jelelg

I am relatively new to web design but know enough to design a simple website. My question is why is it when I use a ready made template to create a site that when I upload it, it does not look anything like what was in my html editor? It looks like it should in my browser but it is scattered all over the page once uploaded to the host server. Am I an idiot or is this a simple fix? I can't find an answer anywhere else so your responses would be greatly appreciated.

HJ-Andrew

Different browsers will display the information differently. You just have to test them all and optimize your code to that it displays perfectly in all browsers that you are able to test.
If you are seeing huge mistakes, perhaps the software you are using to design the web site is flawed? Maybe there was an error when transferring the data to your server? I mean, it could be any number of things and it is hard to really say without going in and taking a look at your code.

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Bret Ferguson

What are you using to design your websites?

jelelg

I'm using "My Free Website Builder" by Ewen Chia. It works great for 'from scratch' websites. This happens for every template I try to use and I end up building the site from scratch anyway. I've tried 4 templates so far and it happens every time. I get my templates from oswd.org. The entire structure of the page is destroyed when I upload it. (Happened with all 4 templates.) All of the text is there and images are present but it is basically my background color with text and images scattered on it and no structure.

CarloD.

It's best to design Online, And also design within FireFox. Main reason, it is more web standard compliant, However that still won't ensure 100% results.
While in development stage you will want to do checks in IE 7/8 and Safari, possibly Opera at the least.

shafiqamiami

the problem is that you only know html, you must be familiar with dream weaver and also check the site result before uploading in all major browsers, including Mozilla and internet explorer, that what i can tell as a suggestion,

CarloD.

I don't think you need to be familiar with DreamWeaver, you just need to know how elements are affected in different browsers. If you KNOW html chances are you can code it to be cross browser compatible.[/quote]

If CSS is the issue, you have to understand how different browser interpret default styles.

Are the templates built with Tables?

Like is everything table within table... if so... i wouldn't use those templates.

SEO_Pro

It might be that there should be a stylesheet applied to your template and its missing.

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jelelg

CarloD: There's not a table tag to be found in this template. Mostly div tag.
I just have more to learn to get this to work. Will try designing online! Already use Firefox.

Thanks for the replies! Will try suggestions and more replies/help is welcome.

Lloyd Buchinski

That is my first impression too. The style sheet is the part that tells an element to float left, right, clear both etc.

Check and see if there is a file ending in .css in the same folder as your template. If there is you need to upload it to the same folder (probably public) on your server. Or if it is uploaded, check to make sure there is a copy of the .css sheet in each folder that you have a .html page in. (That's if the .html page needs it.)

You will normally see a line like <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="stylesheet.css" media="screen" /> toward the bottom of the head section of your html page which calls for the sheet.

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jelelg

That was the problem! I found the css file and uploaded it. The webpage now looks like it should. That was the problem with the other templates I used. I AM an idiot! Thank you SEO_pro for telling me the problem and thank you Lloyd Buchinski for showing me how to fix it!

SEO_Pro

No problem. Sometimes its the most simplest things.
In one of my projects i spent 2 days editing a php script and wondering why everything i did was not making any change. I then found out that i was accidently editing the files that i had copied to another location... doh! just to share my experience

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ngseosept

you can edit it on your CSS files or
try to improve the template.
hope this will help.

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