654888 - Display problem with .asp webpages (see Details as this applies to other URLs as well)

Status: RESOLVED INCOMPLETE

(Firefox :: General, defect)

Description

[haggar_2000]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; en-US; rv:1.9.2.17) Gecko/20110420 Firefox/3.6.17 ( .NET CLR 3.5.30729; .NET4.0C)
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 6.0; en-US; rv:1.9.2.17) Gecko/20110420 Firefox/3.6.17 ( .NET CLR 3.5.30729; .NET4.0C)

Hello
I have been upgrading Firefox for many years and I have seen a display problem that shows only when certain .asp* webpages are opened with Firefox.  The problem is that the header or the footer info are doubled or misplaced.  At first I thought it was poor programming on the part of the webmasters.  But then I noticed that this problem doesn't show on other browsers such as IE or Google chrome or Safari.  Now I am writing you because I am now convinced that this problem is only related to Firefox because today I was browsing Office 365 website (also an asp webpage) and the same display problem occurred.  And now I have info that I can give you so you can fix it.  Please open the following 2 pages and see what I mean:
www.cercleamitie.ca

http://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/office365/online-software.aspx?CR_CC=200038821&WT.mc_id=SEARCH&WT.srch=1&CR_SCC=200038821

I hope you will fix this problem as I have migrated to Firefox from IE for a year now and it is frustrating that this problem repeats with other asp webpages.

I would appreciate a feedback when you have fixed it.  Thank you

FYI I am no a web developper.  But I have strong programming skills so I can decipher code.  So when you communicate, please speak more English than IT language.  Like you would speak to a user and not a programmer.

P.S.: I did not upgrade beyond 3.6.## versions this time because the cookie editor that is available from Mozilla works only with 3.6.### versions and not later versions.  Until I find a reliable cookie editor from Mozilla, I will keep upgrading to the 3.6.## versions.  In any case the problem only happens with Firefox browser and not the others.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Just display the following 2 example webpages in different browsers and you will see my point:
2. http://www.microsoft.com/en-ca/office365/online-software.aspx?CR_CC=200038821&WT.mc_id=SEARCH&WT.srch=1&CR_SCC=200038821
3. www.cercleamitie.ca

Actual Results:  
I can send you a capture of the screen so you can see what I see.  Please advise which address to use to send you the captures.

Expected Results:  
No Display problems.

How to send you a capture of the screen showing the display problem in Firefox?

Comment 1

[Thomas Ahlblom]

You may attach screenshots by using "Add an attachment (proposed patch, testcase, etc.)" above.

Comment 2

[haggar_2000]

Attachment: This is a capture in Firefox. I will submit a capture in other browsers next.

Comment 3

[haggar_2000]

Attachment: This is a capture of the same webpage in IE.

Comment 4

[haggar_2000]

Attachment: This is a capture of the same webpage in Google Chrome.

Comment 5

[haggar_2000]

Attachment: This is a capture of the same webpage in Safari.

Comment 6

[(mostly gone) XtC4UaLL [:xtc4uall]]

Hmm, using the W3 Validator (http://arm.in/qco) and looking at the Error Console's JS Warnings for http://www.cercleamitie.ca/ I guess this is indeed a Site Issue ...

Comment 7

[haggar_2000]

You are too quick to throw the blame on the site.  But you ignored the fact that this display problem only happens with Firefox and doesn't happen with the other browsers.
I doubt this is just a site issue.  Because I had a similar problem displaying the link to Office365, which I was able to repeat many times even over several days.  and I turn off my computer everyday.  Only after I had the first comment from Thomas that the problem with Office365 stopped.
So what did you guys do to stop this problem with the Office365 site page?

Comment 8

[Matthias Versen [:Matti]]

>So what did you guys do to stop this problem with the Office365 site page?
nothing ?
The seem to fixed their bug in the page ?

>But you ignored the fact that this display problem only happens with Firefox and 
>doesn't happen with the other browsers.

This can be ignored unless you have verified that a page doesn't use any kind of browser UA sniffing.

