WeBuilder 2006 preview problem

esm · Post by **esm** » Sun Jul 02, 2006 5:34 pm

Hi,

Whenever I click on the IE or Firefox icon, neither of the browsers pops up. Instead I get a rudimentary (no images no content, just empty tables) preview inside the WeBuilder preview screen.

I also have added Opera to the browser window (with the correct HD location) but it's icon doesn't even show up.

What am I doing wrong here?

Thanks,

esm

Post by **chrisjlocke** » Sun Jul 02, 2006 11:22 pm

The icons will only show an 'in line' preview - ie, within WeBuilder, and as such, only IE and Firefox is supported, not Opera.
Also, you don't click the icons to create a preview, but they are 'toggle' buttons to set whether you want to view the output using the IE render engine, or the Firefox engine.

If you want to preview the page within Opera, you have to click 'Tools' -> 'Preview in...' and 'Opera'. This can be assigned to any keyboard shortcut, eg, CTRL + O, or F2, etc.

If your webpage is being previewed as an empty table, are you sure the HTML is correct? Try a blank HTML page, and after the <BODY> tag, simply type 'test' to see if the preview works:

(click thumbnail for larger pic)

esm · Post by **esm** » Mon Jul 03, 2006 3:45 am

Chris,

Thanks for the quick response.

As to the correct html, the website was developed and debugged in HS 5.5 and shows correctly in all browsers. According to your advice, I used 'Tools' -> 'Preview in and again, it shows correctly in all browsers. It also shows correctly in the webuilder preview pane, split screen or not. It just shows garbage when I click either on the IE or Firefox icon.

If the icons to create a preview are 'toggle' buttons to set whether I want to view the output using the IE render engine or the Firefox engine, shouldn't they show a correct preview and not garbage? Maybe I just don't understand that, it's entirely possible.

Thanks,

esm

Post by **chrisjlocke** » Mon Jul 03, 2006 8:29 am

Somewhere along the line there is contradiction. You mention its garbage in the preview pane, but "It also shows correctly in the webuilder preview pane".

Any chance of a screenshot? You can use imageshack.us for an image host.

Post by **Karlis** » Mon Jul 03, 2006 3:15 pm

Yes, we would be very interested. So far my best guess would be that this is something specific to your system / IE config.

Post by **syrupcore** » Mon Jul 03, 2006 7:15 pm

or possibly using includes that aren't making it to the internal preview engine?

esm · Post by **esm** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 5:38 am

Sorry about the contradiction.

When I open WeBuilder and click on the preview tab on the bottom next to the CodeBuilder tab, the website shows as it should, no problem at all. Only when I click on the IE or Firefox icon in the upper right corner (wrongly assuming it would pop up the respective browser) I get a website without any content, just empty tables and boxes where images should be. When I click on the same icon again, the correct page shows up again. I do not understand what these icons are supposed to show.

Thanks,

esm

Post by **Karlis** » Wed Jul 05, 2006 11:28 pm

The IE button enables Internet Explorer preview, the FireFox button displays page exactly as it will look in FireFox.

It could be that the FireFox option is not working on your PC, so you got the broken preview once enabled that mode.

Anyway you should not click these buttons if the preview is OK and you do not have special need. Instead use Tools -> Preview In menu.

esm · Post by **esm** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 12:03 am

Karlis,

Thanks again.

I will heed your advice and use the Tools --> Preview in.. option, which works fine with IE, Opera & Firefox.

That said, I do not understand what the IE and Firefox icons in the right upper corner are good for anyway. What's their significance if I should only use them if I had a special need. Can you give me an example?

Thanks,

esm

Post by **chrisjlocke** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 12:54 am

Its useful to know how your website will look in Internet Explorer and Firefox (as they can both render a page differently) so the icons let you change which 'engine' is used in the inline preview (at the bottom of the WeBuilder screen).

To get the Firefox preview working properly, you may need the Firefox ActiveX control:
http://download.blumentals.net/tools/Mo ... ol1712.exe

Try a simple HTML document - <p>Hello World</p> - just to confirm it works.

esm · Post by **esm** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 1:28 am

Of course, I would like to know how my web pages look in the various browsers. Isn't hat what I get when I click on Tool --> Preview in... and select a browser?

For my better understanding, when I click on the bottom preview tab, does that preview actually use IE as default and the right upper corner icon just toggles between IE and Firefox?

BTW, I actually did install the Firefox ActiveX control, before that I only got error messages when I clicked on that icon.

Post by **chrisjlocke** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 1:38 am

Yes, it previews the page in Firefox if you click "Tools -> Preview In -> Firefox" but thats three mouse clicks (or a key combination, if you've set that up). The inline preview gives a real-time preview of your code.

Yes, the preview uses IE as the default 'engine', and clicking the Firefox icon will use the Firefox engine - the icons simply toggle between which engine to use.

esm · Post by **esm** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 1:49 am

Okay, that explains some things. So what I see in the preview window is what I'd see in IE. The only remaining problem is why the Firefox rendering doesn't work. But that's okay as long as I can use the Tools--> Prview in.. method. That's good enough.

Thnaks for all the explanations.

Cheers,

esm

Post by **chrisjlocke** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 2:00 am

What version of Firefox are you running? Have you downloaded the above control? Did it install OK?

esm · Post by **esm** » Thu Jul 06, 2006 5:41 am

I'm running Firefox version 1 and yes, I have installed the controls. Before the controls I only got an error message, now I'm getting at least a broken preview.

I'll download the latest Firefox version and check if that solves the problem.

Thanks,

esm