SillyDog701

[lunar]

Hi, I'm having 2 problems with a site I'm developing for a client. One is that on both mac and pc NS6.2 won't print the pages, it just spools forever and crashes the browser, and often the computer. There's no problem printing with other browsers that have been tested. The second is that when images are turned off none of the alt tags are displaying, though I have noticed this happens on all sites I've visited with images turned off. Is there a workaround? The test site can be seen at http://www.curriculum.edu.au/test/artsednet/index.htm
If anyone can help with this it would be appreciated, as the site won't get the OK to go live until these issues are resolved. Thanks.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win98; en-US; rv:0.9.4) Gecko/20011019 Netscape6/6.2 (CK-PCUser)

[DJGM]

The printing problem you're experiencing with Netscape 6.2, I believe is a
known bug. Best way to resolve that, IMO, is to upgrade to Netscape 7.01.

As for the ALT tags issue, assuming no other member of this forum
can lend a helping hand, I'll have to get back to you on that one . . .

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.0.2) Gecko/20021120 Netscape/7.01 (CK-DJGM-i.net)

[lunar]

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately, upgrading won't solve the problem here, because the client insists that NS6.2 users be able to print the pages. Do you perhaps know of somewhere I can get more info about the bug and ways to get around it?

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win98; en-US; rv:0.9.4) Gecko/20011019 Netscape6/6.2 (CK-PCUser)

[DJGM]

Ideally, aside from the printing bug issue in NS6.2, I would strongly
advise upgrading to NS7.01 anyway, as NS6.2 contains a trio
of security vulnerabilities that have since been fixed.

XMLHttpRequest Vulnerability

A flaw that could potentially allow a malicious web site to
read files stored on a user's computer has been discovered
in Netscape 6.1 through 6.2.2 versions of the Netscape browser.
There are no known instances of this flaw being exploited. Netscape
encourages those using versions 6.1 through 6.2.2 to upgrade to the
latest browser version, which is not subject to this potential flaw.

Sun JRE (Java Runtime Environment) Issue

Sun Microsystems has warned users of a potential issue affecting
the Sun Java Runtime Environment Bytecode Verifier and has made
the remedy available to its Java technology licensees. Netscape is not
aware of any instances of this flaw being exploited. Netscape has
released the Netscape 6.2.2 browser, which is not subject to this
potential vulnerability, and encourages Netscape Communicator
users as well as Netscape 6.x users to upgrade to the
latest Netscape software . . .

Cookie Vulnerability

A flaw that could potentially allow a malicious web site to read
the cookies that another site has stored on a user's computer
has been discovered in Netscape 6 through 6.2 versions
of the Netscape browser. There are no known instances
of this flaw being exploited.
This issue does not affect users of Netscape 6.2.1, nor does
it affect users of Netscape Communicator 4.x versions. We
encourage those using Netscape versions 6 through 6.2 to
upgrade to the latest browser version.

The only reference I could find about the known printing bug in NS6.2,
with a possible workaround, was at the website called, alistapart.com.
For the info . . . go here, and scroll down to the bottom of the page.

If you do decide to upgrade to Netscape 7.01, I recommend you get
the Pigeon Edition or Full-On Edition of the DJGM-i Distros of NS7.01,
as they both contain the very latest version of the Sun Java 2 plugin.
This is version 1.4.1_01. The official release of Netscape 7.01 has
an older version bundled with it, namely v1.4.0_01.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-GB; rv:1.0.2) Gecko/20021120 Netscape/7.01 (CK-DJGM-i.net)

[orizng]

NS 7.01works well.
If it is a bug with NS 6.2, then what the client insist would probabaly be wrong, so upgrade to NS 7.01 is worth trying, be sure to make a clear install.
if you want, NS 7.01 also have a CCK tools, you can make a new one like what you have done with NS6.2.

