Expert: LizaL - 11/15/2004

Question
Lizal, I figured out why my files weren't saving properly for web viewing....  (See earlier request for help - around 11:00 am EST- Monday)
I was saving 'layers as files'  Instead of letting ImageReady save the HTML AND files using the File\Save Optimized...  Once I did that and looked in my image folder - vi o'la... I feel like such a meathead...
Can I give you a harder quastion?
What can I do to create the same rollover effect in IE that will work in Netscape Navigator?
View www.summitmarine.com to see comparison...
My rollover works fine in IE but no change in NN...  Any Ideas?  
I'm using PS CS ver 8 / PC.
Thanks, Jim Ampulski

Answer
Hi again Jim! Great minds think alike, huh -- I just finished sending you my answer for your previous question, LOL! And it looks like you beat me to the punch, since you found Save Optimized. Great! Glad you got it.

I went to your page, and I tried to view your source code but I wasn't given the option when I right-clicked on the page -- all I saw were images put together. Have you put the page all together via HTML? It's kind of hard to predict what your rollover problem is, without seeing the source code. And if you've just uploaded a big sliced graphic, that might be your problem, right there. But again, without seeing the code it's impossible for me to advise from that standpoint.

But at any rate, I have some other ideas about this, but I bet you won't like them any more than I do.

I could only see one working rollover -- but I understand this is a work in progress, so that doesn't worry me. But what it sounds to me like you're describing is browser and possibly platform incompatibilities. This is one of my pet peeves concerning Web design, as a matter of fact. Not all browsers view code in the same manner. It's been this way since the beginning of time -- well, the internet, anyway, LOL -- and there's really not much we can do about it except to try and code for it, to prevent it from happening.

I could see the working rollover in IE, but you're right, not in Netscape, and not in Safari on my Mac, either. This makes me think all the more that it's because of browser incompatibilities.

What to do? Go here:
http://w3c.org/2002/03/new-to-w3c

The World Wide Web Consortium is working hard to establish guidelines for coding that will enable designers to design a site, and have it read by all browsers in the same manner. It hasn't happened yet, of course, and a lot of this is because of the Microsoft/Netscape eternal fight. But the W3C folks are the ones to watch, as they're recognized experts on the best ways around the problem of browser incompatibility.

This site takes a long time to navigate and understand, so peruse it when you've got the time! But it's full of helpful information on setting up your site so that it adheres to as many guidelines as possible for making viewing easy, across the board.

I'm sure this isn't what you want to hear, but it's a sad fact of the internet and Web design -- what you design, and what you see locally isn't always what the viewer will wind up seeing. So try and follow the W3C guidelines, and test from as many platforms and browsers as possible, as a precaution.


Hope this helps!

Lisa