Web site shows up only on RELOAD in Netscape - please help!

HTML, Netscape

[milana]

I have a site that shows up in Netscape only when RELOAD is clicked.

I have never seen anything like this and just don't know how to correct this problem. I know Netscape doesn't display a site with a missing table tag, but this is really weird.

Hope you can help me.
Thank you!

Milana.

[edited by: tedster at 8:32 pm (utc) on July 16, 2002]
[edit reason] remove url [/edit]

[jatar_k]

Welcome to WebmasterWorld milana
be sure to check out paynt's welcome post [webmasterworld.com]

I would suggest moving the url to your profile, we don't post urls here, but I am just looking at your site. Give me a few minutes to see if I can see anything.

you can also look at the TOS [webmasterworld.com] about url posting

[jdMorgan]

Milana,

Welcome to wmw!

I'm away from my "Toolbox" right now, but it appears that there is
no closing </body> or </html> tag at the end of the document.

You might want to validate the page using the HTML validator at
www.w3c.org to find any other problems.

Also, a nice tool is HTML Validator Lite, a freeware program. You can also
get more capabilities in the paid version.

Jim

[idiotgirl]

Milana-

Welcome to WMW. (I don't think you're supposed to post URL's - but you can put it in your profile and send people there to look.)

Checked it Opera and NS/6 and it worked fine. I don't have an earlier version of NS installed.

To check table tags - if I think I missed one - I always comment my tables <!--1 -->table stuff<!-- end 1 --> and count 'em!

Do you think your js footer might be the culprit?

[idiotgirl]

no closing </body> or </html> tag at the end of the document

They showed up on view source - maybe they were just added?

[jatar_k]

man you folks are quick

confirm no close body or html

I would also make sure that all of the table elements are closed properly, I didn't count them.

[jdMorgan]

IdiotGirl,

I'm using Netscape View source, are you?

I'm seeing either a truncated footer, some typos, or maybe a corrupted file on
the server. Do you see "Ttyle=..." [sic] in the footer?

Jim

[mivox]

It seems to be a problem with your .js footer file... but for the life of me, I can't figure out exactly what it is. The page code stops loading in the middle of the footer output, and it writes the <a href> tag a second time after the close of the table (with a typo!)... view source on the page in Netscape (before you hit reload) to see what I mean.

If I were you I'd replace the .js footer with an SSI include, or just write it directly into the page html.

[jdMorgan]

jatar_k,

We're quick? You beat all of us in "first response" time. :)

Jim

[Nick_W]

Also, correct me if I'm wrong but shouldn't that <script> tag that looks like it generators a menu have a type="text/javascript" attribute?

Also Milana, you might want to go through that code by hand and get rid of all those ghastly <font> tags. They're completely unneccessary and are just bloating your page.

Oh, and just so I can join the gang too: Welcome to WebmasterWorld!

Nick

[edited by: Nick_W at 8:34 pm (utc) on July 16, 2002]

[jatar_k]

you got it jdmorgan,

when I view source in moz I get the whole thing, but in NN 4.74 it ended as you say.

but I looked again and it seems fixed.

<added>OK, that was a feeding frenzy
Nick, I prefered "welcone" ;)

hope we helped milana:)

[Xoc]

I looked at your site. First, I suggest that you validate the site. Use [validator.w3.org ]. I did not see any huge flaws in the html, but a bunch of small things that might be hiding something bigger. When this passes perfectly, then I'd look at your JavaScript. I didn't look at that. I suspect the problem is with the JavaScript.

Just a minor note, we don't allow URLs to your site in your post. If you absolutely have to give a URL (such as in this case), put it in your profile and reference that in the text. A mod will be by shortly to snip that URL, if you don't get there first.

<added>Hah, a bunch of posts while trying to write this one</added>

[edited by: Xoc at 8:40 pm (utc) on July 16, 2002]

[idiotgirl]

Yup - I'm guessing the footer js syntax was the culprit. And no - I didn't get the same view source error in Netscape. Could be Milana fixes errors faster than a speeding bullet? Wow!

[jdMorgan]

Well, whatever it is cratered my NS4.79 browser, clearing my URL history, and
now the URL's been snipped. Would someone please stickymail it to me - I'd
like to see the javascript, unless mivox has already found the problem...

Thanks,
Jim

[mivox]

The javascript was just a series of document.write commands. I'm still clueless.

[jdMorgan]

Thanks all for the stickys!

All I see is an unclosed <center> tag in the script - the one opened before the table is opened.
Technically, the 'size=-2' should be quoted - 'size="-2"', but that's never seemed critical before.

