When I click the "new" label, it loads the page with the new post in view but immediately reloads the page at the top. I can either scroll down to the new post or hit the back-button which brings back the new post in view.

Is it only my old BOAC (Box Of Assembled Components) on IE6?

Christer

The page seems to reload when the "Personalized Pictures" or ads are loaded.

Christer

Christer wrote on Nov 3^rd, 2008 at 3:14am:

When I click the "new" label,

Do you mean 'Refresh'? or 'Reload'? I'm not seeing a 'New'.

When you're at the page with the list of topics, in front of the subject "new" (light blue) is indicating at topic with new posts.

Christer

It is not taking you to the reply box, it is taking you down to the latest post.  The link on the 'new' banner has an anchor on the latest post.  Click on the title of the post next to the banner if you want to start at the top of the page.

Quote:

It is not taking you to the reply box, ...

No


Quote:

... it is taking you down to the latest post.

I'm not sure where it takes me if there's more than one new post. I assume to the first new post. No matter what, a second later it jumps to the top of the page. Hitting the back-button brings the initial view back.


Quote:

The link on the 'new' banner has an anchor on the latest post.

I'm not sure about that. I assume it's anchored to the first new post.


Quote:

Click on the title of the post next to the banner if you want to start at the top of the page.

I think it brings you to the start of the thread, top of page 1 if more than one page and that's not what I want. I want to go to the first new post since my last visit.

Christer

Christer wrote on Nov 5^th, 2008 at 5:29am:

I'm not sure where it takes me if there's more than one new post. I assume to the first new post. No matter what, a second later it jumps to the top of the page. Hitting the back-button brings the initial view back.

Hmmm, ok, I'm not sure why that is happening.  For me, it takes me to the first new post, like it sounds like you want.  What browser do you use?  What OS?  Do you have any extensions installed?

WinXP SP3 and IE6 with no extensions (can it have extensions?). In anticipation of your next question: I have tried IE7 but it screwes up the creation of PDF-documents in Adobe Acrobat. I will stick with IE6.

Christer

Hmmm.  I don't even have access to a computer running Windows right now, so testing IE6 to see if I get the same results isn't an option.  You could try FireFox (it works fine for me in FF2 on Linux), but it seems like you are pretty anchored to IE6, so I don't know what else to suggest.  

Christer wrote on Nov 5^th, 2008 at 2:55pm:

IE6 with no extensions (can it have extensions?

No.  IE6 lacks many of the features of a modern browser, like tabs and extensions.

Quote:

You could try FireFox (it works fine for me in FF2 on Linux), but it seems like you are pretty anchored to IE6, so I don't know what else to suggest.

I have used FF in its 2.x incarnation but since reinstalling WinXP with SP3 slipstreamed, I have not bothered to install FF 3.x. I liked FF and also ThunderBird which I for a period of time used in parallel with Outlook Express (I configured TB to leave the messages on the server to be received in OE as well) but FF/TB weren't a "revolution" compared to IE/OE.

IE6 basically does what I want it to do and I can live with the situation (page reload) so don't go through too much trouble in your attempts to assist me.

Thanks,
Christer

okay, i finally located the 'new' icon.

had not noticed that b4.

in learning about web design, nothing has caused the misery that ie6 has (due to its non-compliance with web standards).

if there were something i could do to fix it for you, i would, but i wouldn't even know where to start (and fear i might break things that are currently working for other browsers).

what version of acrobat are you using? sounds like that is the real problem.

Two years ago, I was using Acrobat 5.05 Professional. When I tested IE7 and noticed the problem, I downloaded a trial version of the latest iteration (8.something) and the problem was still there. Even if it had been fixed, I couldn't afford it. Currently I'm using Acrobat 6.06 Standard given to me by my employer.

Maybe, if I dig deeply enough, I might find a setting in Acrobat that is the culprit. The issue is very specific:

I use MS Access and create reports. Some of these reports have vertically oriented labels. In combination with IE7, Acrobat can't handle that but without the vertical labels, everything is fine. In combination with IE6, no problems.

Some people blamed the old version of Acrobat but the most recent version didn't cure the problem. Some people said that the "enhanced" printer driver in IE7 mess things up. The common denominator seems to be that no one wants to do anything about it.

There has been a few updates to IE7 and maybe, just maybe, the issue has been fixed. I will install IE7 once more and see what happens but I will not hold my breath.

Christer

Hmmm.

Well, at least you have a good handle on the problem, and you know when it affects you and when it doesn't. That's about all you can do at this point, and yes, Acrobat is expensive. (I think v9.0 is the latest.)


Christer wrote on Nov 10^th, 2008 at 5:55pm:

The common denominator seems to be that no one wants to do anything about it.

I hear ya.

This says IE6 still represents 1/3rd of all browsers:

http://www.thecounter.com/stats/2008/September/browser.php

Quote:

I hear ya.

