Very strange IE7 issue - actual code disappearing

[4fit?]

I just recently redesigned our Mustang club's website (www.mustangsofburlington.com). I constantly previewed the site in different browsers during the development progresses. Everything was great and peachy.

I uploaded the files to our server over the weekend. Everything looks great in Firefox, Opera, and even IE6. However, in IE7, one section on the homepage is not appearing on the screen. I have tried moving it all over the place thinking that it may just be the location. No such luck. It simply will not display.

So, today I decided to look at the source code in IE7. To my total dismay, actual lines of codes are not displaying in the source! I have never seen or even heard of something like this happening.

The section I am having problems with is the Sponsors section.
Here is the code for that section when viewing the source code in FF.


<img src="images/sponsors.png" alt="sponsors" />
<a href="http://www.mustangweek.com">
<img src="images/sponsorads/mwbanner.jpg" alt="mustang week" />
</a>
<a href="http://www.nwagent.com/TED_SEAGROVES_JR1.HTML">
<img src="images/sponsorads/nwbanner.gif" alt="nationwide insurance" />
</a>
<a href="http://www.pro-dyno.com">
<img src="images/sponsorads/pdbanner.gif" alt="pro dyno" />
</a>


Here is that same section of code as viewed in the IE7 source.


<img src="images/sponsors.png" alt="sponsors" />
<a href="http://www.mustangweek.com">
<img src="images/sponsorads/mwbanner.jpg" alt="mustang week" />
</a>
<a href="http://www.nwagent.com/TED_SEAGROVES_JR1.HTML">

</a>
<a href="http://www.pro-dyno.com">

</a>


As you can see, two of the img tags fail to appear at all. And, even though the mwbanner img tag appears and the sponsors img tag appears, neither of them display on screen, no matter where I position them.

OK, that's issue number one and the largest of m concerns. The second issue I am having is with the image fade script on this same page. It works great in FF and the other browsers, including IE6, but just displays the first image in IE7.

Oh, I failed to mention something. In IE7, if I select File-->Browse and open the index.html file that way, EVERYTHING WORKS FINE!! What in the world! This has me really stumped.

Any and all help and advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

[rangana]

I just went through your sites and I saw the three images, nothing weird, and the fade script is functioning well.

Maybe you have different settings in your IE7, have you checked through Tools || Advanced || Multimedia??See what's checked and uncheck there.

See if it helps :D

[4fit?]

I just went through your sites and I saw the three images, nothing weird, and the fade script is functioning well.

Maybe you have different settings in your IE7, have you checked through Tools || Advanced || Multimedia??See what's checked and uncheck there.

See if it helps :D

Thanks for your reply and for having a look at the site. I am at work now, which is utilizing IE6. I will take a look at the setting s in IE7 once I get home. I still don't understand how source code is not displaying at all for me. Very odd.

[Twey]

o.@ Most peculiar indeed. I'd suggest you do a virus/spyware scan on your home machine.

[4fit?]

o.@ Most peculiar indeed. I'd suggest you do a virus/spyware scan on your home machine.
First thing I did. Nothing was found. And this is only happening on this one page. Have you taken a look? Are they displaying correctly for you?

[jscheuer1]

Works fine here in IE 7. This would tend to support the settings theory. However, no settings that I am aware of could actually change the source code that the server is sending. So, maybe all that you need to do in IE 7 is to clear your cache and refresh the page.

One thing that looks off to me is this:


<!--[if lt IE 7.]>
<link href="css/iestyle.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />
<![endif]-->

It really should be:


<!--[if lte IE 6]>
<link href="css/iestyle.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />
<![endif]-->

But, I doubt that makes much difference. But it could.

And though your page validates as XHTML Strict. IE really doesn't support that, you should be using HTML 4.01 Strict. Once again, I doubt that this is the problem.

[4fit?]

Works fine here in IE 7. This would tend to support the settings theory. However, no settings that I am aware of could actually change the source code that the server is sending. So, maybe all that you need to do in IE 7 is to clear your cache and refresh the page.

One thing that looks off to me is this:


<!--[if lt IE 7.]>
<link href="css/iestyle.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />
<![endif]-->

It really should be:


<!--[if lte IE 6]>
<link href="css/iestyle.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />
<![endif]-->

But, I doubt that makes much difference. But it could.