Still digging...

Jim

[jdMorgan]

Well, I used Netscape composer to open and then save the page. This is a local copy, and all of
the javascript is "flattened" into it as html. Composer "pretty-prints" the HTML when you save the
page, cleaning up common coding problems like unclosed tags where it can (It also makes a royal
mess of things if you're not really ready for a cleanup when you save.) The saved page displays
fine, and the only difference is that closing </center> tag in at end of the javascript footer
table.

Can anybody confirm - I'm away from my power-tools... :(

Jim

[tedster]

I see unquoted attributes in both the regular HTML and more importantly in the document.write() functions. I'd get those fixed first, and then if it still blows up, try escaping all the double quotes that are getting written by the document.write(). Just put a backslash in front of each one - \" instead of "

It's an odd one, because the reload fixes it - but if you dump the cache and start over again, the same problem shows up. So, yes, it could well be related to Netscape's "source clean-up" code.

Another thing Netscape doesn't like at times is an extra space between the end of the text in a tag and the closing angle bracket - there are a few of those and one in the js.

<tag attribute="thing" >

should be:

<tag attribute="thing">

[tedster]

When I view source in NN4, the URL in the footer gets written a second time, AFTER the table is closed.

So I'm assuming now that the missing quotes around the URL in the anchor tag (the one in the document.write() section) are a factor here.

[jdMorgan]

tedster,

The "clean-up" I was refering to takes place when you edit with NS Composer. I don't think it's
related to the reload-looks-OK phenomenon in the browser, though.

OK, no closing <center> tag in the JS, missing quotes on attributes and URL, and possibly need to
escape the double-quotes...

Where's milana?

Jim

[tedster]

takes place when you edit with NS Composer

Ah, I see what you mean now. However, View Source does do it's own kind of clean-up. Maybe it's even related to the composer code?

[jdMorgan]

tedster,

Good question! I'll play around with it when I get back to my machine with my test browsers and
tools, etc.

Jim

[rewboss]

View Source does some horrible things.

If View Source finds a JavaScript document.write() statement, it tries to render it. So, a line like:

<p><script>document.write('Hello world');</script></p>

is rendered in View Source as:

<p>Hello world</p>

...or should be. Quite often, though, it chews up the code something rotten, leaving you looking at a pile of junk, often with great huge chunks missing.

[jdMorgan]

rewboss,

Do you mean View->Page Source while looking at the page in Navigator,
or view-source:http://www.mydomain.com ?

I used the latter to see the javascript, and it seemed to render OK.

Jim

[milana]

My dear dear friends!

I have been reading all your answers today, but couldn't try any suggestions because of my noisy kids :-)

I have finally tried it and I think it's fixed. The footer.js file containted this tag in the link: style="color: yellow"

As soon as I removed it, it worked!

I don't know too much about CSS, only use it when I absolutely have to, so I just removed it.

I couldn't believe how many people have responded to my cry for help! Thank you so much again!

Warmly,
Milana.
P.S. I will try to put my URL in the profile - sorry, this was my very first post. But what do you do if you have one URL in the profile, but your post is about a completely different web site?

[jdMorgan]

milana,

Just change the URL in your profile for the duration of the discussion. Don't worry too awfully
much about your "URL posting violation" - that happens quite often with first-time posters in
"panic mode". :)

Jim

[mivox]

Generally we try to avoid using specific site addresses in most cases. If you know where the problem is on the page, putting a little section of code in your post works well...

This one was more of a puzzle than most... but often if you just describe the problem as clearly as you can, one of our members will know what you mean and can offer help (I think between all of us, one of us has probably personally run into almost every problem in the book!).

Take a look through some of the other 'help' type posts in the forum, and you'll see what I mean. :)

[ergophobe]

But what do you do if you have one URL in the profile, but your post is about a completely different web site?

Welcome to WMW Milana.

Two answers to your question. If you wish to comply with the letter of the WMW rules, you temporarily change your profile.

If you wish to observe the spirit of the site, you describe your problem in slightly more general terms. The idea is to provoke discussions that will benefit the general community, rather than provide free site analyses.

If you try to observe the spirit, but just don't get anywhere, you will *always* end up with volunteers who ask you to use the Stick Mail system to send them the url, and then the discussion will go private and won't clutter up the board.

This site has more rules than most places (no URLs, no flames), but once you get used to it, you'll see that it makes this a great place to destroy your free time!

Tom

[rewboss]

view-source:http://www.mydomain.com

Ooh, I didn't know you could do that :) Thanks.