need help with a php issue

[brokehorsesdotc]

Need help please. The site I am helping with is an equine php classifieds website where people place Ads and upload photos of their horses for sale.

I have an issue where sometimes people go to place an Ad and can not see the Place Ad links on the page after they login, it dissapears for them or is blocked. They can see the Edit Ads and manage user account but for some reason not the Place Ads. It does not happen a lot but it is happening enough now to know there is an issue of sometype. Has anyone heard of this before and if so any possible solutions?
When told to clear their cookies and refresh it does not work.

Thanks,

JA

[Troy]

You posted in the PHP forum and mention the app is a PHP app. However, I cannot assume that the link text is being placed by PHP code--so I must ask. Are the "Place Ad" links conditionally displayed using PHP code? Or are they simple HTML that should always appear?

Are the "Place Ad" links inside any HTML elements that are dynamically displayed and/or hidden using Javascript?

Do you have any absolute positioned elements on the page that could be displaying over the links?

What you describe definitely sounds like a custom problem. That is, it's probably not going to be some known issue or common problem people will recognize. You may need to provide a link or some code for us to examine.

[brokehorsesdotc]

sorry I should of done that, here is the link, the login id and password are the same, both are test http://www.brokehorses.com , As soon as you login it will take you to the page for the Place Ad links.

Sorry, I am not that good at this our programer has lost touch and we dont have one at this time.

[Troy]

Well, I logged in using latest versions of both Firefox and IE. In both cases, I saw the "Place Ads" links under the small photos.

I viewed the HTML source, and I don't see any DHTML stuff that would have potential to cause issues.

I guess I'd need to actually SEE the problem to help you. And then I'd need access to the PHP code to solve it.

You mention your programmer is not in the loop anymore. I notice in the META tags that he has the email address of [e-mail]. What serious programmer uses a hotmail address as their contact account? ;)

[brokehorsesdotc]

Very good point on the programers email. A customer recently sent me an email saying the place ad links were not there. Its about the 25th time it has happened. If you would like to look at this and could possibly figure this out I would appreciate all the help, just tell me what i need to do.

[Troy]

In my brief check, I did not see anything strange about the HTML that would possibly not show up in some browsers, but, you should always ask people these questions when they report this issue:

1. What browser are you using and what version? (IE6.0.2, Firefox1.0.6, etc.)
2. What operating system are you using and what version? (Mac OSX, WinXP,SP2, etc.)

This way you can notice any patterns that emerge.

Another thing I've done in the past is ask the customer if they are currently in front of their computer that is demonstrating the issue. If so, I have them go to http://whatismyip.com and tell me what their IP Address is reported as. Then I search my weblogs for that IP and examine the UserAgent field to see what OS and browser they are using. Sometimes this reveals other things strange such as SpyWare apps that have modified the UserAgent string, etc. Another thing the logs will tell you is what path the user took to get to the problem. That is, you can see each hit to your server with the timestamp. You can retrace what they did. It's tedious, but can bring things to light.

BUT, as a PHP programmer, the first thing I would personally do is examine the PHP code that produces the page in question to see if I notice any possible problems. If you are willing, email the php file(s) that produce that page and I'll look at it for you. It looks like the script is named logincomplete.php, but that may not actually be the page that produces that page. My address is troy at troywolf dot com.

[DanceInstructor]

The page has no doctype defined. If there is no doctype defined each browser will use its "preferred rendering mode" or "quirks mode". What happens is that pages can look radically different depending on which browser you use to look at it.

[brokehorsesdotc]

The page has no doctype defined. If there is no doctype defined each browser will use its "preferred rendering mode" or "quirks mode". What happens is that pages can look radically different depending on which browser you use to look at it.

Thank you,

Do you have any suggestions on this doctype that i could use to make it more standard for all browsers to see the Ads?

Jan

[fisheye]

Thank you,

Do you have any suggestions on this doctype that i could use to make it more standard for all browsers to see the Ads?

Jan

You have to be careful when changing (or adding) a doctype. Switching from a browser's "quirks" mode to strict rendering can cause your page to suddenly get all out of alignment because it's probably relying on those quirks to get everything to look right.

As for which doctype to use, it depends on your intent, but here is a great article on A List Apart, Fix Your Site with the Right Doctype that should help you get started.

I highly recommend finding a new web developer to really comb through it and get it up to snuff!