The way I see it, MS introduced IE7 which broke stuff that worked with IE6 (and I'm 100% sure that I'm not alone). People who hoist the MS flag every morning say that the "other" software provider should fix the problems because MS can't do it (too many problems, I guess).

FireFox doesn't seem to break anything when installed in parallel to IE6. Does it have its own printer driver or does it use the MS printer driver? (Rhetorical question.)


Quote:

This says IE6 still represents 1/3rd of all browsers:

That's surprising! I wonder what it indicates? Many users still using Win9x or Win2k? Many users having issues with IE7?

Christer

I have installed IE7 and all updates. The situation with Acrobat is the same as before. The log-file below my shed some light but I still don't see:


Quote:

%%[ ProductName: Distiller ]%% %%[ Error: rangecheck; OffendingCommand: endcidrange ]%% Stack: 36823 (�×) (�×) 36822 (�Ö) (�Ö) 36821 (�Õ) (�Õ) 36820 (�Ô) (�Ô) 36819 (�Ó) (�Ó) 36818 (�Ò) (�Ò) 36817 (�Ñ) (�Ñ) 36816 (�Ð) (�Ð) 36815 (�Ï) (�Ï) 36814 (�Î) (�Î) 36813 (�Í) (�Í) 36812 (�Ì) (�Ì) 36811 (�Ë) (�Ë) 36810 (�Ê) (�Ê) 36809 (�É) (�É) 36808 (�È) (�È) 36807 (�Ç) (�Ç) 36806 (�Æ) (�Æ) 36805 (�Å) (�Å) 36804 (�Ä) (�Ä) 36803 (�Ã) (�Ã) 36802 (�Â) (�Â) 36801 (�Á) (�Á) 36800 (�À) (�À) 36799 (�¿) (�¿) 36798 (�¾) (�¾) 36797 (�½) (�½) 36796 (�¼) (�¼) 36795 (�») (�») 36794 (�º) (�º) 36793 (�¹) (�¹) 36792 (�¸) (�¸) 36791 (�·) (�·) 36790 (�¶) (�¶) 36789 (�µ) (�µ) 36788 (�´) (�´) 36787 (�³) (�³) 36786 (�²) (�²) 36785 (�±) (�±) 36784 (�°) (�°) 36783 (�¯) (�¯) 36782 (�®) (�®) 36781 (�­) (�­) 36780 (�¬) (�¬) 36779 (�«) (�«) 36778 (�ª) (�ª) 36777 (�©) (�©) 36776 (�¨) (�¨) 36775 (�§) (�§) 36774 (�¦) (�¦) -mark- %%[ Flushing: rest of job (to end-of-file) will be ignored ]%% %%[ Warning: PostScript error. No PDF file produced. ] %%

Christer

Regarding the reloading issue:

On IE7, when clicking the "new" label, the page loads and sticks to the first new post but it still seems to reload. The progress bar (with the green squares) appear twice and I have to click the back-button twice to get back to the main page of the subforum.

To recapture, on IE6, when clicking the "new" label, the page loads twice and sticks to the top post on the page. Clicking the back-button once and it gets to the first new post. Clicking the back-button a second time brings it back to the main page of the subforum.

In both cases, I have to click the back-button twice to get back to the main page of the subforum. This indicates to me that it's the same ... ::) ... but different ... :-? ... !

Christer

My memory is teflon coated ... :-[ ... we have chewed on this before:

IE7 + Acrobat Distiller

Christer

I have an update on the PDF issue:

Installing IE7 does "something" but I still don't know what. No matter what, the formatting in Access of the text in the vertical labels gets altered (stretched out).

When on IE6, I installed CutePDF Writer which is a basic "converter". It works with Access and vertical labels. I installed IE7 "on top" and Cute still works but I will have to redo the formatting in Access of the labels and other text if I'm going to stick with it. Adobe produced the usual error message.

Next, I installed Bullzip PDF Printer which has more features. Regrettably, it couldn't handle the vertical labels. They came out garbled. (I never installed Bullzip pre-IE7 and don't know if it works with IE6.)

Now to the surprise:

When I tested Adobe ... :o ... it worked. It prints differently than pre-IE7+Bullzip. I will have to redo the formatting in Access, just like for Cute and that's why I assume that IE7 does "something" to change the formatting in Access.

In the Adobe created PDF, the font for the text in the vertical labels is no longer bold or at least it seems like it isn't.

In a Cute created PDF, the text in the vertical labels is still bold.

I checked the folders where Adobe gets the fonts but no change there (all three folders identical compared to pre-IE7). I'll have to investigate further (I think).

I uninstalled both Cute and Bullzip, removed all debris but did not clean the registry. Adobe still works ... :-? ... and my brain hurts from trying to figure out "how come".

Christer

Christer wrote on Nov 17^th, 2008 at 10:18am:

Installing IE7 does "something" but I still don't know what.

It's some internal changes to the handling of fonts in Windows to support IE7's different approach to HTML encoding and rendering, colliding somehow with Adobe's approach to font character encoding. The CID system is Adobe's current approach to adding extended character sets to the PostScript system (original PostScript circa 1984 predating Unicode by many years, and being in any case more concerned with glyphs rather than characters) to try and make something more scalable than their previous interim systems for extended character sets.

