Need help on a few link problems...

There's a few things that are driving me batty. I've looked and looked and speckled my stylesheet here and there with, I'm sure, totally useless code.

Here's a link to our site... (still working on it)
http://thewindcutter.com/shop/index.php

Not quite sure where to start, so here goes (hope it's not too confusing)...

1. The color and sizes of the links in the category sidebox.

• When the links have not been clicked they are white and just the size I want them.

• After you click on one of the categories, it turns a lightish grey color and are then a little smaller size. This is okay too.

• When you're actually on the category page the link in the sidebox is white and italic. OK

But, how can I change the top level categories to stay larger and white and maybe bold, something to set apart the top level categories?

2. Visited links in the center/main column.

• The lightish grey visited links are fine in the sidebox where the background is dark colored.

But, if you click on a product's title and visit its page and then go back then that visited link is the same lightish grey color as the links in the sidebox. Problem is, the background color of the product listings is too light. Light color text against light color background isn't good. It's the same for some other links.

Sorry for the long post. I'd be most grateful for any help. Maybe I just need some fresh eyes looking at it for me.

Of course, any suggestions for improving anything at all are MOST welcome.

Thanks,
Rebekah

I'd recommend first that you install Firefox 3 and look at your site. The HTML spaces you put before the subcat names are showing as code.

Once you're there, use the Web Developer plugin to see what's what in your stylesheet concerning the category and center column names. It looks like the problem is the different ways 'selected' links are styled and 'visited' links are styled.

You have the site looking good, though.

Thanks, Stevesh.

I've been using IE7 and FF2 with Firebug, mostly (with a little Web Dev plugin use). I"m sure Firebug and WebDev do a lot more than I'm capable of handling. :blush:

I've heard that FF3 is kinda buggy. Is that true? Boy, this browser compatibility stuff is a pain. In IE6 my logo is not transparent. I'm not sure what I'm going to do about that.

I just visited the site (FF2) and notice the code! Figured out there was a missing ; (semi-colon) at the end of the setting at...

Admin | Layout Settings | Categories SubCategories Indent

I'm really trying to learn this CSS stuff. It's quite a challenge. I truly appreciate all the help from people on this forum.

#navMain
#navSupp
#navCatTabs
#categoriesContent

I get a bit confused by this sort of stuff. Is there somewhere I can find out exactly what these (and other code) refer to? Some of the terms are obvious, others I don't have a clue about. Body - that's easy, HeaderWrapper, LogoWrapper, easy.

I'm assuming I somehow need to separate and style separately some selected and visited links that are lumped together right now.

Well, off to give it another go.

Thanks,
Rebekah

#navMain
#navSupp
#navCatTabs
#categoriesContent

This is where the Web Developer plugin comes in so handy. In case you haven't had a chance to work with it much, if you hit Ctrl-Shift-Y, when you put your mouse on an element it shows you the CSS in a box at the top of the page.

Generally, navMain is the Home, Login, etc. at the top of the page.

navCatTabs are the category links below the header if you have them enabled in admin.
**
NavSupp** are the links in the footer - Home and your EZ pages.

categoriesContent is, well, the content of your categories box.

Most of the class and id names make sense, sort of.

I'll look at the selected-visited thing and be back.

Well, I think I fixed the links in the category side-box, I'm happy enough. But, the visited links in the center/main column are still a light color on a light background. :(

a:visited {
	color: #CDCDB4;
	text-decoration: none;
	}

I think this is controlling all the visited links on the site, but can someone please tell me how I can separate the links in the center column (products list, etc.) so I can change them to a darker color?

To see an example of what I'm talking about you can go to the site here:
http://thewindcutter.com/shop/index.php

-Click on the Fur Windscreens category

• then click a brand, i.e. Sony
• then click on the product "Sony DSR-200 Bronze Pro WindCutter"
  (any brand/product will work, it's all the same)

On the product description page the little category name just above the image is very light against white.

Now, click your Back button to go to the previous page. Click any white space to make sure the link isn't still selected. The product link is now very light colored.

This is what I need to change to a darker color.

Thanks for any help someone can provide.

Rebekah

Make
a:visited {
the color etc. you want for the page in general, and then style
#categories a:visited {
the way you want the categories sidebox to look.

There are several classes for different kinds of categories (a.category-top, a.category-subs, etc.), so you can fine-tune the categories a lot.

Hi Glenn,

Thanks for the reply. It's not so much the categories or subcategory links that I want to change anymore.

Not just the categories, but even the links in the text of the center column is a light color.

For instance, if you go to the Gift Certificate FAQ page...

http://www.thewindcutter.com/shop/index.php?main_page=gv_faq

and click on a link and then go back. The visited link is now slightly smaller (not sure why it's changing size) and light colored.

Would you know where I can find to change that? Sorry if this is confusing.

This is really strange.
The first time I looked, visited links in the center weren't changing at all, but when I went back, they behave as you describe.

There is nothing in any of your stylesheets, or embedded in the HTML output of your page, that addresses the visited link font size at all. I can't see any reason visited links should be changing size.

You do have this in your stylesheet:```
a:visited {
color: #CDCDB4;
text-decoration: none;
}

Strange is a good description. :dontgetit

Yeah, I don't mind that color for the visited links in the sideboxes (where the background is a dark blue). I'm trying to figure out how to separate this visited link color from the one that seems to be only in the center column, where the products show up, the pages of the site, etc. where the background is too light for the light colored, visited links.

I'm at a loss. Thanks for looking at it.

As I said above, make the a:visited {} rule the color you want in general (for the center), and make a more specific rule for sideboxes, like

#navColumnOne a:visited, #navColumnTwo a:visited {color: #whatever;}

Put the specific rule below the general rule so it works correctly.

:clap: Thank you! Thank you! That worked! I didn't understand you the first time you said it, but that's exactly what I was looking for!