Reports from 3.6.x are not very interesting for us unless they are a regression because 3.6.x will get only security updates and the URL www.cercleamitie.ca looks ok for me in Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 6.1; rv:6.0a1) Gecko/20110504 Firefox/6.0a1 SeaMonkey/2.2a1pre

Comment 9

[Thomas Ahlblom]

Works for me with:
Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64; rv:6.0a1) Gecko/20110505 Firefox/6.0a1

By the way the source says "Nous vous suggérons d'utiliser Internet Explorer 6.0 ou Netscape 7.1" which Google translates to "We suggest you use Internet Explorer 6.0 or Netscape 7.1". Thus the page is very outdated (and as already said crowded with bugs), but the latest Firefox handles this anyway.

Comment 10

[haggar_2000]

UPDATE
Hello
I got in touch with the administrator of the website as I used to be one for that site as a volonteer.  I am not anymore for 2 years now.  Since this site existed for over 5 years before I started volunteering 4 years ago, I did not develop the site but I used to help with the update using my general programming skills.  I used to go directly into the code of the pages using notepad or Frontpage 2003 and help do updates.  So with the permission of the current administrator, I thought of helping by putting another 30 minutes of my time yesterday and I managed to locate a variable in the file of the JavaScript that helps correct the position of the menu images that form the graphics of the menu, and using trial and error with the Firefox 3.6.17, I was able to reposition the menu to cancel the duplicate view of the menu that shows in the capture I provided previously in Comment 2 (above).  That explains the declaration made by Comments 8 and 9 (above).  But I can reproduce the problem by returning the value of the 2 variables (titled "Starttop" and "Startleft") to the values of the original problem case.
So the answer is NO, no Firefox version has solved this problem to-date.  However in the spirit of wanting to help, if the Firefox team decides to actually put real effort to fix this problem, I can return these 2 variables to their original values.  But they should then put some timeline as from my debugging and programming skills, I do believe that they can fix this problem in a short period of time if they seriously put real effort.  And this is a non-profit community organization and they cannot afford to have such a display problem from Firefox.
So at this time, the conclusion is, any Firefox version (to May 5, 2011) stills lacks in capability what the other 3 browsers, namely IE, G chrome, and Safari are capable to self-correct such display issues.  So now I know the level of the skills of the Firefox team is not as strong as others.  I had migrated to Firefox because of the poor loading of IE.  I like the cookie editor feature of Firefox.  But if the Firefox continues to ignore to make the cookie editor not part of every future upgrade so users can have control, then I will not upgrade from 3.6.## or if this versions become obsolete, then I will migrate to G chrome next since they do allow to control Cookie values.
I really hope that the Firefox team improves as For one year now my Firefox browser experience has been positive.
Until I read from the Firefox team that they want to put effort to improve the Firefox code to self correct webpage display, I will keep the correction that I implemented in my 30 minute debug that I put in to help the site of this non-Profit organization.

Comment 11

[haggar_2000]

UPDATE
I want to let you know that now I am sure that Firefox has a bug in its display that distinguishes it from the other browsers.  The coordinate adjustment that I explained in Comment 10 above, seems to have worked temporarily.  When I reloaded the same website later int he other browsers, they all showed the menu problem that I captured in the attachments, where the menu was now offset and the Firefox one showed it correctly.
So I returned the variables that I changed (as explained in Comment 10) to their original values.  Now I recommend that those who responded earlier to try loading that webpage and provide feedback in order to express to Mozilla that there really is a problem with the Firefox display.  Thanks to all who answered before.
I hope now that Firefox will fix this bug in an upgrade soon.

Comment 12

[Thomas Ahlblom]

It sounds like this bug report needs a testcase consisting of let's say maximum 10 or 15, preferable less, lines of valid HTML code that shows just the alleged bug for one single element and nothing more.

Comment 13

[Ryan VanderMeulen [:RyanVM]]

Looks like the site in question has changed completely since this was filed. As far as I can tell, the site works the same in Firefox, Edge, and Chrome these days. I'm going to close this as incomplete based on that. Feel free to reopen the bug (preferably with a testcase) if there's still a reproducible issue I'm missing.