The endcidrange word is part of the definition of the CMAP file (see Adobe Technical note 5099, section 6.2) which mapping from Unicode characters to glyphs in a particular font. Basically, the PostScript interpreter doesn't like something about the CMAP, probably that a Unicode character in that bit of stack is being mapped to a glyph code that isn't actually present in the particular target font.


Christer wrote on Nov 17^th, 2008 at 10:18am:

... and my brain hurts from trying to figure out "how come".

It'll be some setting somewhere which is controlling how the code generating PostScript output substitutes specific fonts for the ones in the source document (which probably contains some character in one font which isn't actually present in one of the fonts it's decided to use in the PostScript output). Either it's picking a different final font which doesn't have the CMAP error, or else something has been updated to know the right CMAP correspondence to the actual installed TrueType fonts.

Nigel,
thanks for trying to explain!

What you're saying supports my belief that the font in PDF may not be the same as in the original document.

Regarding the fact that Adobe works after installing Bullzip, I have searched for files that were updated with the installation of Bullzip and left behind after uninstalling Bullzip and Adobe still working. One file has caught my attention: C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\drivers\w32x86\3\ADPDF6.BPD. I have no idea what it's for (google results were inconclusive) but it was written to when Bullzip was installed. I'll copy it, roll back to pre-Bullzip and copy it back. I'll probably shoot my own foot ... ;D ...

Christer

Christer wrote on Nov 17^th, 2008 at 5:52pm:

What you're saying supports my belief that the font in PDF may not be the same as in the original document.

Yup.


Quote:

One file has caught my attention: C:\WINDOWS\system32\spool\drivers\w32x86\3\ADPDF6.BPD. I have no idea what it's for (google results were inconclusive) but it was written to when Bullzip was installed. I'll copy it, roll back to pre-Bullzip and copy it back. I'll probably shoot my own foot ...

BPD files are binary compiled versions of plain-text PPD files, which stand for PostScript Printer Description and which are used by the PostScript printer drivers to control the output profile (PostScript being a full programming language, and so an amazingly versatile and almost endlessly scalable thing, you need a way of describing exactly what subset and version of PostScript, including printer-embedded fonts, any given printer supports).

This document from one of the Adobe developers mentions manually editing the PPD and removing the BPD files as a common aspect of fixing font problems (see page 45).

Possibly what's happened is that the original BPD file contains some out-of-date cached font glyph mapping information, and that during the update to IE7 it had got too far from the original. Deleting it should cause the main PostScript driver to re-build the BPD files from the PPD sources (and although I don't know if CID encodings are part of the BPD, if they are then maybe they'll be regenerated based on the currently installed fonts).

I rolled back using Ghost 2003 to IE7 pre-installing Bullzip. I substituted the file ADPDF6.BPD as (assumed*) modified by the previous install of Bullzip (which I copied prior to rolling back) for the "original file". It didn't fix the problem with Adobe. I will try to delete it and have it regenerated.

*) I'm not sure about that anymore. It seems like it gets updated when Adobe is used.

A few posts back, I wrote:

Quote:

In the Adobe created PDF, the font for the text in the vertical labels is no longer bold or at least it seems like it isn't.

This was after installing Bullzip which made Adobe work. I removed the "bold" format from the text in the Access report. Printing it using Cute now looks the same as printing it using Adobe. I will roll back once more to see if it is the bold format that is the culprit and next to delete ADPDF6.BPD and have it regenerated.

Christer

Quote:

*) I'm not sure about that anymore. It seems like it gets updated when Adobe is used.

Well, the jury is still out on that one. With no additional PDF-utility installed, the first attempt using Adobe did not update ADPDF6.BPD but that doesn't mean that it never gets updated. Renaming it ADPDF6.XYZ and it was regenerated identical (based on the same file size to the byte).

Installing Bullzip did update ADPDF6.BPD (and a few more files I guess).

The simple solution would be to install Bullzip but not use it since Adobe works after that. I don't know if locating the files that are not "Bullzip" but get updated by the installation is worth the trouble. I mean, Adobe has not managed to do it ... ::) ... I think. I haven't tried any trial version later than 8.x. Maybe I should.

Another simple solution would be to install CutePDF and live with the lower quality (compared to Adobe) of the PDF files.

Christer

A third solution would be the expensive one, to install Adobe Acrobat 9. I downloaded and installed a trial (30 days) of the "9 Pro" as "9 Standard" was not available as a trial.

In "6 Standard", Abobe PDF is integrated (with buttons in the tools menu) in Excel, Powerpoint and Word. In Access it is only available through "print > choose Adobe PDF as printer".

In "9 Pro", Adobe PDF is integrated in Access as well and it works fine ... :) ... kudos to Adobe! The downside is the price ... :( ... SEK 4.000 which corresponds to USD 500.

Christer