1370500 - "HTML tables" disappearing from navigation menu

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(developer.mozilla.org Graveyard :: Wiki pages, defect)

Description

[qdirks]

What did you do?
================
1. Go to https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Multimedia_and_embedding/Responsive_images
2. Note the HTML tables link in the navigation menu under HTML -- Structuring the Web
3. Now go to the assessment directly following the Responsive Images module located at https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Multimedia_and_embedding/Mozilla_splash_page

What happened?
==============
The HTML tables navigation menu disappeared from the navigation menu.

The HTML tables drop-down menu is disappearing in at least 10 or more other content areas, including in the HTML tables area itself.

What should have happened?
==========================
The HTML tables drop-down menu should be available from all areas inside Learn web development.

Is there anything else we should know?
======================================
It is especially important to make the HTML tables menu available on the Mozilla splash page assessment area because "HTML tables" is supposed to follow that area, so it is likely right now that many users will move on to "CSS -- Styling the web" after finishing the assessment, not realizing they missed HTML tables.

In a similar fashion, the "Introduction" link under CSS layouts is missing at

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/CSS_layout

and

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/CSS_layout/Grids

That's all I've found so far.

Comment 1

[Chris Mills [:cmills]]

Hi there,

It looks like these problems are being caused simply by pages that haven't yet been regenerated on the server. I've checked out a few of the examples you cited, and in each case the menu was fixed by doing a Shift + Refresh.

Try doing this when you come across any other such problems.

Thanks!

Comment 2

[qdirks]

Thank you for that trick! The problem seems to have gone away on the Mozilla splash page assessment. The introduction nav link under CSS layout in the two places I mentioned is also appearing now. 

HTML tables and the introduction link under CSS layout is still missing in other places for me, even after holding shift while refreshing, or doing a ctrl+shift+r. Not that it matters as much in these other places, but here is what I ventured to find along with testing the shift + refresh method:

(Missing both HTML tables and the introduction link under CSS layout)
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn/Getting_started_with_the_web/What_will_your_website_look_like
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn/Getting_started_with_the_web/HTML_basics
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Multimedia_and_embedding/Adding_vector_graphics_to_the_Web
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Tables
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Tables/Structuring_planet_data
https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Introduction_to_CSS/Debugging_CSS

I'll keep in mind to do the shift + refresh method in the future if I need to.

Comment 3

[Chris Mills [:cmills]]

(In reply to qdirks from comment #2)
> Thank you for that trick! The problem seems to have gone away on the Mozilla
> splash page assessment. The introduction nav link under CSS layout in the
> two places I mentioned is also appearing now. 
> 
> HTML tables and the introduction link under CSS layout is still missing in
> other places for me, even after holding shift while refreshing, or doing a
> ctrl+shift+r. Not that it matters as much in these other places, but here is
> what I ventured to find along with testing the shift + refresh method:
> 
> (Missing both HTML tables and the introduction link under CSS layout)
> https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn/Getting_started_with_the_web/
> What_will_your_website_look_like
> https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn/Getting_started_with_the_web/
> HTML_basics
> https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Multimedia_and_embedding/
> Adding_vector_graphics_to_the_Web
> https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Tables
> https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn/HTML/Tables/
> Structuring_planet_data
> https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn/CSS/Introduction_to_CSS/
> Debugging_CSS
> 
> I'll keep in mind to do the shift + refresh method in the future if I need
> to.

Sometimes it just takes a couple of tries ;-) I did Command + Shift + R on all of those pages, and got the missing items to show up.

The way I understand it, MDN pages are all periodically refreshed, and refreshing is done in a queue system. If there are a lot of pages already in the queue when you try to refresh another, the update might not show up immediately.

Comment 4

[qdirks]

I re-checked all of those links today and they all loaded up with the issues gone on the first try! So I suppose it's like you said. 

So there was no bug? This raises even more questions for me, but I suppose I will learn in time. Thanks for your help! :)

Comment 5

[John Whitlock [:jwhitlock]]

I'm sorry you were caught by this issue. It is annoying and confusing.  See bug 1365987, which goes into more detail about why this happens and a possible solution.

Comment 6

[qdirks]

Interesting, John. Thank you for that.