Random text does not appear in some pages in IE8
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WordPress Support:
Using IE8 I have found beginning on April 12 /13 on a number of pages a few lines of text or even more that do not appear. Instead there is a blank space where the text should appear. If I select the blank area or click on visible text immediately before the blank area the text re-appears.
I brought up the same pages on another computer with cookies disabled also using IE8 and the text was also invisible, so it is not my specific computer, browser, cache or a cookie problem. If I use Chrome there is no problem.
There is nothing special about the code. It is simple HTML/CSS. I copy and pasted my backup code that was originally used over the problem code, but the problem persists. If I remove the code and included text, the blank spot moves down the page. If I remove a section of code and text above the original position of the blank spot, the blank spot moves down the page to new code and text.
At first, IE did not indicate anything was wrong, but now occasionally (but not always) produces a compatibility warning. If I go to compatibility mode the text appears.
Because these pages have worked fine for months and I do not update IE or Windows XP anymore, I feel it must be something at your end that has changed to cause this problem. Because IE8 is still in major use on Windows XP which comprises over a third of computers worldwide, I would deem this is a serious problem.
An example can be seen here: http://deprogrammingliberalism.com/nuclear-counterarguments-1/#Whose Rights Take Precedence The bottom half of the preceding paragraph from the end of “…you can have your cake and eat it too?” down to the subtitle, “Whose Rights Take Precedence” opens as blank in IE8. The space for the text is there, but the text does not appear. (If you desire more examples I can provide them.)
I would very much appreciate that this problem be considered a priority item. I do not use WordPress as a blog with transient, short posts, but as a permanent presentation of 22 essays, each of considerable length.
Thank you for consideration.
Jim
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I’ve tested and examined this page in IE8/XP with compatibility mode off and am not seeing any blank areas, as you can see in this screenshot:
http://cl.ly/image/1r2H0b0j3W2I
If compatibility mode solves the issue for you, I suggest leaving it on.
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I am worried that visitors using IE8 without compatibility mode on will see blank sections of text and will not be automatically refreshed into compatibility mode by IE or notified by IE to turn on compatibility mode. I am also concerned that compatibility view will not always fix the problem because compatibility view’s purpose is to render properly web pages designed for PREVIOUS IEs. This is NOT a compatibility issue, per se in regard to IE’s Compatibility View. It is a WordPress issue that SOMETIMES triggers a compatibility problem in IE8.
It is definitely not a problem at my end. These pages have always worked fine until April 12 /13. I did not change anything to cause this problem. I have witnessed the problem on the exact same pages on two separate computers, the second of which had never opened my website before and had cookies disabled. The fact that IE8 sometimes recognizes it as a compatibility problem tells me that this is a WordPress delivery problem. You can see for yourself that there is nothing unusual in my code that would warrant a compatibility issue. In fact, I changed the code to default and the problem still persisted. There must be something unusual in the underlying WordPress code. Please investigate further. Could you also try other browsers to see if they have problems? Here are some other instances (of note is that they all occur in the bottom half of the page, only ever once per page, but only in some pages):
The whole fourth paragraph after this link from “Among the many flaws…” to “…[4xyrnso] [22]”: http://deprogrammingliberalism.com/nuclear-counterarguments-4/#The Essence of Contemporary Liberalism
The first paragraph after this link from “Of course…” to “…throughout the centuries.” http://deprogrammingliberalism.com/nuclear-counterarguments-7/#The Ideological Evolution of America
Within the 16th paragraph from this link from “upper limit of the…” to “…big fat goose egg!” http://deprogrammingliberalism.com/nuclear-counterarguments-12/#Deprogramming Liberalism Governance Indicators
The third paragraph from “Although this is…” to “…rejected anyway. [25nbdgv, c94hl6] [47]) http://deprogrammingliberalism.com/nuclear-counterarguments-13/#Even More Lies
Within the third paragraph from “American neighbor. No…” to “…conservatives – hence, lynchers.” http://deprogrammingliberalism.com/nuclear-counterarguments-14/#Crazy!
Within the sixth paragraph from “mother’s body, it then…” to “…black American neighbor?” http://deprogrammingliberalism.com/nuclear-counterarguments-17/#Subhumans
The 9th paragraph from “Al Gore, climate change guru…” to “~ “It doesn’t matter” http://deprogrammingliberalism.com/nuclear-counterarguments-19/#Dirty Little Secret
Thank you.
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Hi there, thanks for the additional information. I’ve checked several of the pages you mentioned in Safari, Chrome, Firefox, IE8, IE9, and IE10, but wasn’t able to see any of the gaps in text that you describe.
Would it be possible to upload one or two screenshots of what you see, so I can have a look?
Here’s a guide on how to make a screenshot, if you’re not sure: http://en.support.wordpress.com/make-a-screenshot/
You can upload the screenshot in your Media Library so I can see it. Thanks.
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Thanks for persisting on this. I am actually glad to hear that you are not seeing the problem in those browsers, including IE8, but am still concerned that if I have blank spots, some visitors may too.
I don’t have time tonight, but I will post some screenshots tomorrow.
Can you view the underlying WordPress code (not the HTML/CSS) that assembles the pages? Could there be some sort of conflict?
Thanks again.
Jim
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I noticed that your posts contain a very large amount of code, including table code. This might be causing unpredictable display issues in IE8, although since I’m not able to replicate the issue here, I can’t be sure it’s the culprit.
You may want to create a draft post and copy over the content of one of the problematic posts. Then, you can try two things:
1) remove all the formatting code – table tags, line height, etc. and see if the issue goes away.
2) in a second draft page, try removing chunks of the page bit by bit, looking at the preview after each change to see if the disappearing paragraph reappears.
I’m afraid there is no easy fix here – it’s going to take some testing at your end to determine what’s causing this in IE8 at your end.
Let me know how it goes.
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I’ve tried a couple of things already, like removing and adding code and text. I’ll try some more over the next few days and see what happens.
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I have determined a couple of things.
First, I did some text edits to essay #1 (unrelated to the missing text problem). I changed some text at the top of the page and at the bottom. Then I noticed that the missing text was no longer missing.
Second, I tried removing some tables from other problem essays. Mostly nothing changed except that the missing text shifted on occasion. But one thing that made the missing text appear was removing the table with the auto gallery slideshow. In every page I removed it from the missing text would appear as normal.
So the gallery seems to be a major factor, but not the only one, because I have the same gallery in every essay and not every essay has missing text. Also, the reappeared text in essay #1 resulted from some simple text edits – I didn’t touch the gallery.
There certainly seems to be some sort of complicated conflict within the underlying WordPress code. But since you can’t even see the symptoms of the problem that I see at my end, I suppose I will just have to live with. Hopefully, my readers won’t experience it, but if I can witness it on two separate computers, I am willing to bet others will too. My loss, I guess. Oh well…
Thanks for your help, Kathryn.
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I have replaced the gallery with a table menu of links in every essay page and could find no missing text, so the problem seems to be solved for me, except that I don’t think I’ll ever be able to trust using the gallery again unless some announcement is made that the WordPress code conflict has been found and fixed.
I would appreciate an email notifying me of this fix if it ever happens.
Jim
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Thanks for letting me know what troubleshooting steps you took – I’m glad you found a workaround. I’ll certainly keep you posted if I learn of anything at our end that might have accounted for the text gaps.
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