed. I even still have a designated Photobucket directory from last time!

I'd have to use somewhere else like SaveFile (which isn't permanent storage) for making the exe available online (without using non-anonymous web-space). It's a command-line MS-DOS exe (which runs quite happily in a MS-DOS box on all versions of Windows I've been through). So no use unless you have some sort of MS-DOS.

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[info]uk_sef
2009-06-18 03:45 pm UTC (link)
Warning: uploading the images would reveal the rest of your name, even if I rename the files, because the internal colour coding scheme is rather obvious (for those who can read image files at all).

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[info]uk_sef
2009-06-18 03:45 pm UTC (link)
PS I could email the various tat to you of course.

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