Have Internet Explorer? Help Me Out?

Posted on 09.13.06 in Tech Stuff and there are 10 comments.

I’m trying to wrap up a client project but there is a nagging browser issue that I’ve been unable to duplicate.

My client contact is using Internet Explorer version 6.0.29 sp2 and when she visits the site, the flyout navigation menu apparently stretches out into the middle of the main graphic and the flyout menu items are inaccessible (they disappear when she tries to mouse over them.)

I’ve downloaded the exact version of IE that she says she’s using, but I’ve been unable to duplicate the issue. If any of you use IE, could you check the site and let me know if you see anything funny with the navigation menu? Even if you’re using a different browser, if you see anything odd, please leave a comment and let me know.

This is a long distance client, so viewing the site on her system isn’t really an option. Any help you can offer would be greatly appreciated.

Click here to view the site.

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The menus look just fine to me.

IE v6.0.28, SP1

Thanks for checking Euphrony!

That’s what pseudo-friends you only know through the web, who happen to use the dominant and not named after a fruit computer system, and are addicted to web surfing between working on two bits of data are for, right?

Kat,
I’m using Firefox… who knows what version… the flyout menus do cover over the main graphic, but they don’t appear to be stretching, and they work when I mouse over them and click on them.  I hope you can figure the problem out. 
~Lil

I was able to see the problem in IE and sent you an email with some screenshots.  For the readers, I basically said that I think it has something to do with IE’s calculating of widths and margin-lefts defined with em’s that are extending beyond the left sidebar’s pixel-defined width.  That’s my guess, anyway.

Did I mention how much I loathe CSS?  It’s supposed to be a standard.  It’s supposed to make things easier and more efficient for us.  Nope.  I can’t tell you how much time I’ve spent dorking around with CSS trying to make it work in all my target browsers.

As a programmer, CSS is completely vexing to me.  When I’m working on a project with PHP or Ruby (or take your server-side language pick) the outcome of my backend functions has a well-defined, expected result.  When I don’t get what I expect I can debug and trace the code path to see exactly what’s occurred.  Then I get to the layout side of a project and all of that consistency goes out the window.  CSS is voodoo magic.  Will it work?  I dunno.  And debugging CSS is trial and error--which means lots of TIME.

Curtis,
You’re awesome. The frustrating thing about this issue was that I just couldn’t replicate it and I can’t really fix it until I replicate it.

Thanks for all the screen shots and the CSS tips.

I just looked at it again in IE, and it looks good now--exactly like it does in FF.

Glad I could help

I agree about debugging CSS being time consuming.  When I was setting up my blog, I noticed that each successive post moved 5 px to the left as you scrolled down the page.  After at least 6 hours of poking around, I finally found one tag in the quote properties that had not been closed.  The thing that made it most irritating was that it only had that problem in Internet Explorer.

In defense of CSS, I have to say, that while debugging can be annoying, I love the fact that it’s so easy to change the layout, color and look of an entire site in just a few keystrokes.

That’s what I like best about CSS.

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