I haven't worked on my site in several months.....just went to check it today and some of the pages are totally messed up (stretched pictures, wrong links with wrong buttons, etc...) What happened?

I know when I used to make any changes, even one small change, it would screw up the whole thing, and I'd end up having to re-upload the entire graphics folder, as well as the page, and any other page that was messed up (don't know why). When I move one picture on one page, it should only affect THAT page. But with this software, for some reason....several pages get all messed up. I just can't figure out why and I'm tempted to start over from scratch, maybe with other software, even though I paid a fortune for this stuff.

Just look at this page:

http://tanyasolomon.com/Violist.html

The 5 main big buttons on the main part of the page should all be the same....those oval pinkish buttons. Why are they all different with different text fonts, etc...?? I never changed them!

This is all over my site....and it's annoying. Glad I checked it. How embarrassing that people are looking at my site like that.

Actually it is the size of the images.

I viewed your source code and I see these two parts that you are talking about. In the code it shows that they should be different sizes then the actual files:

<div class="Object58"><img style="border:none;" src="files/IMG_32.jpg" alt="" width=335height=57 ></div>

<div class="Object63"><a href="Tanya'sBio.html" ><img style="border:none;" src="files/IMG_37.jpg" alt="" width=302 height=81></a></div>

I have underlined the width of what the images should be. Your images that are loaded are actually this:

IMG_32 - width=91 and height=38 (http://tanyasolomon.com/files/IMG_32.jpg link so you can see the actual size of the file)

IMG_37 - width=78 and height=38 (http://tanyasolomon.com/files/IMG_37.jpg)

They are too small of images for what the code should say it should be. That is why the fonts and they look funny. Often when you create graphic type things in VSD, it generates an image to accomplish what you are trying to do. It usually titles them IMG_some number.

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You probably don't need to start over. If you open the vsd software and everything looks correct in there, I would just remove all the files from your website server. Then go into VSD and re publish the website and see if that makes things correct.

It is possible that when you reloaded the files last time, it wrote over correct files.

I hope this helps,

Kim

Ok, so the real question is....WHY did CC change the size of the images then? ALso, I don't use VSD to publish, I use the FTP software. All I do is edit in VSD and then click save. I remember they had a major problem with images for some reason.....they used to rename everything. I think they changed it now to keep whatever your image name was (so you know what you're looking for). Maybe that has something to do with it...???

Thanks,
T.

Looking at your site, the buttons, look like they belonged on the side bar at one time. Did you have buttons over there - then move them and resize them to the center of your page.

Just trying to think of why they are different than the others.

I would go into ftp and unload the pages from your web server. Then I would go into VSD and use that to upload the site.

Are you using the current version of VSD? Something that CC build into the software a few versions back is that a couple .php files get uploaded with the website, it helps keep maintenance the files. If you are uploading via ftp, the right files might not be getting loaded.

Kim

One of the wrong buttons in the middle does look like it belonged on the left side at one point. The bottom 2 in the middle are the correct "looking" buttons, except they have totally wrong links on them, so it's the wrong text. So you're saying I should download the bad pages from my site and then fix them in VSD? I think I started with a real original version of VSD. I've updated the software once I think. Now I believe there's yet another update. But the problem is, everytime the software is updated, it creates a completely new file of my site, so I have to go store the older one somewhere.

I'm tempted to go buy Dreamweaver....but I may give this one last shot.

T.

Its not CCVSD's fault
its a simple mistake of giving the wrong names to the images, that's why its messed up
it doesnt matter if you upload the site using VSD or FTP, results are the same

Btw ....".....they used to rename everything " who used to rename everything ?

I am saying to do this:

1. Using FTP - clean out your current website files for your server directory. So that the website is showing anymore. Be careful to remove only files that are part of your website.

2. Open VSD - and make sure that your site looks the way you want.

3. Once the site looks right in VSD, then publish it to your cleaned out website server. I still suggest you use the VSD upload feature and not FTP. Yes both can work, but to be on the safe side I would use the VSD upload.


