Absolute positioning & Browser compatibility

[newbieatseo]

I have designed my website using an external CSS with absolute positioning of my layers. I have tested the pages on IE 6, Mozilla, Opera, Netscape 4.76 and all display as expected.

However, I get an e-mail periodically about the website being hard to read. From screen shots I have seen it looks like the layers are overlapping / jumbled up and no positioning is taking place.

I suspect the users are just using older browsers and are a very small percentage of my total vistors. However, the e-mails are getting more frequent so I am beginning to wonder if this problem is more widespread than first thought.

Any thoughts or ideas?

[Nick_W]

>>all display as expected.

Even on NN4, that's a trick I'd like to see! ;)

There is one or 2 notable exceptions from your list there, namely IE5 and IE5.5 (and even IE4 if you're worried that much...).

Check your logs, then go install earlier versions of the beast that is IE. You'll find it enlightning at the least!

Nick

[BlobFisk]

Just to add to Nick's list - IE5 on the Mac was/is a notoriously buggy browser.

To install multiple IE versions on one machine you need to create a partition and dual boot - IE only allows one version of itself.... All "proper" browsers have no problem with this! ;)

[newbieatseo]

Yeah I was afraid that IE 5/5.5 were the culprits. Looks like 25% of my traffic from last month were using those two versions or the aol/msn versions of them.

The NN 4.76 does display correctly. I just tried it to make sure.

Overture apparently uses IE 5/5.5 to check listings because when I recently tried to submit new listings they ran into this problem as well.

Any way to make IE 5/5.5 work correctly? I would hate drop CSS and go back to tables again.

[Nick_W]

Actually, making your site work in IE5 is only really a matter of 'tweaking' if you designed it on a competent browser like Opera/Moz in the first place.

You do need to test in it though, at 25% of your traffic, do the maths ;)

One way to install is to install 5.5 then re-install 6. This way, once you've sussed six you can go to (forgive me for the rough directions, I'm a linux chap)... start > accessories > sys tools > sys info

and then find the IE tool and 'revert to previos version'. You'll get 5.5 back.

Then, (tough isn't it?) you click on your carefully kept copy of the IE6 installer and as it already has the files on system it's real quick to get it back.

Pain in the bum?

Sure is......

Nick

[ag_01]

This is the best way to deal with absolute positioning in IE5 that I've found. I haven't tested it, but it looks like it should work.

[info.com.ph...]

[me2287]

Yes, I run IE 6 SP 1 and don't have paritions or anything for the other versions, I just use the school (runs IE 5.5) and a friend who also runs IE 5.5 (he doesn't like IE 6, he is a bit strange).

The reason Internet Explorer is such a pain to run multiple version of is because it is a fundamental part of the Windows Operating System. After many recent battles with the US Gov and Companys, Microsoft has pulled the plug on Internet Explorer Stand-Alone, so all versions after IE 6 SP 1 will only come with the new operating system (codename : "longhorn") -- so you will not be able to ("legally") download it for OS's such as Win 95/98/98SE/ME/2k/XP. A right pain for web designers and users.