How to remove <nobr> tags from FP2000?

[linton]

Any FP2000 experts,

I cannot remove the <nobr> tags from my FP2000 WEBBOT navigation menu - I need to do this to get the link text to wrap (at the moment any long link text is just going straight across my page.

When I am creating the page in HTML view in FP2000 I see the following (in grey, eg. as a comment):-

<div id="menuleft">
<!--webbot bot="Navigation" s-type="top" s-orientation="vertical"
s-rendering="text" b-include-home="TRUE" b-include-up="FALSE" u-page
s-target -->
</div>

Which seems OK, but when I open it in a browser and View Source, I see the following:-

<div id="menuleft">
<!--webbot bot="Navigation" s-type="top" s-orientation="vertical"
s-rendering="text" b-include-home="TRUE" b-include-up="FALSE" u-page
s-target startspan --><nobr>Home</nobr><br><nobr><a href="about.htm">About&nbsp;Us&nbsp;with&nbsp;a&nbsp;long&nbsp;title</a></nobr><!--webbot bot="Navigation" endspan i-checksum="47187" -->
</div>

I have tried to copy and paste the View Source code into the HTML View screen but when I Save it just reverts back to the same old grey font.

All my HTML and CSS validates apart from these tags.

Does anybody know how to remove the <nobr> tags?

Thanks,
Paul

[bill]

I would advise against using the FP navigation component in any version of FP...particularly the older versions. You get a lot more control over your code by using the FP Includes instead.

In your case you might have to use something like NotePad to delete the offending code. Save your site, close FP and open the pages in NotePad to edit out the code. You could also use a third-party Find/Replace software to do the entire site at once.

[linton]

Bill,

Thanks very much for your advice.

I am definately a part-time webbeginner, and try to make things as easy as possible for myself - that is why I used the FP navigation bar coz it worked fine on my previous HTML efforts. FP Includes seems like a lot more learning? Both my HTML and CSS validates so I don't think this problem has anything to do with that.

Anyway, I followed your instructions and edited out the <nobr> tags in NotePad, saved the file, re-opened FP2000 in HTML view, deleted the old HTML and replaced it with the new file. Everything was going according to plan so far. But when I 'Save' the file it just reverts back to the original grey text. And then when I View Source, the <nobr> tags have re-appeared!

ps - I also tried to overwrite the <nobr> tags by putting
white-space: normal;
in the CSS but this did not have any effect.

Is it a bug in FP2000 or is there something that I am not doing right?

Thanks,

Paul

[thehittmann]

once your done with the file edit them out with notepad and save it as a htm(l) and then upload it to your server. It will revert back everytime you edit this page so make it your last step to edit them out before you upload.

[linton]

Hitman,
At the moment, I am still re-creating my website using CSS and so it is not uploaded at the moment and it sits on my harddrive).

I tried to follow your instructions but the <nobr> tags just kept re-appearing!

This is what I was doing:-

Open FP in Preview and view page.
Preview in browser and then View Source (it opens in Notepad).
Close FP.
Delete the <nobr> and </nobr> tags from Notepad.
File, Save As, index.htm (this overwrites previous index.htm file in my web).
Close Notepad and browser window.
Open FP in Preview and view page.
Open browser and View Source.
Voila! The <nobr> tabs are back.

Magic eh?

So damn frustrating.

[thehittmann]

no thats what im saying dont open it in frontpage
after you save it open it in your browser. then if you view the source they will not be there. As soon as you touch it with FP they will come back.

[linton]

Aha, now I got it.
Yes, when I viewed it in the browser the tags had gone.
My final question would be - how can I save this file (without <nobr> tags) to my FP file on my harddrive, or are you saying that this is impossible and that FP will ALWAYS add these tags?
Thanks for bearing with me Hittmann.
Paul

[pageoneresults]

I would advise against using the FP navigation component in any version of FP...particularly the older versions. You get a lot more control over your code by using the FP Includes instead.

I'd heed the advice given by bill above. I've been using FP since 1996 and have never used the FP navigation components as you lose some control over those files.

You may want to study up on the use of FP Includes as they will give you freedom to code them as you wish. With the FP navigation components, there is code that is being written to those files by some hidden files within FPs core files, I don't think you can get in there to modify them, never tried really.

[pageoneresults]

Another idea would be to try overriding the <nobr> in your style sheet like this...

nobr{white-space:normal;}

Just guessing. Since there probably is no space between those tags, it may not work as I thought.

Experiment with this one too...

nobr{white-space:pre;}

P.S. Also keep in mind that the <nobr> is not part of the W3C standards so it will not validate if you ever travel down that path. More reason to switch to FP Includes.

[linton]

Thanks Pageoneresults,

Guess I will just have to do some MORE learning. I just got disappointed when I hadthis error because all my other attempts to create a webpage using FP nav bars were successful. This is the first time that I have used CSS and, apart from other problems, this is something that I didn't expect.

[bill]

linton, I used FP's shared borders on a site once back in 1997. That experiment lasted about a week. There was no way for me to control what was used in those sections of the pages. It may seem easier doing it this way, but in the end it's not.

An FP include is quite simple to use...For example, say you wanted a list of buttons in your navigation on the right side of your page. You make a separate page that only has your buttons in it. Then you include that page anywhere you want your buttons. If you ever want to change your buttons, then just change that one page, and all places where it's been included will automatically update. That's time saving! You can repeat this with your header, footer, and just about any other page element. The only drawback is that FP Includes only work between the <body> tags. If you need to have stuff synchronized in your <head>, then you'll need to look for other solutions (like Find/Replace, etc.).

[linton]

thanks bill,
I hope FP includes are as easy as you say they are. Sounds a bit like CSS style? Do you have any recommended site for learning FP includes?

Thanks for your input
Paul

[bill]

They're more like SSI (Server Side Includes) than anything else.

What I wrote above is pretty much all there is to it. Look through the FP help menus as well. They're really simple. If you have more questions about them there are plenty of experts here who can give you advice.

[linton]

Bill,
Thanks for your advice - I have managed to create a Page Include (and you were right, it isn't so difficult is it).
The reason for changing to Page Includes was because i would be able to control the word wrapping in the text links, which are just going across my page. Unfortunately, they are STILL going across my page! Aaarghhh! I think it because there are still <nobr> tags that FP is automatically inxserting when I automatically insert the FP nav bar on my seperately created nav page?

This is what I see in View Source:-

<div id="menuleft">
<!--webbot bot="Include" u-include="navbar.htm" tag="BODY" startspan -->

<p><i><em><font face="Comic Sans MS" size="3"><nobr>Home</nobr><br><nobr><a href="about.htm">About&nbsp;with&nbsp;a&nbsp;very&nbsp;very&nbsp;long&nbsp;title</a></nobr></font></em></i></p>

<!--webbot bot="Include" endspan i-checksum="1289" -->
</div>

Maybe I am creating the same problem over and over
by Inserting a FP automatic nav bar? Is ther any other way of doing it manually?

Thanks,
Paul

[pageoneresults]

Aha, its those &nbsp; that are causing problems too. Those are referred to as non breaking spaces. In addition to the <nobr> you are also inserting &nbsp; between words. The &nbsp; acts just like a nowrap attribute. Anything with those between them will not wrap.

Read through this topic...

Things to be aware of when using FrontPage [webmasterworld.com]

...and set up your page options as I've outlined in that post. Go in and remove those &nbsp; once you've set up your new page preferences. Resave the pages and hopefully that will solve the problem.