Getting help from CIWAS: help us to help you

Introduction

Please note that the comp.infosystems.www.authoring.stylesheets (CIWAS) newsgroup is primarily a discussion group. Practical help with stylesheet problems is generally available, but it helps considerably if you push the right buttons.

Make an effort to help yourself

A few tips:

  • Make sure your HTML is valid that your CSS does not contain errors, for example by using the online W3C's HTML Validator and CSS checker.
  • It may help to temporarily set borders on elements that you are having a problem with, that way it becomes more visible what goes where and how the elements interact. Better yet: use a browser that supports the CSS outline property, outlines unlike borders don't interfere with collapsing margins (Opera 7.x supports outline).
  • Google is your friend. Rarely does a new problem emerge, define a suitable search phrase and both Google's web search and newsgroup search will typically yield several suitable matches.

Make a minimised test case

Most of the knowledgeable regulars in the group don't have the time to unravel a complete design to isolate a particular problem you are having, isolating the issue in a minimised test case not only increases your chances of getting help from the group, there's a good chance that you'll spot or better understand the problem yourself once you've minimised the code.

How to make a minimised test case:

  • Remove ALL non relevant HTML and CSS, that means removing all code until the bare minimum remains that demonstrates the problem.
  • Place the CSS in the head of the HTML document (debugging is easier with all relevant code in one place).
  • One line per CSS rule condenses the code which reduces the need to scroll between the HTML and the CSS.
  • Use a sample of the actual content, sometimes the wrong type of markup is part of the problem, a sample of the actual content allows us to spot that.

  • Things to include on the test case page:

    • An example of the problem (duh).
    • A description of what happens (this may not be obvious to us!) and what you want to happen.
    • Displaying both the CSS and HTML code on the page can save us time.

Minimised test case example

Opera ul containing float issue

This issue affects Opera 7.x.

Demo:

  • List item rendered with bullet.
  • List item rendered without bullet because the list item also contains an image floated to the right.
  • List item rendered with bullet.

CSS code used:

img{float:right}
li{clear:both}

HTML code used:

<ul>
<li>List item rendered with bullet.</li>
<li><img src="img/image.png" width="55" height="23" alt=""> List item rendered without bullet because the list item also contains an image floated to the right.</li>
<li>List item rendered with bullet.</li>
</ul>

Posting to the newsgroup

  • Use a subject that properly describes the problem.
  • If the subject is a question, repeat it in the body of the message.
  • Describe the problem.
  • If the problem is particular to a certain browser and/or version: mention this.
  • Mention what you have done to try and debug the issue yourself, more people are inclined to help out those who have made an effort to help themselves.
  • Mention that you've created a minimised test case, again this invites more people to have a look.
  • Don't post the code in the newsgroup, upload the test case to a web server and post the link (test it to make sure it works).