Hi,

I managed to upload my new site without TOOOO many attempts but I have a mystery problem. The large black blocks that should be on almost
every page are missing. (could they be taking too long to load? I have high-speed so that shouldn't be the problem, could it?)

Okay, so this is weird. So I just re-checked and they're there. And then, they're gone the next time I check. They are very finicky. Hopefully you can figure out WHERE to blocks SHOULD be.

It takes a couple attempts at each page before they load correctly...

Any ideas?

see my problem at:

www.charactercompany.com

PS. AND you can see my problem - as yet unresolved - regarding the whitish trim around images. I attempted all the recommended solutions but to no avail.

Hi Karin, I checked your site and it did load ok as i'm sure it's the size of the blocks, but once it's cached it loads instantly, even when I close and go back to it.I don't think that quick second or so is going to make a differnce in my opinion. Also I had a question as to your image problem, and that is what would it look like without the object behind it and the image a transparent gif?

Maybe cache was causing the problem if it were being previewed before the blocks were there. Hmmm.. Looks good to me.

and what is this cache of which you speak?

and dear, ever-helpful Bruce, I tried a bunch of ways to get the transparent gifs to work...including placing the images directly on the backrounds (not touching anything) but to no avail. A solid white backround would still show up around the desired image.

I'm content to keep the current tiny white outline for now as I don't think it's TOO distracting.

Hi Karin,
Could Please Look at this test Image I stole from you (sorry)see what you think, it's in a VSD page, If you like I used PhotoshopCS.
http://www.kellyinfo.com/Page3.html

To save time and re-downloading, browsers often save files (gifs, jpgs, swf, etc) that have been downloaded temporarily to load pages quicker then next time their accessed. Sometimes, while working on your page and frequently viewing the changes, the browser will load the older files still saved in this temp storage (cache) and so it appears the new changes hadn't taken effect. This is why it's common to see us in troubleshooting to recommend clearing the browser's cache to verify whether or not the latest changes are being properly viewed.
Here's how, depending on browser:
IE6:
Tools -> Internet Options -> Delete Files (Temporary Internet Files)

IE7:
Tools -> Delete Browsing History -> Delete Files (Temporary Internet Files)

FireFox: Tools -> Clear Private Data (Cache checkbox)