Firefox Rendering Problems

[Brad]

Does anyone have any other solutions to the Firefox rendering problems with
ASP.NET?

I've tried the <browsercaps> web.config trick. It didn't work. Am I
overlooking something else?

Thanks!

 

[Jeff]

RE:
<< I've tried the <browsercaps> web.config trick >>

Which trick?

We might be able to recommend an alternative if we know which one you tried.

 

[Julien]

You can use a plugin named IETab which allow firefox to use the IE
engine. Very useful :
https://addons.mozilla.org/extensions/moreinfo.php?id=1419&application=firefox

 

[john smith]

Does anyone have any other solutions to the Firefox rendering problems with
ASP.NET?

I've tried the <browsercaps> web.config trick. It didn't work. Am I
overlooking something else?

Thanks!

I've never had a single rendering problem using firefox with any of ourt
ASP.NET pages. Perhaps it's something in your markup or some component
you're using...

 

[Fao, Sean]

Does anyone have any other solutions to the Firefox rendering problems with
ASP.NET?

I've tried the <browsercaps> web.config trick. It didn't work. Am I
overlooking something else?

Perhaps you're overlooking your HTML? You're going to have to be a lot
more explicit about what's going on. AFAIK, there are no built-in
controls that render incorrectly in Firefox.

 

[Brad]

I googled the problem and came up with this reference:

http://www.asptoday.com/Content.aspx?id=2339

Of all the <browsercaps> solutions, except one, they all point to this same
solution. The one exception didn't work either. I don't what the problem
is?

 

[Brad]

Thanks, I'll look at my HTML a little closer. Maybe you've not encountered
any rendering problems yet, but there's a whole community of ASP.NET
developers who are hot on this topic. More and more people are using
Firefox--10-20% of the browser population. I had to find out about
ASP.NET/Firefox issues the rude way--via a demo with a client!

Researching the problem confirmed sneaking suspicions I've had about MS
development vs standards-based development. Microsoft's interpretation of
Web development is just not up to snuff. Using server controls is
convenient for the developer, but the HTML that gets produced is
non-standard in many cases.

I might add that I'm using ASP.NET 1.1. In 2.0, they have supposedly taken
care of this problem. If you're using 2.0, you may not have seen this
anomaly. However, I can't yet afford to upgrade all my software, and making
developers responsible for their (MS's) problems isn't the solution. I'm
not going to keep throwing money at them, hoping to reach some kinda
development nirvana some day.

Sorry, just letting out some pent up frustration. I'm not sure how long I
can endure MS development paradigms any longer. I might have to leap to the
dark...uh, I mean....other side. ;-)

Any (more) solutions will be much appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Brad]

In response to your post, I'll just reference the response I gave to Sean
Fao in this thread. I'll continue to investigate, but the further I dig the
darker it gets.

Thanks!

 

[Brad]

Excellent suggestion! I installed it, and it is quite the gem. Thank you!

Brad

 

[Brad]

Here's an update on my troubleshooting:

I got it to render correctly. I was setting the padding for all images
(padding: 5 5 5 5) in my global CSS. The ASP engine must mangle it so that
it is screwed up by the time Firefox gets the resulting HTML. I took that
out, and everything lined up correctly.

Whew! That was scary. Other minor rendering problems were fixed with the
<browsercaps> trick in the end!

Shame on you, Microsoft!!!

 

[Laurent Bugnion]

Hi,

Thanks, I'll look at my HTML a little closer. Maybe you've not encountered
any rendering problems yet, but there's a whole community of ASP.NET
developers who are hot on this topic. More and more people are using
Firefox--10-20% of the browser population. I had to find out about
ASP.NET/Firefox issues the rude way--via a demo with a client!

The issue is not with Firefox, which complies with standard much better
than IE. The issue is that IE, when confronted with non-standard HTML,
JavaScript or CSS code tries to interprete what IE thinks that the
developer might have wanted to say. In opposite, Firefox renders the
page according to the standard, and if there are non-standard things in
it, it considers it an error. The learning curve is higher in Firefox,
but at least you learn correctly. IE unfortunately created a whole
generation of lazy web developers.

Additionally, many custom controls on the market render non-standard
code, which IE in turns interprete according to what it thinks that
ASP.NET means. Two wrongs in that case make a right (well, more or less).

So the real issue is not with Firefox, but is really with IE.

What's the cure: When confronted with non-standard code, instead of
using built-in controls, write a user control which renders correct code
and test in both Mozilla (Firefox, Netscape, etc...) and IE. It's more
work, but at least you'll comply with the standards, and you'll be sure
that your page works right in other standard-compliants browsers too.

Researching the problem confirmed sneaking suspicions I've had about MS
development vs standards-based development. Microsoft's interpretation of
Web development is just not up to snuff. Using server controls is
convenient for the developer, but the HTML that gets produced is
non-standard in many cases.

Exactly ;-)

I might add that I'm using ASP.NET 1.1. In 2.0, they have supposedly taken
care of this problem. If you're using 2.0, you may not have seen this
anomaly. However, I can't yet afford to upgrade all my software, and making
developers responsible for their (MS's) problems isn't the solution. I'm
not going to keep throwing money at them, hoping to reach some kinda
development nirvana some day.

Sorry, just letting out some pent up frustration. I'm not sure how long I
can endure MS development paradigms any longer. I might have to leap to the
dark...uh, I mean....other side. ;-)

Nah... leaping to the other side is much more like walking in the bright
light... which doesn't mean you're dead, but that you're getting
enlightened ;-) Courage! it's worth it, and your page will also work in IE.

I want to add that IE renders standard code correctly (well, mostly,
with a few quirks in CSS). So standard code (including HTML, JavaScript)
*will* work in IE and in Firefox, while non-standard code will only work
in IE. The choice is easy to make, even if it means more work.

Any (more) solutions will be much appreciated. Thanks!

HTH,
Laurent

 

[Laurent Bugnion]

Hi,

Shame on you, Microsoft!!!

Don't be so harsh. They improved their understanding of standard code
tremendously in IE5, 6 (and IE7 I heard) compared to IE 4. Back in the
old days, a client-side developer would spend up tp 60% of the
development time trying to make the code work in IE and in (back then
Netscape). If you follow the standards now, this time is reduced a lot
(I estimate it might be 10 to 20% now, including the time needed to run
tests in two environments).

Actually, I blame the lazy developers at least as much as I blame
Microsoft. Lazy developers don't like to comply with standards (because,
man, you have to read and understand it), and like that IE corrects
their mistakes.

It's getting better, but without a pressure from the developers,
Microsoft doesn't have a big motivation to change their way of doing.

All this IMHO of course.

Laurent

 

[john smith]

In response to your post, I'll just reference the response I gave to Sean
Fao in this thread. I'll continue to investigate, but the further I dig the
darker it gets.

Thanks!

I assumed you were using ASP.NET 2.0, sorry. I don't do 1.1 anymore...
(which did indeed have some issues - namely forms validation being IE only)