Problem running slide show on IE9 browser

**chrishull** · 07-30-2011, 04:20 PM

1) Script Title:
Unltimate Fade in slide show v 2.4
2) Script URL (on DD):
http://www.dynamicdrive.com/dynamici...nslideshow.htm
3) Describe problem:

I really like this slide show and have used it extensively building a new site. I admit I'm a newby to html and js, but I feel I've got all the basics right.

So the slide show works great online with Firefox, IE8, opera and chrome. But when I browse with IE9 the slides just don't run. Is there a fix please? I don't want to have to start over again... Thanks for any help.

**jscheuer1** · 07-30-2011, 05:42 PM

The demo page for this script on Dynamic Drive works fine here in IE 9. Does it in your IE 9? If so, the problem is with your implementation and we would need a link to your page. If not, its some setting(s) in your IE 9 and/or other program(s) on your computer.

If the Dynamic Drive demo page works for you in IE 9 and you want more help:

Please post a link to a page on your site that contains the problematic code so we can check it out.

**chrishull** · 07-30-2011, 06:48 PM

Here's the website

www.snowonsnow.com

the index page includes the slide show. I've found that hitting refresh / F5 in IE9 gets it to run, fine, but it doesn't run from initial load. Also every other page that includes the slide show has to be refreshed first to work. Thanks very much for your help.

**chrishull** · 07-30-2011, 06:55 PM

Hi John. I've just tried the demo page for the fade show with IE9 runnig on our other PC (which is on Vista, if that is relevant at all?). And the same issue occurs - The demo also needs a refresh to run the show. So is the issue with our own set up of IE9 on our PC perhaps?

Does the slide show on snowonsnow run first time for you with IE9?

Thanks again, Chris

**jscheuer1** · 07-30-2011, 11:45 PM

On the snowonsnow.com site Home, Stay, and Ski are all fine in IE 9 here under Windows 7. No refresh is needed. I cannot speak to Vista - I skipped from XP to 7, I never trusted Vista, so have nothing around to test IE 9 Vista. I do know that IE 9 was made for 7 and that because 7 and Vista share a lot in common, IE 9 can run on Vista, but that the preferred platform for IE 9 is Windows 7. That may or may not be an issue here. It might be - say an anti-virus program, or something else like settings, etc. as previously mentioned. I'm pretty sure though if it were simply IE 9 under Vista, and the issue showed up on the official demo page, we would have heard more about it by now, but perhaps not.

IE 9 also has 32 and 64 bit versions. The 32 bit version is the more reliable, and even though I have and can run both under Windows 7 on this machine, I use the 32 bit version. But I just checked the 64 bit version and at least under Windows 7, the snowonsnow site is fine in it too.

You can tell which bit version of IE 9 you're running by checking its Help > About. If it's 64 bit, it will say so on the version line. The 32 bit version doesn't say anything about which bit version it is.

Three things you can try:

Update jQuery. Change this:

Code:

<!-- IMAGE SLIDESHOW CODE  -->

	<script type="text/javascript" src="scripts/jquery.min.js"></script>
<!--	<script type="text/javascript" src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.4.2/jquery.min.js"></script>	-->

to:

Code:

<!-- IMAGE SLIDESHOW CODE  -->

<!--	<script type="text/javascript" src="scripts/jquery.min.js"></script> -->
	<script type="text/javascript" src="http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.5.2/jquery.min.js"></script>

Disable your anti-virus/anti-malware program(s) temporarily and see if that fixes it.
Reset all settings in IE 9:

Tools > Internet Options > Advanced > Reset... > Reset

For best results close IE 9 completely after any of these changes to make sure they've taken effect. First thing after you reopen the browser, before you load the page to test it, empty the browser cache.

Be advised - You can easily restore your anti-virus, etc. after this test. But once IE 9 is reset, any customizations you may have made to it will probably be lost. If they don't survive the reset, you will have to make them again.

Sorry I cannot be of more help than that. I have a Skype friend who may still have a Vista machine hanging around, but it probably uses IE 8. Next time I'm on with her, if this is still an issue I'll ask her to check it out.

**chrishull** · 07-31-2011, 07:01 AM

John, that's great, you've been really helpful. Thanks, Chris

**jscheuer1** · 07-31-2011, 10:22 AM

Thanks. Did any of that fix it? If so, what was it?

