Layout difference IE 6 vs. Firefox 1.5

[Bonanza]

There is a layout difference in IE 6 vs Firefox 1.5. Is it possible to fix that? See attached file for comparison.
If you want to access the site directly: http://volker.fc-hosting.de/gallery/index.php

Best regards
Bonanza

[Joachim Müller]

welcome to the wonderful world if browser differences. One of those two browsers isn't playing by the rules.

[Bonanza]

unfortunately this is the browser with the widest market-share....

[Tranz]

Try validating your pages. That could help find the source of the issue. First, you need to validate the html before you can validate the css. http://validator.w3.org/check?verbose=1&uri=http%3A//volker.fc-hosting.de/gallery/index.php

[Bonanza]

Btw. this site with the same theme is displayed correctly in IE: http://www.photografic.net/

I checked the html code of my website and I got 4 errors, unfortunately I am not a developer so I have difficulties to interpret the result. If possible give me some tips.

see http://validator.w3.org/check?verbose=1&uri=http%3A//volker.fc-hosting.de/gallery/index.php

B.r.
Bonanza

[Paver]

One thing to note is that some people don't make a copy of a theme before modifying it, so if the theme is listed as the same as the default one, it may not be identical to the default one due to user customizations.  Copy the theme you like to a new folder (and new name), then customize it and point to this new theme.

You could scan the source code for the site you linked to see what might be included in the IE display that fixes the browser difference you see.

[Bacchus]

Also you need to know that IE6/Opera/Firefox threats padding and margin differently. You need to make the neccessary modification for each one.

[Bonanza]

I do not think that the differences are related to my customizing of the theme. I compared the coppermine demosite with the project_vii template with both browsers and the issue is there too (see screenshot).
I am not a software developer, so I am not able to implement a browser detection in the code and then display browser dependent. Maybe there is an easier workaround?

B.r.
Bonanza

[Paver]

What I meant was that photografic might have customized the theme which looks like the default one but is apparently modified to address the browser differences.

There is really no easy way to address browser differences besides investigate each one of them and implement something that will address each one.  Sometimes you can apply all the fixes at once and each browser will ignore all but the one that matters.  Other times you have to use a browser detect of sorts.  However, browser detects are generally the wrong thing to do.  See this site for details: http://www.quirksmode.org/index.html?/js/detect.html.

[Bonanza]

Well, I am a little bit surprised that a coppermine standard theme produces a faulty layout in IE. I thought these standard themes are tested with the most common browsers and that they have a consistently layout - obviously not.

B.r.
Bonanza

[Joachim Müller]

the themes that come with coppermine are xhtml and css valid. They have been tested to display both in IE and FF. Small discrepancies are always there - they don't break the layout utterly. Welcome in the difficult world of cross-browser compatibility. Instead of ranting, I suggest you find a standards-compliant fix and post it instead of nagging.

[Bonanza]

GauGau, critical notes are no reason to be oversensitive and unpolite. Let us communicate more factual, using "ranting" and "nagging" is not - even if you are in a monopolistic position in having more knowledge in coppermine than most of the people asking here.

B.r.
Bonanza

[Paver]

Bonanza: Although you are correct that "nag" and "rant" were too strong in response to your complaints, I think they are justified in response to your previous post which used "faulty" and the trite "obviously not".  Your complaint is valid but it does not describe any problem with Coppermine - all web tools have these cross-browser issues.  Yes, it is nice when a web tool jumps through all the hoops for all the browsers and shows every web page identically between browsers, but that's above & beyond what most functionality requires.  In your case, a small spacing issue is quite minor compared to nearly every other function so it will be relegated accordingly.  Since the issue is due to browser quirks (and defects), it is really an added task to address it correctly and as such I believe it is completely justified for the main developers to leave that task to another community member who kindly takes it on.

I think GauGau is perfectly justified in using stronger language.  He always gives factual answers, albeit sprinkled with stronger language than you might like.  At nearly 20,000 posts, he is a tireless & patient supporter on the forums.

In any case, the back-and-forth wordplay is not going to get anyone anywhere but back to where we are now.

In the end, this is an open community and everyone is welcome to contribute.  Even if GauGau does know more than anyone else, it doesn't mean he is in a monopolistic position.  His actions are quite clear in that regard.