Contact Us and IE7 not playing nice!

I'm using Zen 1.3.8, and IE7, on a windows xp computer.

The Send button in my Contact Us form doesn't work.

Contact Us

It works just fine in Firefox and Safari, just not in IE7. In fact, it's not even clickable in IE7 on my computer.

It just sits there, staring at me :unsure: , :(

Anyway, :blink: , could someone please have a look and see what my malfunction is?

Thanks!

Your page has a lot of html errors: http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ashbysonline.com%2Fcontact_us.html&charset=%28detect+automatically%29&doctype=Inline&group=0
I believe the one causeing the issue is the unesscaped ampersand in the form action.
Also, your CSS has several errors: http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/validator?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ashbysonline.com%2Fcontact_us.html&profile=css21&usermedium=all&warning=1&lang=en
You also might try turning off the javascipt in your header thats running your flash. You really shouldn't have a javascript running outside of the head tag.

gothstone:

Your page has a lot of html errors: http://validator.w3.org/check?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ashbysonline.com%2Fcontact_us.html&charset=%28detect+automatically%29&doctype=Inline&group=0
I believe the one causeing the issue is the unesscaped ampersand in the form action.
Also, your CSS has several errors: http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/validator?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ashbysonline.com%2Fcontact_us.html&profile=css21&usermedium=all&warning=1&lang=en
You also might try turning off the javascipt in your header thats running your flash. You really shouldn't have a javascript running outside of the head tag.

Would you mind explaining all of that in more detail please? If I had any idea what you were talking about, I probably would have taken care of it already.

Thanks for replying.

If you view the source of your contact page you have a line that reads ```

You should click on those links and read what they have to say. You need to track down the cause of each of those errors and fix it. Zencart code itself is clean, you might get 1 or 2 errors. All of the rest are from code you have added or changed. The "rules" of the w3 are more strict than any browser, but if you follow them to a T than your page will look the same and be useable in any browser. If not, then everyone gets a slightly (or dramaticaly) different site, and some may not be able to view it at all. Firefox and Safari are being user friendly and compensating for the code error, IE7 is not, so your send button is broken.

In the template you have created, specificaly in your header, you are useing javascript to run fash. I don't know why, as thats pretty messy. Javascript should be avoided when possible, and it should always be run inside the html tag<head>.

Thanks, I got the contact us form working again. For some reason, can't remember why, I did add another form tag in the define page. Removed it and voila! Works like a charm now.

Now, as for using java to run my header, it was the only way I could get it to work. If you can suggest a neater, cleaner way to run a .swf file in the header, without java, I would be very greatful.

Example, you will have to change sizes, file name and alt tag:

<object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="images/banner.swf" width="288" height="128">
<param name="movie" value="images/banner.swf" />
<img src="banner.gif" width="288" height="128" alt="banner" />
</object>

Where would I make these changes that you suggest?

./includes/templates/silverfish/common/tpl_header.php in place of your current java script calling the flash.

Nope. That doesn't work. Not at all. Sorry.

Any other ideas?

What do you mean that didn't work? What did it do? Did you change the code to your needs? Ok, here's the exact code to put in.

<object type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="includes/templates/silverfish/images/flash/logo.swf" width="760" height="132">
<param name="movie" value="includes/templates/silverfish/images/flash/logo.swf" />
</object>

If that doesn't work, its probably a typo or something, but you could always go the overdone but absolute method:

<!--[if !IE]> -->
<object type="application/x-shockwave-flash"
  data="includes/templates/silverfish/images/flash/logo.swf" width="760" height="132">
<!-- <![endif]-->

<!--[if IE]>
<object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000"
  codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,0,0"
  width="760" height="132">
  <param name="movie" value="includes/templates/silverfish/images/flash/logo.swf" />
<!--><!--dgx-->
  <param name="loop" value="true" />
  <param name="menu" value="false" />

  <p>Your <b>browser</b> sucks!</p>
</object>
<!-- <![endif]-->

You might also want to read this: http://www.zen-cart.com/wiki/index.php/Using_Flash

I went ahead and used the "overdone but absolute method:" example you provided, and it seems to have worked.

Give it a look and see if it did what you expected.

If so, then would you mind explaining your expectations to me, cause, though I know this has to be a good thing, I'm not sure why.

Thanks.

It plays nicer with more browsers: http://browsershots.org
It causes less validation errors: validator.w3.org
If doesn't force the users browser to engage an external engine (javascript) just to start another (flash)
It has reduced the website download size total by the size of the file includes/templates/silverfish/jscript/swfobject.js
The browser now caches it correctly which will speed up their experiance and lessen the load on your server.

One other suggestion for you. Download the firebug and yslow plugins for fire fox. They will help you find the rest of your code errors, and improve the load time of your site. Right now yslow gives your site a grade of D. Getting an A while having a good looking site is a ########## unless you pay for a CDN, but try to get it up to at least a high B.

Thanks so much for all your help and advice! Super!

I'll continue to follow it and will try to get my errors down as much as possible with the methods you've suggested.

Thanks again!

Hey Gothstone!

Just wanted to give you an update, since it was on your advice that I followed up with this. I am now completely Valid XHTML 1.0 Transitional! with No errors, according to W3C, and only 2 errors in my CSS that cannot be changed without changing the entire look of the entire site. (unless you know a secret I don't)

So, why am I telling you this? To say Thank you! :cool:

Congrats! Glad to see you got it all cleaned up. It looks like your down just 1 error now. I won't swear to it, but if memory serves you can replace that text-align: center; with margin-left : auto;
margin-right : auto;

Ok, but, where the heck is it?