And another thing occurred to me. We could force IE 8 mode. To do so place this meta tag:

Code:

<meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=8" >

as the first thing after the title.

That would be a last resort though because it stops you from using all of IE 9's advanced features for that page. But your:

Code:

<!--[if lt IE 9]>
<script src="http://html5shim.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/html5.js"></script>
<![endif]-->

should make up for that.

**chrishull** · 08-02-2011, 10:15 AM

Hi John. Sorry not to have come back to you earlier.

Great minds - I'd already tried the <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=8" > code. And it worked fine. And the HMTL 5 elements (<footer> <header> etc) did work fine as well due to the "if lt IE9" code as you pointed out (see footnote). But on reflection I thought it wasn't a great solution. I'd have gone for it though if there was some general problem browsing the site on IE9, but you'd found no problem with it, so I'm concluding it's possibly a problem limited to IE9 running on Vista, or maybe even more likely a problem specifically with the combination of settings and virus software (we run McAfee) on this specific machine. And in the last case then, the problem is our PC, not the website.

I have tried updating the JQuery but it didn't solve the particular problem. By the way, would you in general advise the JQuery script part of the site to be frequently updated? I note that version 1.6 of JQ warns that some existing sites might need rewriting, so I suppose updating is not always a good thing? And, by the way number 2, I can see the JQuery stuff is obviously very useful and popular, but I've actually no real idea what it does / what is its exact function - would you like to enlighten me in summary? Tell me to go find out for myself if you prefer!

On your other suggestions (items 2 and 3 in your previous post) I've not actually tried them, again thinking that it's seeming likely a limited probem with this PC and/or IE9 on Vista, rather than a problem with the site. It's something I might get round to, but frankly I think I may just roll back this Vista machine to IE8. I also have a newer laptop running Windows 7, but ironically currently on IE8, so I'd bring that one up to IE9 so I can test still on both versions.

As you'll have realised from the start, I'm very much a beginner on all this so happy to take any further suggestions or comments you might have.

Regards, Chris

Footnote. Just for your interest, maybe, I got the "HTML5 with lt IE9" code from the O'Reilly/Missing Manual: Creating your own website book. In fact everything I know about this entire subject has come from that book or from the extra resources it suggests, like dynamic drive! To take a total novice starter to own functioning website, I rate the book as fantastic.

**jscheuer1** · 08-02-2011, 05:32 PM

It should be tested, but yes updating jQuery periodically is good to keep apace with improvements. I haven't seen any problems from 1.3 on, with the exception that I usually wait until a version reaches its final 1.x.x before feeling really good about it. 1.4.2 had some problems, the 1.4 series ended at 1.4.4, which is very good. That's why I suggested 1.5.2 - the final version of the 1.5 series. 1.6.2 seems very stable though, so I'm going with it more and more, you might try it, as a lot of what's being added these days is for newer browsers like Firefox 5 and IE 9.

As to what jQuery is and does, it's a vast topic. Generally speaking it's a script library. That means it's a set of routines used to accomplish common and some not so common tasks. It's written in such a way as to allow the script author to use much less code to accomplish many things. It does so by providing a sort of shorthand for things, and a way to chain commands and events, and by taking into account variations among browsers to compensate for the differences so the script author doesn't need to, or at least doesn't need to as much. Another thing it provides are some additional programmatical methods, things that other computer languages have that javascript lacks. This saves time for the script author as well if s/he needs one or more of these, rather than have to write a complex routine to provide it.

There are details (including links to code and documentation) at:

http://jquery.com/

**chrishull** · 09-04-2011, 11:32 AM

Hi John. Here's a further instalment. I've now tested on a different machine, this one running Windows 7, and with a completely fresh instal of IE9, and I still get the same problem - the site displays, except that the slide show doesn't run on first load, but then a refresh and the slide show does run. A refresh is needed on each separate page which contains the slide show. As an alternative to refreshing, two clicks on the compatibility view seem to do the trick. (The first click fixes the slide show but messes up the HTML5 elements, the second click puts the HTML5 elements right again). It is the same when loading the demo for the slide show on the dynamic drive website, i.e. a refresh is need to run the show

So I still have a perplexing problem here. I'm minded to put in the "force IE8 mode" meta tag you suggested a while ago - but it does seem to be a shame to have to go that way.

Any thoughts?

Thanks again, Chris