If you are reading this text, then you are using an older browser or one that does not support cascading stylesheets. All content will be accessible, but to view the intended layout and design, you will need to upgrade a modern browser, version 5.0 or higher. Might I suggest Opera? Lastly, be sure to learn more about the merits of web standards. "It does a BODY good!"

:: :: bugs

BUGS

CSS IMPORT QUIRK :: When Mozilla Pooh-Poohs Your Absolute URL

June 30, 2002

While giving Mozilla 1.0 for MacOS 9 a spin, I discovered a strange quirk.

Mozilla does a good job with CSS, but when a page uses @import url to call a stylesheet, and the url path is absolute, Mozilla fails to import the stylesheet. For example <style type="text/css" media="all">@import url(/mydir/mystyle.css);</style>.

IE5/Mac, Netscape 6.2/Mac, and Opera5/Mac all import the stylesheet correctly.

Worthy of note, an absolute URL using the following method, <style type="text/css" media="all">@import "/mydir/mystyle.css";</style>, works fine.

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THORN :: an Opera 5 for Mac CSS Display Bug

April 23, 2002

Weeks back, I discovered a strange quirk in Opera5/Mac that I've named the "THORN" bug. I reported it to the Opera team via their support desk, but here are the details.

What is the THORN Bug?

The THORN bug is a display error in Opera5/Mac, where the browser will garble both a hover effect and the title of a link.

For an example, please click the thumbnail below:

thornthumb

In the screenshot, you'll see why I have called it the "THORN" bug. In most of the garbled titles, the word THORN appears.

How does the THORN Bug Happen?

When using CSS to produce hover link effects, Opera5/Mac will freak out if:

  • the link includes the number sign (#) and at least one other character
  • the link includes a title
  • rolling over multiple links may leave residual effects
  • example code: <a href="#name" title="This is a long enough title">
  • example link: anchor link no title [No Problems]
  • example link: anchor link with short title [Garbled Title]
  • example link: anchor link with long title [Garbled Hover and Title]
How did you discover the THORN Bug?

I found this bug by reading the "Flash of Unstyled Content" article at bluerobot.com. When I hovered over the footnote number, the hovered effect changed the number one (1) to an uppercase "i" (I) and garbled the link's title.

Is it Reproducible?

Although I haven't conducted thorough testing, I have been able to reproduce the bug. I also discovered that the longer the link's title, the more garbled the hover effect and the title become.

Can You Fix It?

It's up to Opera to locate the source of the bug and squash it. I love my Opera browser, so let's hope they can lick this problem fast!

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FUNKED FANCY QUOTES :: an Opera 5 for Mac CSS Display Bug

April 21, 2002

While cruising alistapart.com, I noticed on the Discuss the Forum page that the fancy quotes in a few headlines were being garbled in Opera5/Mac. (see screenshot) They looked fine in IE5/Mac and Netscape6/Mac.

So I snapped a screenshot and emailed ALA. Zeldman took the reins and discovered that the culprit was the CSS property, text-transform: uppercase. He has since fixed the problem on the affected page.

You can view Zeldman's write-up at ALA's bugs page.

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