About Img Tag, because when you choose not to load any images, browser will automatically ignore the tag <IMG ..> when read the page, since the "ALT" is included in the <IMG..> they will also be ignored.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.0.2) Gecko/20021120 Netscape/7.01

[lunar]

Thanks for the info. The problem with this client is that they insist that the site be printable and useable with images turned off on a range of different browsers and platforms, NS6.2 is just the one whose bugs I haven't been able to find a successful workaround for. I've had limited success using the print css shown on alistapart, but it will still only print one or two pages (instead of nothing at all) before NS6.2 crashes and then after restarting it refuses to print anything more.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win98; en-US; rv:1.0.2) Gecko/20021120 Netscape/7.01

[Antony]

Hi, I'm having 2 problems with a site I'm developing for a client. One is that on both mac and pc NS6.2 won't print the pages, it just spools forever and crashes the browser, and often the computer. There's no problem printing with other browsers that have been tested. The second is that when images are turned off none of the alt tags are displaying, though I have noticed this happens on all sites I've visited with images turned off. Is there a workaround? The test site can be seen at http://www.curriculum.edu.au/test/artsednet/index.htm
If anyone can help with this it would be appreciated, as the site won't get the OK to go live until these issues are resolved. Thanks.

Lunar,
Printing webpages with CSS (or DHTML) is a know bug in Netscape Communicator 4.xx; best solution for Communicator is to provide an alternative page (print friendly) for printing.
Netscape 6.xx improved a bit of printing issue, but still not good enough.

In Netscape 7.x, the printing feature is even better now, and pretty accurate with web pages having CSS.

And for the ALT text, in your code:

Code: Select all

<a href="website.htm" title="An annotated directory of website links" onMouseOver="imgOver('Website Directory'); return true" onMouseOut="imgOff('Website Directory'); return true"><img src="images/frn_web.gif" width="149" height="25" name="Website Directory" border="0" alt="Website Directory. An annotated directory of website links" vspace="0" hspace="0"></a>

If you shorten the sentence to be able to fit into the image cell, would it be able to print?

I would suggest you trying using normal text instead of roll-over images, and create a print friendly version if necessary.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.0.2) Gecko/20021120 Netscape/7.01 (CK-SillyDog)

[Antony]

...
About Img Tag, because when you choose not to load any images, browser will automatically ignore the tag <IMG ..> when read the page, since the "ALT" is included in the <IMG..> they will also be ignored.

Orizng,
I don't think that is the case. When you turn off the image, browser should display "ALT" as inside the <IMG> tag; however Netscape 6 changed this behaviour... displaying ALT is another setting now.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.0.2) Gecko/20021120 Netscape/7.01 (CK-SillyDog)

[lunar]

Hi Anthony,
A printer friendly version would've been my choice, but that isn't the way the client company likes to do things. I'll just have to keep trying things until I find a solution they're happy with.

The issue with the ALT tags is something I have noticed looking at lots of sites with images turned off in NS6.2. If images are turned on, but an image link is broken then the ALT tag displays. If however images are turned off, then the ALT tag doesn't display, and even if it's a link image you just have blank space - I've tried it on a variety of sites always with the same result. The ALT tags display in other versions of NS and in IE, only in NS6.2 is there a problem. The ALT tag you quoted is unusually long, but even short tags on pages further into the site aren't displaying.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win98; en-US; rv:0.9.4) Gecko/20011019 Netscape6/6.2 (CK-PCUser)

[Antony]

lunar,
What if you change your roll over to plain text (and change colours by hover effect)?

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.1; en-US; rv:1.0.2) Gecko/20021120 Netscape/7.01 (CK-SillyDog)

[lunar]

That would probably be the easiest solution, but I know from previous work I've done for them that it wouldn't be acceptable because the hover doesn't work in all the different browsers they want it to work in. It would be acceptable for minor navigation, but not the major ones. And it also wouldn't solve the problems for the ALT tags on things that have to be images.
I know it sounds like I'm being difficult, but I've done a lot of work for this company so I know what they will and won't accept, and the sometimes extreme lengths they have gone to in order to solve a minor issue specific to a single browser version.

UserAgent: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Win98; en-US; rv:1.0.2) Gecko/20021120 Netscape/7.01