Progress on Netscape Strange Table Behavior

[Bobb Menk]

Thanks to all who helped out with this.  Migell's analysis (below) 
appears pretty accurate to me.  

The table I was creating was an attempt to find an alternate way to 
format a page that I felt had too many images to download well on a 
normal modem connection.  

When the solution began to get more complicated than the original 
problem warranted, I took another tack and used the GIF Wizard at 
http://www.webreference.com/services/gw/ to significantly reduce the 
size of all the button images till I got the download time down 
closer to what I felt was acceptable.

Thanks again.

Bobb Menk

> The problem is this: background colors in table cells are not
> 'officially' supported in the current version of the HTML standard. 
> However, most browsers will display this attribute without any
> problem.  When they fail, it is because there is also a <form> in
> the table in addition to the background colors.  Then whenever you
> resize, you'll have problems with the 'submit' button as well as
> text boxes, radio buttons, and the like.
> 
> I've had such forms on our home page for a few months now, and
> really searched for a solution to this - but I don't think there is
> one.  (There is a similar problem with JavaScript commands in a
> table).  Anyway, I've seen this same behaviour on major commercial
> sites, and they are creating the background color in tables the same
> way your are.
> 
>  - Migell
> 
> 
> 
> On Mon, 19 May 1997, Bobb Menk wrote:
> 
> > Thanks to those of you who've been helping me with this one.
> > 
> > Per several suggestions, I've upgraded to Netscape 3.01 which
> > hasn't eliminated the problem, but which has led me to a more
> > precise description of it.  The original problem was this:
> > 
> > >1) Netscape will sporadically completely refuse to display or
> > >noticeably hesitate to display the submit buttons in the table. 
> > >By this I mean that it will display the background color for each
> > >cell, but refuse to display the "submit" buttons at all, or it
> > >will only display the "submit" buttons after a significant delay,
> > >say 20-30 seconds.  Finally, it will sometimes display the
> > >buttons, but cease to do so when you scroll through the page,
> > >though in this instance it will usually continue to display the
> > >buttons in the top row of the table.
> > 
> > This problem now happens only when Netscape is forced to redraw
> > the screen - e.g. when re-sizing the window or backing up from a
> > search result to the page with the table on it.  The parts of the
> > table that are not visible in the window are not problematic when
> > you scroll to them.  Only that part of the window which has been
> > re-displayed is affected.  I'd be inclined to think it my video
> > adapter, but I can do it on more than one machine.
> > 
> > 
> > >2)  Netscape will not vertically center the "submit" buttons
> > >within the cell.  Even though valign=middle is what the browser
> > >is supposed to assume in the absence of a specific tag, all my
> > >cells are acting as if I had explicitly entered "valign=top". 
> > >Using explicit vertical alignments won't alter where the buttons
> > >display either.
> > 
> > This problem remains even in 3.01.  Thanks to any who can help.
> > 
> > Bobb Menk
> > 
> > --------------------------------------------------
> > The code in question looks like this:
> > 
> > 
> > <TABLE CELLPADDING=6 CELLSPACING=2  BORDER=0 width="80%">
> > 
> > <TR align=center>
> > 
> >  <TD bgcolor="#FF0029"><FORM
> >  ACTION="/cgi-bin/AT-referencesearch.exe" METHOD=POST><INPUT
> >  NAME="search" input type="hidden" VALUE="almanac"><INPUT
> >  TYPE="SUBMIT" NAME="submit" VALUE="Almanacs"></FORM></TD>
> > 
> > (multiple rows omitted here)
> > 
> > </TABLE>
> > 
> > 
> > Bobb Menk, Internet Librarian, Lane Memorial Library
> > Hampton, NH 03842  603-926-3368
> > bmenk at hampton.lib.nh.us
> > 
Bobb Menk, Internet Librarian, Lane Memorial Library
Hampton, NH 03842  603-926-3368
bmenk at hampton.lib.nh.us