When I upgrade my VSD, I always use the above steps. Some times if VSD upgrades, they make very important changes that effect the coding. So it is just a good practice to get into. You don't have to do this everytime you make changes to your website. I just recommend you do so if you are upgrading to a newer version of VSD.


Please don't be discouraged about using VSD. I can tell you this, I know for a fact that a new version of VSD is on it's way and there will be some nice features. So if you can, hold out for a while and when the new version comes out, give it a try, before changing. If you use VSD enough, you will learn the ins and outs of it.

Another thing is never rely on your browser to show you what your site looks like. You really need to clean out temp files, cookies and all that stuff if your making changes. Because often times, your browser is showing you bits from the preview view that it has in memory. Don't rely on one browser. I actually check websites in IE, Firefox and Chrome before I consider my website updated. Sometimes using different browsers will show you a problem you might miss.

I hope I explained this better, and I wish you the best. If you have any more questions, I know there are lots of great people willing to help.

Kim

Tanya - another thing to be aware of is non-standard fonts. I don't have Harrington on my computer, so the text is messed up as well, for me. It's best to use a web standard font for your text so everyone will see the same thing.
http://www.ampsoft.net/webdesign-l/WindowsMacFonts.html

I often find it's faster/easier just to start over with something like this, rather than go nuts trying to find out what to change,save, fix, etc... So if it were my site, I would clear everything off the server, then go to my VSD - Files folder and delete everything that's not an original image/graphic file (get rid of all the IMG_37.JPG files; things with no name, just a number). Make your Index (home page) with just the background color. Put any info or graphics that will be repeated on all pages onto it (except the menu). Now you can copy this page to create all the other pages in your site. Next, go back to the Index pg. and make your menu with links - copy/paste to all pages. Last, put your text and photos (insert image tool) on each page. Have your photos already saved at the appropriate sizes - don't re-size in VSD. Then upload from within VSD. If you make changes/additions later, VSD will "know" what to upload.

I hope you get it sorted out without too much frustration!

First of all, HotWheels, I didn't give any images the "wrong" names, LOL. What does that even mean? And when I say they, I meant, the people at CoffeeCup in their original versions of VSD would rename all graphics files, which I've never heard of before, but that's what THEY did!!

Thanks for the advice Kim & Paintbrush!

I've always cleaned out the cache, etc before previewing my site. I have tried to look at it on several different browsers as well. This time, however, I don't know what happened, as I didn't DO anything!! It was all fixed and looked great the last time I edited (a few months ago) and all of a sudden, it's all wrong. Not sure what's going on. Could it be incompatible with my server?? I don't know how it could go and change itself without my doing anything.

But my main problem has always been that when I change only one picture, everything gets messed up. Maybe it's because I'm not using VSD to upload my site after changes (I've never used VSD because I could never figure out the info to put into the upload form for some reason). I always use either CC's ftp or Hostway's ftp. Both work great.

I was just reading the forums and it looks like there may still be a newer version than what I have now. So I think I'll start from scratch with that newer version.....I think starting from scratch will be easier than trying to edit what I already have, because that's been such a pain in the past. OR...if there's an even newer version coming out in the next week or so, I may wait for that. But I should really have a prof. looking website pronto.

I have another website that only has 2 pages and almost no pictures (maybe 3) and that doesn't seem to really have many problems. I think it's because I have a million photos/graphics/buttons that is causing all the problems. And I think it's because of that big change THEY made when they decided to not rename images anymore......well, we'll see!

T.

When THEY make changes to the application, it will not affect a site that has been uploaded to a server someplace. If the mess that you are talking about happened on the server, you'll have to search for the culprit elsewhere.

Usually, when you update VSD with a new version, it is best practice to open your site locally and resave it, in order to make it compatible with the new programme version. And also usually, the images don't get shuffled around or resized by that.

I'm a coder and am using the HTML editor, so therefore I'm no expert on VSD. I can't explain to you what may have happened, but I've heard that things like moving the folders to a different location on your computer, or to a new computer, may cause some havoc.