[WEB4LIB] Re: Mozilla/Netscape 7.0 -- Students

[Joyce M. Latham]

Great ... we have a solution for the Mozilla issue -- why would it blow
up altogether in Netscape? Same issue, you think?

Joyce

"Peter C. Gorman" wrote:
> 
> At 7:34 PM -0700 7/24/02, Darryl Friesen wrote:
> >>  We keep running into problems with Mozilla.  After some serious testing,
> >>  trying different things, we are positive that it is a problem with
> >>  Mozilla
> >>  itself and not with our code.  The problem seems to specifically be with
> >>  comments <!-- -->.  Mozilla is having various issues with the comments
> >>  i.e. it does NOT read comments properly in all instances.
> >
> >It's a problem with the code (specifically, the comments), not the browser.
> >>From the Comments section of the HTML 4 spec: (see
> >http://www.htmlhelp.com/reference/html40/structure.html)
> >
> >     Comments in HTML have a complicated syntax that can be simplified
> >     by following this rule: Begin a comment with "<!--", end it with
> >     "-->", and do not use "--" within the comment.
> >
> >The code from the url you gave has "--" _within_ the comment itself; a
> >definite no-no.  Is Mozilla a bit too picky?  Perhaps, but that's a Good
> >Thing.  Forcing compliance with the standard can only make the web better.
> 
> The unsimplified explanation is that the markup for comments is
> composed of two parts: a processing instruction <![stuff here]>
> containing (only) a comment --[stuff here]--. In HTML, one rarely
> sees processing instructions that aren't just containers for
> comments, although the DOCTYPE declaration is one (the only?)
> example. So, a better statement of the rule may be "comments start
> and end with '--' and must be enclosed within a processing
> instruction '<!>'." Anything after the second "--" will be taken to
> be part of a processing instruction which browsers will
> understandably have a hard time understanding.
> 
> There are also a number of validation errors on the page in question
> - overlapping elements, etc. that could be causing some problems and
> are easily fixable. It looks like the comments have already been
> fixed, and the page seems to be displaying properly with Mozilla
> (Mac).
> 
> --
> _______________________________
> Peter C. Gorman
> Senior Technology Librarian
> University of Wisconsin-Madison
> Library Technology Group
> pgorman at library.wisc.edu
> (608) 265-5291
> 
> "We consider that any man who can fiddle all through one of those
> Virginia Reels without losing his grip, may be depended upon in any
> kind of musical emergency." -- Mark Twain.

-- 
Joyce M. Latham
GSLIS -- University of Illinois

   "Strictly speaking, there are no enlightened people; there is
only     enlightened activity."  Suzuki Roshi