Having purchased a number of CC elements I now find myself discarding several of them because they either don't work, work erratically or actually make the site less effective eg to users or to Search Engines.

I've already mentioned Flash Menu which, to avoid it making SEO almost impossible, has to have a non-flash option on the same page - it certainly confuses the users and does nothing for the design.

I also spent time making some photo galleries for each of the majority of the pages on another site.

On my computer (running XP Sp3) they work fine when browsed in Firefox (the most demanding browser I'm told). On my wife's computer under Vista and IE (supposedly the most compliant browser) half the flash items work correctly but the other half don't work and simply return "Form Object".

On the same computer a Contact Form created in Web Form Builder behaves exactly the same way.

I'm afraid my advice to people who ask is if they're considering CC software just buy VSD and save their money on the rest unless they're absolutely positive they'll work and work to the advantage of the site.

Finally the inability to anchor items means it's virtually impossible to develop a site on which images don't move around from page to page. And every time I upload another site the upload program reports it can't find the element of a flash item that was deleted from the program ages ago. Lack of means to be able to see objects hidden under others (either by a list or visually) means the only way to find an element still residing on a page is to take it apart element by element.

Hiya David,

Sounds like a lot of user error going on in your case. I've used every one of the programs you're discussing except for VSD and I've had no problem with any of them working correctly, as well as many others having used the same programs for a very long time. Sounds to me like you're not setting them up correctly and just missing a setting or two or uploading your files to the wrong locations and so on and so forth.

If you care to supply a link to your site(s) that you have uploaded the files for any of these programs to, I'm sure myself and many others can help you get things working correctly.

In the end, it's always best to ask for assistance before giving up on something that easily. I'm betting it's just a simple setting that's not done correctly and you'll be all set to go with all the programs you've mentioned.

CoffeeCup has some of the best support on these forums you'll ever find, as well as an awesome support ticket system, but they can't help if you don't ask

No its the other way around. Firefox is one of the most compliant and IE the least and the one most likely to give you strife as is Vista.

isn't the 'form object' text shown when the files are missing or in the wrong directory..

Yes thats what I thought too but was puzzled that they show up in Firefox.

Of possible interest:

http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Man … ash+plugin

Thanks to everybody - no doubting the quaity of the support.

The site is www.alpesapt.co.uk

I used the word compliant wrongly I meant I understood that firefox demanded code to be exactly correct and that IE was most forgiving.

I was concerned that the way the software had put the stuff in the directory was wrong but I was assured here tnot to change it and that CC software knew what it was doing (or words to that effect).

I agree the uploading could be incorrect - and drawn attention to the way that can easily happen but I assure you I've not uploaded anything other than automatically via VSD.

Appreciate the help - I should add I've taken down all the flash photos so the only place you see form object is on the contact page.

@David, the menu buttons on the contact page are not working for some reason..

Dave, they appear to be in firefox on my computer

Interestingly on another site I've done recently, the form works under firefox and IE
www.namsan.co.uk

The only difference is that with namsan I never had another other flash thing.