Updated information in WebHelp topics does not display in IE8

[av_gchale]

We recently updated some help topics for our web portal and published the updated help system to our QA environment.

Users running Internet Explorer 8 cannot see the updated content in the help topics. They can see the help topics and navigating the help system with no problems--they just can't see the updated content inside the affected topics.

We've had users change their Compatibility View settings and clear their browser's cache, but those steps have not solved the problem. Has anyone encountered this problem or have a suggestion on how to resolve it?

Thanks!

RoboHelp Version: 10.0.0.287

Output: WebHelp

[Jeff_Coatsworth]

If they use a different browser, they can see it fine?

[av_gchale]

Hi Jeff,

Yes. Users can see the updated content in other browsers (Firefox, IE9) just fine, so I know the updated content was correctly pushed out to the server. But for some odd reason, users cannot see the updated content if they are using IE8. This problem has me stumped.

[Captiv8r · Accepted solution]

Hi there

One thing to check is to see if the content is actually present on the page. I did some training up in Detroit where they claimed updates were not being "seen". Seems the updates were indeed present on the page, but because of some formatting issues that had been present all along, an IE upgrade changed the visibility of the content. The content was indeed there, but IE was not rendering it as visible.

If memory serves, you could select the content and it would appear.

I'd first try right-clicking and viewing source to see if the content is present. If so, you are seeing the same thing I found. It will then be a matter of examining the CSS tagging on the content in the page. If that's the case, you will find you need do do some cleanup of the CSS to make things work.

If the content isn't even in the source, it sounds to me that you may be looking at a cached version of the page.

Cheers... Rick

[av_gchale]

I think you're on to something Rick. Reading your post made me recall another issue a few years back where some text that had been formatted with a font color of "automatic" was not displaying in IE8. I'll check to see if that's the problem.

Thanks,

George

[Willam_van_Weelden]

Isn't it just the IE8 cache giving trouble? If users remove browsing

history (actually, local cache) from their browsers, do they see it then?

Kind regards,

Willam

[av_gchale]

Thanks for the reply William. I had the users clear their browser cache, but they are still unable to see the updated content in the help topic.That's what makes this problem all the more puzzling.

Yesterday when I spoke with the technical writer who updated the help topic, she mentioned that she used two conditional tags in the help topic. Because I have seen some odd results with conditional tags in the past, I've asked her to remove the tags and republish.

I also asked her to check the formatting of the updated content. A few years ago, we had the same problem where users were unable to see the updated content in a help topic (except the affected users were running IE9). It turns out that some text had been formatted as transparent. Users who were running IE8 could see the text, but users running IE9 could not. I had forgotten about that issue until Rick's reply above made me recall it.

When we fix the problem, I will post the solution here in hopes that it help other folks.

Thanks,

George

[av_gchale]

It looks like the problem was caused by a Transpararent font color that was applied to the missing text. I noticed that when I selected the area in the help topic where the missing text was supposed to be located, I was able to see the text. I looked under the hood and saw that the HTML tag around the missing text included a Transparent font color attribute. Upon removing the attribute and republishing the help topic, the text displayed correctly in IE8. Apparently IE9 did not have any problem displaying the transparent text.

[Captiv8r]

Ahhh, so it *WAS* the situation I advised about back on May 8.

Thanks for the update! Rick