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Gamoe · Jan 11, 2006, 01:57 PM

I cannot get the front page background to load, no matter how many times I reload. I am using the headlines+news layout. So, I get the black against pale blue background instead of the regular white page background.

Oisín · Jan 11, 2006, 02:45 PM

This has already been noted several times; check the sticky thread in this forum.

Gamoe · Jan 11, 2006, 08:10 PM

Originally Posted by Oisín

This has already been noted several times; check the sticky thread in this forum.

I did a quick search, and did not find this information. I think this is an important issue, and should be noted again if needed. It's not like it's only happened once. It's occurring consistently.

Gamoe · Jan 11, 2006, 08:12 PM

Originally Posted by Oisín

This has already been noted several times; check the sticky thread in this forum.

I did a quick search, and did not find this information. I think this is an important issue, and should be noted again if needed. It's not like it's only happened once. It's occurring consistently.

Gamoe · Feb 13, 2006, 11:32 PM

This continues to happen when I load the front page. Is there any fix to this? What am I supposed to do-- just get used to the black text on blue background?

tooki · Feb 14, 2006, 02:26 PM

I know this has been covered before (I reported it to the mgmt, too), but I can't find where. In any case, this is in fact the same "400 Bad Request" error that plagues various parts of MacNN. http://forums.macnn.com/61/feedback/282488/400-bad-request/ (a very current thread) discusses it.

tooki

Gamoe · Feb 17, 2006, 02:18 PM

tookie, I know it's not your fault, so I'm not blaming you.

However, MacNN news has been much less readable for me recently and the funny thing is that there seems to be no clear solution... and besides that, it shouldn't be the user's responsibility to compensate for the designer's code deficiencies.

Most people who read MacNN use Safari or Firefox. A rendering error in IE I could understand, but not such a huge problem, which renders ext much less readable, in Safari.

tooki · 05:31 PM

Well, first just to make clear that this is in no way a browser or web design issue: the error lies strictly in the server, in the image server to be exact. I have complained about this error for years and years and it's never been fixed, though supposedly a new image server is coming soon.

The problem is that after a while, the image server goofs up and won't send files any more. The new news layout uses an image as the page background; the old one didn't, so that's why the problem never cropped up.

tooki

Demonhood · Feb 17, 2006, 06:13 PM

clear your cache. it should be fixed now. if not, clear your bbthread_view cookie one last time.

Gamoe · Feb 17, 2006, 06:52 PM

Originally Posted by tooki

Well, first just to make clear that this is in no way a browser or web design issue: the error lies strictly in the server, in the image server to be exact. I have complained about this error for years and years and it's never been fixed, though supposedly a new image server is coming soon.

The problem is that after a while, the image server goofs up and won't send files any more. The new news layout uses an image as the page background; the old one didn't, so that's why the problem never cropped up.

Okay. My apologies to the web coder. Give my complaints to whoever decided to use and keep the current image server, specially with the new design.

Originally Posted by Demonhood

clear your cache. it should be fixed now. if not, clear your bbthread_view cookie one last time.

Thanks. Clearing the cache "fixed" it this time. But, please... c'mon.

Demonhood · Feb 17, 2006, 07:05 PM

by "it should be fixed now" i mean that all of the images (minus a few stragglers) are being served in an entirely different manner from a different server. so this periodic disappearing of images should not reoccur.

Gamoe · Feb 17, 2006, 07:09 PM

Originally Posted by Demonhood

by "it should be fixed now" i mean that all of the images (minus a few stragglers) are being served in an entirely different manner from a different server. so this periodic disappearing of images should not reoccur.

Oh-- In that case, thanks a bundle! This whole issue was really annoying each time I tried to check the main page. I appreciate the fix.

TETENAL · Feb 20, 2006, 11:55 AM

Originally Posted by tooki

Well, first just to make clear that this is in no way a browser or web design issue

It is a web design issue. If no pictures are loaded (either by a server error or by user choice) then the design should fall back to a readable alternative. The designer could have specified a white background colour for the main text div/table and then load the fancy background image on top of that. So that if loading of images fails for whatever reason the text is still readable.

tooki · Feb 20, 2006, 02:08 PM

Nonsense. It is perfectly reasonable for the designer to expect the server to reliably serve all the files that comprise the page. It is not a design issue.

tooki

TETENAL · Feb 20, 2006, 02:17 PM

Originally Posted by tooki

It is perfectly reasonable for the designer to expect the server to reliably serve all the files that comprise the page. It is not a design issue.

It's also perfectly reasonable to design with fallbacks in case that JavaScript, Flash, QuickTime, pictures and maybe even CSS are turned off. And defining the background colour of the main text div as white isn't such a big deal that it's unfeasible to consider, is it? The designer is a regular on MacNN, so it didn't come as a total surprise to him that the image server is unreliable.

This is as much a design issue as it is a server issue.

tooki · Feb 20, 2006, 03:54 PM

Sorry, but I consider server reliability, CSS (which can't be "turned off" in any browser, at least not without some kind of plugin) and images to be minimal expectations that any designer can expect to be met. (Honestly, who turns off images any more? Not even most modem users do that, never mind the substantial share of readers with broadband.)

Would it have been better for the design to have a fallback? Sure. But the only issue here, the SOLE source of the problem, is the unreliable server, and that is not the designer's fault. Were the image server reliable, the page would not fail in any way.

When an engineer designs an electrical appliance that plugs into the outlet, it is normally designed under the assumption that the electrical outlet will supply electricity at all times. It's not the appliance engineer's job to assume that it's going to run on intermittent power and design integrated power backup.

tooki