Dru

Name-based virtual hosts are usefull if you only have one IP address. Otherwise, I'd go with ip-based as it's a bit easier to configure.

I use a template I created and there is a fair bit of nested tables in this - please have a look. I get a bit of inconsitiency between NS 3.X and 4.X - sometimes 3.X looks right and 4.X is wrong, while other times it is is the other way around.

I dont have much problem with IE5 but I dont have older versions of IE installed so that info would help as well.

Based on what I'm seeing in NS3, I don't think it is your table structure. In your left column, you have some input fields (i.e. for your newsletter) that appear to be too large for the cell they are in. Resizing them with font tags as you are doing (<FONT size=1><INPUT size=13></FONT> ), helps make up for the differences in input field lengths between IE5 and NS4 (NS's are wider), but this trick doesn't work with NS3 because it won't apply font tags to an input field. That may be forcing the cell wider. Try making the actual size of the input field smaller (maybe 11?), or possible give a touch more room to the left column.

I don't have access to Opera right now, so I don't know if the issues are the same.

TJ NETWORK

Its run by jon hedley who in my experience is very reliable.

As I understand it the new version of Redhat
has made configuration easy.Redhat 5.2.

What I'm wondering if it makes any difference in usage.

While I have your attention two more apache questions

1. The isp where I co host says I need to install a cgi-wrapper to allow cgi in users directories.

My sense from reading is that no this is not necessary but is a good idea in terms of security.

2. I've been trying for some time to get LWP installed on my server. For some reason it just doesn't seem to want to install there--
jcokos tried (and even asked jim wall for advice (grin)
Anyone with any ideas about the problem?

renee

I specified the 165 for the right table tag because of 2 reasons

The poll is done via a server side include and the table width is set at 165. I could change that but I wanted to have the center column larger than the right by design, so I left it that way.

The poll on the right is not actually off, it lines up with the top of the page perfectly, however the article just above it is indented to the left a bit. I just noticed the column was origionaly set to 156, but resized in the lower cells due to the poll. I just changed to 165 that and that is better.

I figured it was the input fields (as you seen I did resize them) and yes your right, I quickly found out that NS 3 did not like that idea of mine I couldnt reduce some of the form items so I increased the column by 2 pixels from 125 to 127. All the inner nested columns were set to 125 as well so I cnanged them to 100% and only the outer table is now 127. This worked and solved that problem in NS3.

The page is now updated with those changes. I still have 2 problems. check out the "about us" page (you will see it in the scrolling menu or on the bottom of the page) - in NS 4.X, IE5, and even Opera 3.62 the graphics I use to run down the far left lenght of the page join together nicely however in NS3 the graphics break up and I cant figure out why. I know if I make right content table two long this will happen anyway in either browser but NS 3 seems to make this happen much sooner. Any theories on that?

Also in Opera 3.62 it seems to want to place an extra space running the lenght of the page??

Tnks!

<TABLE WIDTH="610" BORDER="0" CELLSPACING="0" CELLPADDING="0" HEIGHT="569"><TR>
<TD WIDTH="18" VALIGN="TOP">
<IMG SRC="images/bot2e1.gif" WIDTH="18" HEIGHT="317" VSPACE="0" HSPACE="0" ALT="Border Middle">
</TD>

<TD WIDTH="127" VALIGN="TOP" BGCOLOR="#CCCCCC" HEIGHT="1094" ROWSPAN="5">

(this is main table, the cell to the left of the jump script, and the set up for the large column where the jump script is)

Please note that support for HEIGHT attributes in tables and cells are somewhat buggy, so they shouldn't be relied on too heavily to control page layout. Here you have set one height for the table (569), another for one of the cells (1094), then put a graphic that's shorter than any of them in the cell (317). NS3 is probably having trouble resolving those numbers, in particular 569 vs 317 (its hard to make a 317 high graphic fill a cell in a table that you've already told the browser to render as 569 high!)

IMHO you are getting too fancy with the design and are trying too hard to force the table to adhere to a specific set of dimensions. Keep in mind that compatibility does NOT mean "looks exactly the same"...it means "is usable by everyone and looks nearly the same".

I would instead do this:

<TABLE WIDTH="610" BORDER="0" CELLSPACING="0" CELLPADDING="0">
<TR>
<TD WIDTH="18" VALIGN="TOP" BGCOLOR="#666666" BACKGROUND="images/bot2e1.gif" ROWSPAN="5">
</TD>

<TD WIDTH="127" VALIGN="TOP" BGCOLOR="#CCCCCC" ROWSPAN="5">

Then take out all the other TD tags/images for the left hand column.

What you lose:
1. the fade at the very bottom of that column (it adds little to the overall page appeal anyway).
2. NS3, Opera 3.x, and other browsers that don't support background images will not see the graphic, just the background color (change #666666 to whatever color you want...obviously you want to be sure it is different from any of your font colors).

What you gain:
1. An overall simpler table structure, and elimination of the potentially buggy height attribute.
2. Fewer image calls to the server...plus you can make the graphic physically smaller to reduce file size so it will load that much faster.
3. The background image will be unbroken no matter how large the other cells become giving you more freedom to work on content without worrying about layout.
4. Potentially a little faster render because the table is less complicated.

As for the Opera problem...I had a chance to look at it yesterday--a friend has it and humors me . As near as I can tell, you have added a colspan to the main content cell ("meet the crew") for no reason, so Opera is trying to span cells that don't exist (if this actually is the problem, I'm surprized none of the other browsers choked on it).

Find this cell def just above that content area:
<TD VALIGN="TOP" ROWSPAN="5" COLSPAN="3">

and make it:
<TD VALIGN="TOP" ROWSPAN="5">

And see if the gap goes away.

[This message has been edited by baffled (edited 05-22-2000).]

I made some of the changes, I took out the height of both those cells (569 & 1094) - looks the same so thats good, and I had a couple of empty tags and a couple of redundant font tags I also cleaned up etc..

Under IE5, NS4.X and NS 3.X everything looks as it should - the only problem I have is Opera and possible older versions of IE - I don't have them to check with

Using Opera 3.62 this is what happens - I get an extra space in that column (the 18 wide one)- but only on the index page, the other pages appear fine. As I use a template the majority of the code remains unchanged. So what is causing this is in that larger content cell. Wierd I know.

I never made the other change that you mentioned however as I would like to get this to work - leaving that as a last resort

Anyone able to look with IE3 or IE4 (or even on a Mac) I would appreciate it.

Oh I took out that colspan attribute and all the other browsers choked on it - so that remains

Thanks!

[This message has been edited by DruCook (edited 05-23-2000).]