Netscape 4.78 Garbled graphics

I'm delighted to be back on the Windows BBS, but not delighted to be having this problem.

Sometimes my Netscape 4.78 does strange things to graphics when I am browsing the web; I don't always see graphics as others do. I discovered this problem a couple of months ago when a friend (call him Jim) asked me to look at a calendar he had installed on a website he maintains, and my description of what I saw wasn't even close to what he described--different colors, different placement of vertical and horizontal lines, etc.

At the time Jim used Netscape 4.78 (same as me, although he since has upgraded to 4.79) and Windows 98 (same as me). How did I know his view was right and mine was wrong? I saw unfriendly things like black text on a dark blue background that were not Jim's style. Also, mutual friend Jerry (iMac, AOL)looked at the calendar and saw what Jim described.

Speculating that something might have become corrupted in my Netscape, I uninstalled and reinstalled 4.78. For a couple of days Jim's calendar looked good; then it went back to not so good.

You may understand my problem better by looking at this web page showing road conditions in Oklahoma: http://www.dps.state.ok.us/cgi-bin/weathermap.cgi
When I view this page I see a map of Oklahoma, with blue and black boundaries. Below it is a network of brown roads , and below that are several alpha characters in black circles. Clearly, the three graphics (Oklahoma, major roads and black circles) are supposed to overlay one another, but they sure don't on my screen. When Jim and Jerry look, the graphics are overlaid as expected.

I see hints of problems on other sites (like the dark text/dark background problem); but since I rarely know what I'm supposed to see, I don't know what's real and what isn't.

At the risk of turning this into a discussion of existentialism, I plead for help.

 

Hi Pekeman,

Good to have you back, but sorry you are having a graphics problem.

Do you have Java enabled? Try enabling/disabling Java and see if that helps. That is in Edit|Preferences|Advanced

I'm able to view the page as it should be seen, using 4.79.

I'm also wondering about your video drivers. Do you have up-to-date drivers? If not, you may want to go to your manufacturer's site and see if there are updates for your model.

Let us know if we can be of further assistance!

Ramona

 

Pekeman,

I have a very new PC and from what you said you see I seem to see it the same way and it looks ok to me.

It looks the same in Netscape 4.70 and I.E. 5.0

 

Hi, Ramona.

Having Java enabled or disabled seems to to have no effect on my graphics problem. I normally have Java enabled, but I disabled it for a couple of sessions after reading your suggestion. The abnormal appearance of Oklahoma's road conditions didn't change. Java is enabled again.

Do I have up-to-date video drivers? I'm not sure what video hardware I have, and am reluctant to change drivers until I understand my situation better. That's another long post, and may belong in a different forum.

I dusted the cobwebs off my Internet Explorer 5.5 and viewed the Oklahoma graphics as they should be seen. Will that information exonerate my driver?


hewee, thanks for checking out the Oklahoma site. If you see what I see with my NS 4.78, the road network and the marked locations are not superimposed on the map, and you are not seeing the page in all its glory. Did I misunderstand your post?

Pekeman

 

Pekeman,

In Preferences|Advanced

Place a tick beside "Enable Style Sheets "

That's why you're seeing three separate frames, rather than one with all the appropriate overlays.....

Sorry it took me so long to snap to!

Ramona

 

Ramona,

It works!

Of course, it's no surprise that you had the answer, but it's a great joy to me. Not only does the Oklahoma map make sense, but Jim's calendar also looks good. I'm looking forward to other pleasant sights on sites.

Thank you!

Pekeman

 

Pekeman,

After reading you first post again and unchecking "Enable Style Sheets" I see I miss read your post.
It does not even look the same if you have "Enable Style Sheets" unchecked.
You get 3 image when it should be only 1 image.

 

hewee,

It was difficult to describe. Hopefully, I won't have a challenge like that again.

Thanks.

Pekeman

 

Hey Pekeman,

As John Denver used to say:

Faaaaar Out!

Ramona

 

Pekeman,

No you did a great job of saying what was there.
I just had a messed what you said till I seen Ramona tell you about the Style Sheets and bells went off.

 

For the record, my friend Jim confirmed the involvement of styles for his calendar page: "I normally dont use a style declaration but set the style for individual items. On the calendar page it was easier to create a 'universal page' style for the page vs for each item....One can embed a style on the webpage or include a style sheet as a separate file then call it from within the file you are viewing. Style sheets are not honored by Netscape (they are by IE) so I embedded the styles so they would be ok for both Netscape and IE. I had never thought about you not having the style button checked on your prefs. Great going to Ramona for remembering to ask. "

Jim took the explanation beyond what I understand, but maybe it will be informative to someone else.

Pekeman