[amerikrainian]

I started off a while back using yahoo sitebuilder, then moved to web page maker and then to sitespinner. I used to blame yahoo, and then web page maker, but now I am realizing something must be wrong with my computer.

These programs are wysiwyg, drag and drop type. The second two get good reviews on cnet, and nobody else has complained about the problems I am having.

Here is an example.

I construct a page and place several nav buttons in a straight line accross the top of the screen. I line up some other items too like text and an image or two. it looks good in the program, but when i preview in my browser, the items are not in a straight line but, varying, up and down a few pixels from where each ought to be.

Another example of that same problem is when i insert a head image (rectangular) at the top of the screen. Then I make a text box below it. In the program, the bottom edge of the image touches the top edge of the text box. But in browser preview, there is a 3 or 4 pixel space between these elements.

A different problem is when I use a nav button that is a coin. The heads side of the coin is the normal image and the mousover image is the tails side. Once in a while though, the mousover effect wont work. It will not switch when i mousover, or even not switch back when I off mouse. Or it will disappear.

These particular problems arent to a published site. But the same things happened with yahoo, and that was with a published site. I would go to my site and notice the buttons didnt work. Or one of the pictures had disappeared (no i didnt move the file on my computer or anything like that).

Yahoo was always instructing me to reload java, and reinstall their program, but that never helped. I am out of options for a wysiwyg builder unless i can fix this. And i assume my computer problem will continue to plague any other program i would get anyway, until fixed.

Please help. What part of my computer is responsible for this? And how do i fix it.

By the way, this pc is only a year old.

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It's not the computer. It is the Visual Editor...any Visual Editor. You are depending on them to write the perfect or cross-browser code and they can NOT do it. The following will show you why things look differently in your browser as opposed to the Editor's Preview window:

Why Validate?: http://validator.w3.org/docs/why.html
CSS Validator: http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/
HTML Validator: http://validator.w3....ri+with_options

Drag and Drop is NOT the way to make web pages.Some plug-ins are browser specific so be sure you have the latest plug-ins for the browser you are using.

Edited by AstraNut, 11 December 2010 - 11:56 AM.

[AstraNut]

It's not the computer. It is the Visual Editor...any Visual Editor. You are depending on them to write the perfect or cross-browser code and they can NOT do it. The following will show you why things look differently in your browser as opposed to the Editor's Preview window:

Why Validate?: http://validator.w3.org/docs/why.html
CSS Validator: http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/
HTML Validator: http://validator.w3....ri+with_options

Drag and Drop is NOT the way to make web pages.Some plug-ins are browser specific so be sure you have the latest plug-ins for the browser you are using.

Edited by AstraNut, 11 December 2010 - 11:56 AM.

[amerikrainian]

I tried those tools on my current yahoo website. That tool doesnt let the user change html, but the oother programs I mentiond do allow it.
It showed 200 errors or so between the css and the html? I guess. Everything was just an arrow (< or >) a set of quotes (") or something simple like that. Are the red marks (shown in the results)the needed corrections? And, if so, are you saying I just need to put those marks in the lines they tell me to, and then everything will work? But will a visual editor keep messing it up after i fix it?
Thanks.

[AstraNut]

I do not ever recommend using a Visual Editor even if you are a Pro Coder as, every time you view your corrected code in the Visual Editor Preview window, it will overwrite or change the coding again. You must stay in Code Source View at all times and view your corrected pages in your browser(s).

The validators tell you specifically what the errors are which you must correct manually. I do not recommend using HTML Tidy which will correct errors, but only makes corrections it knows how to do. There is always a possibility of HTML Tidy messing up your page(s) as only you know how (or should) how it is to be coded.

[amerikrainian]

how do you feel about dreamweaver then? That is standards compliant, right? it must be the best thing out there for anybody who does not know html, although the program takes a lot of learning to use.

[AstraNut]

I have Dreamweaver and never use it. It does the same thing when you edit your code in Code Source view and return to the Visual Editor's Preview window as any other visual editor does. Except you paid a lot of money for it to mess up your code.

No software can write compliant code for you using the WYSIWYG editor. It tries, but only you can properly code a page. It will NOT correct the errors you currently have. Only you can do that. If you just have to use a visual editor, there are lots of free ones that do just as good a job. They have the same problems when using Visual Editor section.