Member Avatar for SebCachia

Hi, ive recently finished a website and was testing it out on different browsers when I noticed that there was a small problem ie6. The theme used (its a joomla site) includes a tab at the top of the page which slides down when clicked. In ie6 it displays fine on the homepage, but is completely transparent on any other page. I have no idea where to start looking for the problem.
If anybody thinks they can help then the link is www.troop.scouts.sebcachia.com. Thanks in advance!!!

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Dani AI

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Nice troubleshooting by — the symptom you described (works on the homepage, transparent on other pages) is a classic path-resolution issue in IE6 when using the proprietary PNG/alpha filter. IE6 will often resolve the filter image path relative to the HTML document, not the stylesheet, so a path that "works" from root will break when the page lives in a different folder.

Quick checks and fixes:

  • On a failing page, paste the image path you expect into the address bar to confirm it loads. If it 404s, the browser is resolving the path differently.
  • Use a root-relative path (starts at the site root) or a full absolute URL for the filter image so every page resolves the same way.
  • Check for a <base> tag in the page (Joomla or SEF extensions sometimes add one) — it changes how relative URLs are resolved.
  • Clear IE cache after changes; IE6 can cling to old files.

Other notes worth knowing:

  • The AlphaImageLoader hack has limitations: it typically breaks background-repeat, can hurt rendering performance, and behaves differently than normal CSS backgrounds. If this effect is used only for IE6, wrap it in an IE-only stylesheet (conditional comments) to avoid affecting modern browsers.
  • If the template is reused elsewhere and you want a more robust solution, consider supplying an IE6-specific CSS file with corrected paths, or use a small JS-based PNG fix for transparency if appropriate.

Checklist for final testing: verify the image URL directly, confirm no 404s from subpages, test after clearing cache, and verify the change in at least one other machine/browser running IE6. This will ensure the fix is stable across the site rather than just the homepage.

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Member Avatar for MidiMagic

IE6 is made of bugs.

Member Avatar for SebCachia

Too true, unfortunately however the same theme used on other sites works well which leads me to believe that the issue is a little more complex than that.
The fact that it works seamlessly on ie7 and ff does prove it to be a ie6 bug, but it still remains and avoidable one.

Any ideas on what could have caused it to stop working?

Member Avatar for cereal

Works fine for me. Have you seen this bug in other computers? Bye.

Member Avatar for SebCachia

Hi, yes I have. Here is a screenshot of the problem to ensure that I have properly explained myself... Note that the problem doesn't occur when on the homepage, but does on every other page.

Member Avatar for cereal

Ok, I saw it. In my opinion you just missed a slash:

...
progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.AlphaImageLoader
(src='templates/rt_colormatic/images/style3/fx-tab.png', 
...

Add a slash (/) before templates. Actually the browser considers this link as a relative path, not an absolute path. Bye :)

P.S. excuse me for my bad english.

Member Avatar for SebCachia

Hey thanks cereal! That seems to have solved the problem!!!

Member Avatar for cereal

Great! :D

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