I have done a search to try and find a solution to the problem but no luck so... ask the experts.

I have recently purchased a new laptop and therefore inevitably (I think) I am now using Vista which also comes with IE7 built in.

I am using SSPro ver. 2.91c. For previewing my sites I use IE and FF and have usually left the preview button set on default and change the browser default setting in the required browser, which has always worked with XP/IE7. With the new system when I preview the index.php page of a project with the browser default set to FF the preview opens with IE and even displays a message that IE is not the default browser. This only happens with the index.php page not with other pages which are all .html.

Another problem is the page hangs for about 30 seconds or so before opening in preview and some horizontal lines set at a thickness of 1 are displaying in IE at around 6 or 7 with a shaded area which protrudes over some characters, in FF the lines are thinner with no shading and the page does not hang. Uploaded the page opens fine but the horizontal lines are still very thick in IE. The site is here

After making sure that FF & IE are listed for the default browsers and in windows explorer> right click> open with> I tried to re-install IE7 and found that's not possible so I did a complete system recovery and started over again.
After that the problem was still there. As a last resort I downloaded IE8, still the same.

I know that I can change the preview button to preview in the browser of my choice but wondered if anyone else has come across this problem and knows if it is an IE peculiarity or a SSPro glitch.

Thanks for any help on this.

Hi Tony,

I very much doubt that it is a glitch in SS Pro, as no one else has reported a similar problem.

Opening your site with both IE8 and FF, I do not see any horizontal lines that should not be there.

The only thing I can suggest is to try updating the driver for your display adaptor.

Hi Terry,

Thanks for your reply. It isn't that there are any horizontal lines that should not be there, in my IE8 the horizontal lines are much thicker in IE than they should be. When viewed in FF the lines are the correct thickness.

Tony

I open with Window 7 and IE8 seems ok to me.

Hi Alan,

Thanks for the input, I don't understand why I'm getting very thick horizontal lines with a very pale shadow in IE but not in FF.

Tony

Hi Tony,

When I view your site in FF (3.0.10) the horizontal lines bracketing your menus are thin. When viewed with IE8, they are thicker, but not a lot thicker, perhaps 3-4 pixels . The thicker lines are also apparent when I use the IE Tab addon in FF. I've found that there are times that things simply look different in IE than they do in FF and have learned to ignore it unless it is something drastic.

As for your index page default browser issue, I don't have a clue. It's the first I've heard of something like that. Hopefully one of the SS gurus will have an answer for you.

Hi Tony,
Quite recently I have experienced a similar rendering problem. The reason was a setting in SS Pro that is easy to change and solved my problem. In Project Options > Advanced uncheck the 'Set <img> as 100%' width/height of object <div>'
Hope that helps.

.

On your line not showing correctly problem:

Idea 1:
-------

1st i would not make solid lines like yours in JPG-format
since JPG is more suited for detailed pictures.
As a result it will cost you much more bits compared to
when you make those lines in PNG or GIF format
You will notice that you can reduce (in bits) those lines to maybe
even only 10 % of what they are now.

Also rendering to jpg-format can make your lines appear more
shady/fuzzy/less-sharp because that's how jpg works...it creates
some average...gif also does some averaging but in a different way
In the end for solid-lines like these...PNG should be the best.

Then if you have exact similar lines...dont make them twice
but make the next one by making a copy of the first one...etc
(or import them twice using mona-lisa button ...result is same as copying)
that will also save you on bits.

As a result of that:

Your page will load faster.
Your lines should look sharper.

This could also solve your problem where lines show different
in different browsers.
If not then in addition to above :


Idea 2:
-------

Pinpointing the cause of your problem:

Create your lines externally in some graphics program
such as "Paint" or better.
Save them as JPG or PNG or GIF (best PNG)
Then import them into SS as a picture (Mona-Lisa button)
Then see if that solved your problem
if it does you have narrowed down the problem...(to SS-pro)

In this case dont forget to set the "Geometry-editor"
to ""use image's format" that avoids SS from re-converting it
to something else (unwanted re-rendering)

Still that doesn't solve why SS wont do it correct
in case you generate the lines in SS itself
but at least you can go on for now.



Idea 3
------

There's a little but annoying flaw in SS-pro
which is that it could cause problems with pictures/objects that are
less then if i remember well > 8 px <
I have experienced for example that it puts those objects in the wrong place
(off by 1 or 2 px) or makes them look slightly different as intended.

I'm not shure if that also happens with long lines.

Solution to that is to make those objects slightly larger
Ofcourse you dont really want to make them appear larger...you are the boss.
so you combine them with a piece of background or whatever is below
Yes...best to do that externally (dont use grouping inside SS)

A good way to do that is to make a screenshot of how it should look
then cut that to a sligtly larger pic (over 8 x 8 px...ie 12 x 12 px)
where you also include a piece of whatever is below.
So as a result it's now bigger to SS-pro...so it can't mess with it
but it wil still look the same when (pre)viewed.


Resuming:

It's hard to keep up with all different browsers
If you have problems like different browsers showing
certain pics/lines/objects differently
...then make these (best externally) as a "hard" picture
All browsers will/should show pictures the same.
In case of long solid lines (1 color) use PNG format.


Radio

Thanks guys for all the input and suggestions, it's always much appreciated, particularly Radio for your very detailed and varied options. All good information for the future.

I tried your solution Roma and it works perfectly in preview so I think I will run with that option and see if it's OK uploaded.

Reverting to the other part of the original question, does anyone have any ideas why a page with a .php extension will only display in IE even when the default browser is FF?

Tony

quote:

Reverting to the other part of the original question, does anyone have any ideas why a page with a .php extension will only display in IE even when the default browser is FF?

Did you check your File Associations and see if the .php extension has been assigned to IE?

Hi Larry,

When the default is IE .php & .html are assigned to IE, when the default is FF .php is still assigned to IE but .html is assigned to FF.

I have Firefox set as my default browser, and there is no file association set for .php -- even though IE8 was my previous default browser.

So it seems that if you want a particular association for .php, you will need to set it manually.

There should be no file association with .php unless you have PHP installed on your computer and like Bruce says, have set it manually. If your file associations shows something assigned to .php, I recommend you delete it and let whatever browser is running handle it.

Larry/Bruce, Thanks for your replies, Yes I have both IE & FF assigned to .php but I don't see anyway to delete/dis-associate them. Any Ideas?

Try Windows Explorer > Tools > Folder Options > File Types.

Bruce,

I am using Vista now and File Types is not in Folder Options. If I right click a .php file I can go to Open with> Default Program, but then I don't see how to remove a program from the "Open with" box. Windows Explorer Help says to uncheck the "Always use the selected program to open this kind of file" box, but that doesn't seem to work, it always remains checked.

Tony

http://www.watchingthenet.com/...n-windows-vista.html

Thanks Larry for coming up with that, don't know how you keep finding them. Only one small tiny problem, it didn't work for me!!

Guess I'll have to live with it!!

Tony

I'm now running Win7 as my main OS, but things are very similar to Vista. This might help. Go to Control Panel -> Programs -> Default Programs -> Set Associations (or whatever the associate file type selection is). Change the "default" program to be a code editor or text editor rather than IE or FF.

Thanks for the suggestion Kirk but that only makes the page open in the code editor or text editor.