Okay, this is a little bit GQ, a bit IMHO and a bit MPSIMS.
I’ve just updated my website and have a couple of questions.
First of all, does anyone know how to “reset” favicon.ico? I created one a while back and have just redesigned it. The only problem is that when I upload it it defaults back to the old design. I’ve tried deleting the server copy entirely and uploading the new one, but it still defaults to the original. Is this likely to be a problem with my ISP’s cacheing?
Second of all, can I get a few opinions on it? I’m particularly interested in finding out if it looks the same in Netscape, since my copy when tits-up some time ago. I know there are two glaring usability issues (the absolute font sizes and the use of shades of grey for visually-impaired surfers) but I’m prepared to live with those for the time being. There’s a black-on-white version of the site available by clicking the “Old version of this page” link on each page.
I don’t think anyone has found a definite way of “resetting” favicon.ico since it’s not in the cache or anywhere easily accessible. You could try removing the link and re-adding it, or uninstalling then reinstalling IE. You can also rename favicon.ico to something else, then reference that new name in your already-existing LINK tag.
As for opinions on the site, the light text on dark background seems too amateurish. Dark text on a light background would look more professional. At least you refrained from using the extremely amateurish colored scrollbar. And I’ve never understood the need to have the time and date on a web page, other than the last modified date. No one is going to go to your site to find out what the current date is. Also, the layout is just a little messed up in Netscape 4.x. The bottom gray box (links, footie, search) is left-justified when it should be centered, and some of the text sizes are different in Netscape 4.x than they are in IE 5.x.
Furthermore, the pixel is a relative unit, not an absolute unit; relative, of course, to the user’s screen resolution. Just because IE doesn’t resize it with the Text Size option doesn’t mean it is an absolute unit. See RichInStyle.com for more info. Visually-impaired folks should know that they can specify their own stylesheets and override yours, so the Text Size option not working is generally a moot point, anyway. I’m not saying that you should stick to using pixel units, just that it’s not an absolute unit like many web developers seem to think. Ideally, you would create several different stylesheets and use browser-checking to choose between them, using certain units for certain browser versions.
First, favicons are stored in the cache as soon as you visit a page, and that is what you, or anyone, will see if revisiting a page, even if it changed in between visits. The favicon is used not just for Favourites lists, but also for the desktop icons etc.
Second, in Netscape, the bottom part of the table is aligned left, so I think you must have a closing tag missing. Or something. Can’t see what it might be actually, so you may have to enclose the whole page in a big table and center that.
Hmm. I’m not sure about the left alignment at all. I’ve specified CENTER for each TD element. Any ideas?
OneChance: I know it might seem amateurish, but it’s just a homepage. If I was designing something commercial I wouldn’t touch light-on-dark with a bargepole, and the browser-checking stylesheet selection would be a great idea.
The broken centering may be due to an extra or missing tag somewhere. Netscape is picky. Try running your home page through a validator. Most likely you have an extra closing CENTER tag somewhere.
I’ve tried NetMechanic already, and it didn’t complain. I’ve just reloaded it with explicit CENTER tags in those table cells. Hopefully that will solve that problem.
W3’s validator is much better than NM. You have a couple of closing A tags, but no corresponding opening A tags. NM should have been able to pick up that common error.
Q. I switched my favicon but my system continues to read the old one.
Change the name of the favicon from the default favicon.ico to something else. Then add or update the link tag in the section of your html page:
<LINK REL=“SHORTCUT ICON” HREF=“http://www.favicon.com/favicon2.ico”>
Remember, if you do not add this to your head tag, Internet Explorer will look for favicon.ico (all lowercase).
Cheers Jazzmine. And thanks again, OneChance. That validator does seem quite thorough. I’d actually noticed the missing </A> tags and removed them from all the pages except the main one. Duh me.