image very occasionally doesn't download

Hi,

I am using a single pixel (i.e. 1x1) gif file to draw a black vertical line
in a table like this:

<td align="center" height="25"><img height="25" width="2"
src="images/blackdot.gif"></td>

very occasionally it seems that this doesn't work properly and I just get
nothing (or possibly a white line - it's difficult to tell) where the black
line should be. I'm presuming it's a browser problem specific to IE, but
since it happens so rarely and 99% of my customers use IE, it might just be
coincidence that I've never seen it on another browser.

Once it gets into this state, the user can click on various windows within
my site, and everywhere this vertical line is used it doesn't appear, so it
looks to me like the image is stored incorrectly in the memory cache. If the
user fires up another browser window, the black line appears OK in that one.

It happens so rarely it's difficult to attribute the problem to any specific
PC or windows version.

Both the HTML and the image itself are being served from tomcat, but I can't
see how that makes any difference

Any ideas?

Andy

Andy Fish:

I am using a single pixel (i.e. 1x1) gif file to draw a black vertical line
in a table like this:

td align="center" height="25"><img height="25" width="2"
src="images/blackdot.gif"></td

What is this? 1994?

Any ideas?

Use CSS.

--
Bertilo Wennergren <bertilow (AT) gmx (DOT) net> <http://www.bertilow.com>

On Fri, 02 Apr 2004 13:48:07 GMT, Andy Fish <ajfish (AT) blueyonder (DOT) co.uk>
wrote:

Hi,

I am using a single pixel (i.e. 1x1) gif file to draw a black vertical
line
in a table like this:

td align="center" height="25"><img height="25" width="2"
src="images/blackdot.gif"></td

very occasionally it seems that this doesn't work properly and I just get
nothing (or possibly a white line - it's difficult to tell) where the
black
line should be.

In the US we have a radio program called Car Talk. In the midst of public
radio programming, there's a goofy little show where these two auto
mechanics field phone calls from people with car trouble and they diagnose
the problem from the studio. People use all sorts of means to describe the
problem, including having to make the noise themselves. These guys (at
least one was an MIT professor at one time) are extremely god at this.

However, this is not Car Talk. Could you please bring it into the shop so
we might have a look at it? (i.e. post the URL?)

On Fri, 2 Apr 2004, Bertilo Wennergren wrote:

td align="center" height="25"><img height="25" width="2"
src="images/blackdot.gif"></td

What is this? 1994?

It is from <http://images.google.com/images?q=blackdot.gif>

SCNR

ROFL

I like your analagy

unfortunately it's an intranet-based system so I can't give a link. I
guarantee that there is nothing funny about what it's doing, it's just that
table cell with an image in it.

I can also pretty much guarantee that if you played with it all day you
wouldn't see the problem. I've been working with the system for 18 months
and I've only ever witnessed the problem first hand once; I re-opened the
browser and it went away never to return.

Andy

"Neal" <neal413 (AT) spamrcn (DOT) com> wrote

On Fri, 02 Apr 2004 13:48:07 GMT, Andy Fish <ajfish (AT) blueyonder (DOT) co.uk
wrote:

Hi,

I am using a single pixel (i.e. 1x1) gif file to draw a black vertical
line
in a table like this:

td align="center" height="25"><img height="25" width="2"
src="images/blackdot.gif"></td

very occasionally it seems that this doesn't work properly and I just
get
nothing (or possibly a white line - it's difficult to tell) where the
black
line should be.

In the US we have a radio program called Car Talk. In the midst of public
radio programming, there's a goofy little show where these two auto
mechanics field phone calls from people with car trouble and they diagnose
the problem from the studio. People use all sorts of means to describe the
problem, including having to make the noise themselves. These guys (at
least one was an MIT professor at one time) are extremely god at this.

However, this is not Car Talk. Could you please bring it into the shop so
we might have a look at it? (i.e. post the URL?)

no, it's not one of the ones on google I'm afraid. it is literally 1 pixel
square and it's pitch black. I don't think the actual gif is at fault.

seriously though, if you can tell me how to draw a vertical line 25 pixels
high and 2 pixels wide with CSS, I will give that a go

Andy

"Andreas Prilop" <nhtcapri (AT) rrzn-user (DOT) uni-hannover.de> wrote

On Fri, 2 Apr 2004, Bertilo Wennergren wrote:

td align="center" height="25"><img height="25" width="2"
src="images/blackdot.gif"></td

What is this? 1994?

It is from <http://images.google.com/images?q=blackdot.gif

SCNR

"Andy Fish" <ajfish (AT) blueyonder (DOT) co.uk> wrote:

no, it's not one of the ones on google I'm afraid. it is literally 1 pixel
square and it's pitch black. I don't think the actual gif is at fault.

seriously though, if you can tell me how to draw a vertical line 25 pixels
high and 2 pixels wide with CSS, I will give that a go

<div style="height: 25px; width: 2px; background: #000;"></div>

Though often lines are borders, so use of the border property is
called for.

Steve

--
"My theories appal you, my heresies outrage you,
I never answer letters and you don't like my tie." - The Doctor

Steve Pugh <steve (AT) pugh (DOT) net> <http://steve.pugh.net/>

"Andy Fish" <ajfish (AT) blueyonder (DOT) co.uk> wrote

no, it's not one of the ones on google I'm afraid. it is literally 1 pixel
square and it's pitch black. I don't think the actual gif is at fault.

seriously though, if you can tell me how to draw a vertical line 25 pixels
high and 2 pixels wide with CSS, I will give that a go

Andy

put this in the head of your document or external style sheet (if external,
remove the style tags, naturally):

<style type="text/css">
<!--
.vline {
width: 0px;
height: 25px;
border: 1px solid #000;
}
-->
</style>

Then use this in your body whenever you need the line. You may need to
adjust or add style attributes depending on your exact needs.

<div class="vline"></div>

I tested this in IE6 and mozilla firefox. Can't be sure about other
browsers...
No gif needed...
Hope this helps.

Jim Roberts

Thanks Steve (and other respondents)

On past experience it will take about 6 months before I can say for certain
that the problem has gone, but I'm pretty sure cutting out the image will do
the trick

Andy

"Steve Pugh" <steve (AT) pugh (DOT) net> wrote

"Andy Fish" <ajfish (AT) blueyonder (DOT) co.uk> wrote:

no, it's not one of the ones on google I'm afraid. it is literally 1
pixel
square and it's pitch black. I don't think the actual gif is at fault.

seriously though, if you can tell me how to draw a vertical line 25
pixels
high and 2 pixels wide with CSS, I will give that a go

div style="height: 25px; width: 2px; background: #000;"></div

Though often lines are borders, so use of the border property is
called for.

Steve

--
"My theories appal you, my heresies outrage you,
I never answer letters and you don't like my tie." - The Doctor

Steve Pugh <steve (AT) pugh (DOT) net> <http://steve.pugh.net/