And though your page validates as XHTML Strict. IE really doesn't support that, you should be using HTML 4.01 Strict. Once again, I doubt that this is the problem.

Thanks for your response, jscheuer. Trust me, I have cleared my cache constantly while trying to figure out what the underlying problem is here. I even modified the location of things in the index.html file to make sure that the cache is truly clearing.

As for the conditional IE css file, from my understanding, the two above are basically doing the same thing. It works fine in IE6, so I'm assuming that all is well with that.

I was unaware that IE didn't support xHTML Strict. I'll probably keep it that way regardless, but good information to know.

[jscheuer1]

Well, you seem to indicate that under some circumstances, you can see the 'missing' content in IE 7, so what exactly are the circumstances I need to follow to not see it? Also, since you indicate as well that moving it around the page doesn't help. Try subtracting things from the page, one at a time, until you get a version that does render it properly. If you get down to an otherwise blank page with only this missing content on it, and it still doesn't render, it is definitely something to do with your browser and/or system. In fact, you might try the otherwise blank page first with only this problematic content on it, just as an initial, potentially time saving, test

Before going to all of that trouble, try resetting all security and advanced settings to their default/restore points and restarting the browser. Are you using Vista BTW? It may have different defaults. Using a 'stand alone' version of IE 7? It will not render as a real IE 7 will. Third party firewalls, antivirus and anti-spyware can sometimes disable things in IE, but usually not images, they could be responsible for the slide show not working.

With the slide show not rendering in IE 7, that sounds like:

Tools>Internet Options>Security (tab)>Custom Level (button)>scroll to Active X controls and plug-ins

Then under that section, make sure that:

Binary and script behaviors

is enabled.

[Twey]

Seems fine to me.

[4fit?]

Well, you seem to indicate that under some circumstances, you can see the 'missing' content in IE 7, so what exactly are the circumstances I need to follow to not see it? Also, since you indicate as well that moving it around the page doesn't help. Try subtracting things from the page, one at a time, until you get a version that does render it properly. If you get down to an otherwise blank page with only this missing content on it, and it still doesn't render, it is definitely something to do with your browser and/or system. In fact, you might try the otherwise blank page first with only this problematic content on it, just as an initial, potentially time saving, test

Before going to all of that trouble, try resetting all security and advanced settings to their default/restore points and restarting the browser. Are you using Vista BTW? It may have different defaults. Using a 'stand alone' version of IE 7? It will not render as a real IE 7 will. Third party firewalls, antivirus and anti-spyware can sometimes disable things in IE, but usually not images, they could be responsible for the slide show not working.

With the slide show not rendering in IE 7, that sounds like:

Tools>Internet Options>Security (tab)>Custom Level (button)>scroll to Active X controls and plug-ins

Then under that section, make sure that:

Binary and script behaviors

is enabled.

I am running Windows XP SP2. Standard installation of IE7. The only time that the page renders correctly in IE7 (for me anyway) is if I open the file while stored on my drive by File-->Open. When the page opens, I of course get the IE warning message regarding ActiveX controls and I accept them. Everything renders and siaplys fine. But, when viewing the page after upload, I do not see the section noted in my initial post.

I am going to completely reset the security setting in IE and see if that helps. If it doesn't, I am going to uninstall IE7 and do a fresh install and see if that helps.

Thanks for everyone's help thus far! I'll be sure to post up the outcome of my tinkering this evening.

[N5HQ]

4fit?

Did you ever get a resolution to your original problem?

I had almost the exact same thing happen on one of my web pages. The problem was the same as you described, the photos would not display. The difference was that no image in the /images/Sponsors folder would display. I fought it for hours before I finally just renamed the Sponsors folder to vendors so that the images were in /images/vendors and everything started working the way it should.

The folder was of course on the web server not local. The server is a Linux server if that matters, I doubt it. It seems to have something with the Sponsors name. I didn’t delete the folder and re-create it, I just renamed it on the server then did a global search and replace from Sponsors to vendors in my source code. The page that wouldn’t display was index.shtml

It just seems strange to me that IE7 does this. I had just installed SP3 for XP so I was blaming it on that. I tried to un-install IE7 but after installing SP3 it will not let me un-install it. Both Firefox and Opera would display fine, just IE7 had the problem.

So it seems to me that there is a problem with IE7 and of course Microsoft will never fess up to that. If anyone knows how to fix the problem or un-install IE7 after installing SP3, please let me know.

N5HQ