Re: Netscape's Choking

At 08:06 AM 20/06/00 -0700, you wrote:
>>Doesn't work in IE5 Mac: all layers are in the upper left corner. So you=
=20
>>should change to DIV's for IE5 Mac.
>
>I don't bother optimizing for Macs because they have less than 2% market=
 share
>http://www.thecounter.com/stats/2000/June/os.html
>Insignificant from my perspective. Only concerned with where the market=20
>really is: Microsoft OS.

Insignificant?  Really? Well... I myself take the stats from those sites=20
with a huge grain of salt.  If you really think that the Mac market is=20
insignificant then maybe your client would think otherwise.  Can your=20
client afford to loose even one potential customer because your site is=20
inaccessible on a Mac?  I don't think so.  Thoroughbred sell for very high=
=20
prices and that market is quite specialized... what if a significant=20
portion of that market is using Macs?   What if the one person who would be=
=20
really interested in one of his horses was on a Mac... and couldn't even=20
see the site... he or she would be on a competitor's site (who was=20
professional enough to make his site as widely accessible as possible) in a=
=20
second.  Did you make your client aware of that?  Does he even know your=20
will be cutting off potential customers if you leave the site as is? When=20
Mac IE 5 came out, the Microsoft site registered a huge number of downloads=
=20
in the first week alone (I can't remember the number so I won't guess=20
one).  That number was hardly insignificant though...

I don't understand your attitude, especially since your page would be=20
easily fixed. As many others before me have pointed out, you are using the=
=20
SPAN element all through the page when you should be using DIV tags.   You=
=20
are absolutely positioning block level elements... that's what DIV tags are=
=20
for.  SPAN tags are _inline_ elements usually used to styles single words=20
or small portions of text like the FONT or B tags would do for=20
example.  Furthermore, putting block level elements like tables inside SPAN=
=20
tags is invalid HTML and using invalid code can have unpredictable and=20
unwanted results... like your page not displaying on some browsers that are=
=20
standards compliant (namely Mac IE 5 in this case).  Not only that, your=20
page would look better in a non-CSS browser if you used DIV tags because=20
they introduce a line break.

As for specifics, Netscape maybe choking on several things here.  All your=
=20
tables should be within DIV tags, not SPAN tags.  That alone may fix=20
it.  Your  <.a name> tag at the top is unclosed, close it. You have an=20
unclosed center tag on line 137.  You have a closing EM tag without an=20
opening tag on the same line, just after the opening STRONG tag.  The font=
=20
tag on the same line is also unclosed.  You have another un-opened em tag=20
on the same line a bit farther as well as two more on line144.  Quite=20
frankly I'm surprised this page renders at all in any browser... ;-)  Get=20
that page through a validator and fix the errors.  Change the span tags=20
that position block level elements to div tags and I'M sure it will stop=20
crashing in Netscape.  You should always validate pages for errors before=20
posting to the list.  If the page still doesn't work as intended once=20
errors are fixed then post a question.  Give a try to CSE HTML Validator=20
(www.htmlvalidator.com).  It will save you a lot of headaches.  It won't=20
catch logical errors like using span tags on block level elements though=20
but the W3C validator should spot those.

HTH!

St=E9phane Bergeron      =20

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