Weird tables problem

ryanf · #1 12-06-2003, 09:52 PM

I've been working on my design all day. The last few hours I've been stuck on one problem. I've tried several different ways to accomplish what I want, but still no go. Whats weird is it looks PERFECT in admin, but not in customer. Its a problem with tables. My head is basically empty, and I got a some tables in my "rectangle_top.tpl", and the end tags in my "rectangle_bottom.tpl. What might be causing the problem is this, I got cells acting as borders to create a border around my store. The top area of the table is left white to keep it clear as I got another table above that does something else. Its a little difficult to explain. I'll try add some code to make it easier to understand.

Here is the top part. I removed some additional tables above this that wouldn't have any conflicts with this.

Code:

{* $Id: rectangle_top.tpl,v 1.7 2003/04/09 07:41:05 olga Exp $ *}
<div align="center">
<table width="770" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0">
<tr>
    <td rowspan="2" width="2" bgcolor="#333366" background="{$ImagesDir}/dot_spacer_1.jpg"></td>
    <td width="766" bgcolor="white"></td>
    <td rowspan="2" width="2" bgcolor="#333366" background="{$ImagesDir}/dot_spacer_1.jpg"></td>
</tr>
<tr>
    <td width="766" bgcolor="white">

and

Here is the bottom code.

Code:

{* $Id: rectangle_bottom.tpl,v 1.3 2003/04/09 07:41:05 olga Exp $ *}    
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
    <td colspan="3" width="770" height="2" bgcolor="#333366"></td>
</tr>
</table>
{ include file="bottom.tpl" }
</div>

See anything that might explain why the "side" "borders/cells" won't appear in the customer area, but does appear in the admin?. I'm thinking the "side" "border/cells" should be included in a seperate file all together, but don't know which one(s), or how.

Any help would be great. I'm about to lose my mind! lol.

Ryan

ryanf · #2 12-06-2003, 11:52 PM

I also thought I would point out that I don't want to use an actual table border because the bordercolor won't appear in netscape.

Ryan

ryanf · #3 12-07-2003, 10:04 AM

I tried another way, but still no luck. The darn thing works fine in admin, but not the customer area. Errr, if only it was the other way around!

Here is the new code that I thought would work.

Top file:

Code:

<table width="770" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" border="0">
<tr>
    <td width="2" bgcolor="#333366" background="{$ImagesDir}/dot_spacer_1.jpg"></td>
    <td width="766" bgcolor="white">

Bottom file:

Code:

 <td width="2" bgcolor="#333366" background="{$ImagesDir}/dot_spacer_1.jpg"></td>
</tr>
</table>

I know with this code there wouldn't be a bottom border, but I figured I could just create another table for that, no biggy.

Any ideas?.....Anyone....?

Ryan

leon · #4 12-10-2003, 12:10 AM

It could help if you post your URL or at least a picture (screen capture) to see the problem directly.

jeeya · #5 12-10-2003, 01:36 AM

when you make a table don't set any width in it. You can do that in table properties and unselect specify width check box.

Give it a try, worked for me.

leon · #6 12-10-2003, 06:28 AM

Well that could be according to the header /logo involved in the site, thats why it is better to see the site for a clear opinion.

ryanf · #7 12-10-2003, 03:45 PM

I sorta figured it out. The center area was pushing the side borders away, and I guess they disappear when that happens. I simply made a table larger and it seemed to work. Only I didn't want it that big, but ohwell. It looks alright now.

Thanks for the responses. I have to specify widths because the table is a fixed size, and is centered.

I do have another question though. Aren't images supposed to be downloaded just once?. Like, I was looking at my bandwidth the other day I went over 400MB's of bandwidth while testing. Seems rather high. I would think the images would download, and be in my cache, but it seems like its all getting re-downloaded everytime.

Ryan

leon · #8 12-10-2003, 08:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ryanf

I sorta figured it out. The center area was pushing the side borders away, and I guess they disappear when that happens. I simply made a table larger and it seemed to work. Only I didn't want it that big, but ohwell. It looks alright now.

Thanks for the responses. I have to specify widths because the table is a fixed size, and is centered.

I do have another question though. Aren't images supposed to be downloaded just once?. Like, I was looking at my bandwidth the other day I went over 400MB's of bandwidth while testing. Seems rather high. I would think the images would download, and be in my cache, but it seems like its all getting re-downloaded everytime.

Ryan

You do have border set to "0" in your code above, but anyway, good you fixed it somehow.

400,

MB,

400MB's, were you testing for 24 straight hours or do you have a great amount of graphics ?

Check your Browser settings, and bandwidth report to be sure.

Other than that, regarding big images, if you have alot of images and /or products with images that are all stored in the database, they are called up on every page request, this means that every time you call a page that has an item with images stored on the database it calls it up again.

If you use images on file system, on the other hand, they can be cached with no problem, cause most browsers support it, since they where originally called from a specific LOCATION on a URL, and not from a Database QUERY.

ryanf · #9 12-11-2003, 12:04 AM

My logo is 60kb, and I got custom menu titles all around 8kb each. I uploaded them in the editor while accessing the template editor.

What exactly do they mean by filesystem?. Is that the same if I was to upload my images to a directory outside of xcart, and call on those links?

Ryan

leon · #10 12-11-2003, 10:55 AM

Logo 60kb, thats more than what your whole page should have, try reducing it with an editor.

Regarding filesystem, yes, you have an option to save product images on your cart in the database or in a directory.

In your admin section, their is a link called Image location, have a look there.