Formatting issues?

[2naSalit]

This is a first for me. The format for this site is very basic, the font for this message shows as typewriter font. The whole page on every pages is all one column. The links work, when you can find them but it's a mess.

I am running WIN10 on a two year old Lenovo using Firefox. I also use Ghostery ad blocker and avast monitoring. My computer was shout down prior to my getting online then navigating here. This is the only site that seems to have this going on.

Prior to going online I run disk cleanup and Avast cleanup programs, as I always do so I think it must be an ongoing issue here.

Thanks. 2na

[progree]

1. It's been a common problem at DU for many months

Search this forum's posts listings page for "format" to find a couple of relevant ones

... EarlG has weighed in on this in more than one of these threads, and one I remember saying it was their (admins') top priority along with another problem people have been having which I forget.

[Farmer-Rick]

2. I had a format font problem on my cell

I had to take off desktop settings under chrome settings. Maybe your web browser has view settings too. Some versions of Chrome let you list specific sites you want to see as desk top or mobile view. I had to make sure DU was not listed under desktop view.

Then under 'My Account' on DU, I played around with the preferred format settings on web browser and mobile devices settings. I found that for me my web browser preference had to be set at 'Standard' and my mobile device had to be set at 'Mobile' to get a normal looking page.

I never had problems with views on my desktop computer, so I'm not sure how that will work on a desktop.

Hope this helps.

[2naSalit]

6. Nope...

This is my laptop, I've changed nothing as far as settings, I don't use chrome 'cause I hate it. Everything was fine earlier today.

I had a funky issue with both my cars today, one lets me start it up to go someplace and then won't start again, today I was over in the next county over. Fortunately a nice guy at the gas station helped me push it a few feet so I could pop the clutch and fire it up... not the battery. Seems like something electrical between the key and the starter. Then the other one decided it didn't want to lock when I told it to.

Then I came home and got this. I'd go take a damn nap but I'm, no tired.

Thanks for trying. Don't think that's it, though.

[Farmer-Rick]

9. You have had a tough day

Sorry to hear it.

A lot of people have been having this problem, hopefully they will find a fix. My cell finally went back to normal. Not sure if it was anything I did but it did help another user.

Good luck

[2naSalit]

10. Thanks...

EarlG responded that this is an ongoing thing with how the firewall(s) interact and read certain files. There are two, related, problems.

They also seem to resolve themselves after about an hour as it did for me. In fact, I was responding to EarlG and before I was done I got a phone call that lasted a while. When I got back to finishing the message and posted it, the problem was gone.

At least I know what to expect should it happen again.

[louis-t]

3. Suddenly, my avatar is corrupted.

Should be Ukraine flag.

[2naSalit]

7. I can see that one, not others.

And not my own.

[Nittersing]

4. I'm having the same issue

really hard to navigate... hard to read

[progree]

5. EarlG: We're aware that there is an issue with 403 errors and formatting, 3/21 712pm ET

https://www.democraticunderground.com/101312796

The two errors are likely related. The 403 error means that our firewall is blocking your connection to DU (this happens from time to time and usually clears itself up within an hour or so).

If you're able to access the site but the formatting is all screwed up, that's likely because the firewall is not blocking your connection to the server where the HTML page exists, but the firewall IS blocking your connection to the server where the stylesheet exists. (This file tells your browser how the DU page should be laid out and if it can't load, the formatting will disappear.)

We're looking into this, but we are hopeful that it will clear up soon.

[2naSalit]

8. That makes sense.

I know formatting issues have been showing up for others, this is my first time with this, the second option, in the this whole time.

I'll go stream some news for a while and come back, see if it's better.

Thanks, at least I can read and navigate, it's kind of like things looked twenty years ago.

I'll survive, I'm sure.

Thank you!

ETA: And now everything's fine.

[quaint]

11. New error code 520 2023-03-22 14:02:55 UTC when attempting to logoff.

Yesterday when my laptop had format problems, I was prevented by 403 forbidden from logging off my mobile.
Other days, I solved my format problem by logging out on my mobile.
Yesterday on my laptop, when I made my screen width as small as my mobile's, I could read and navigate.
Hope this helps.

[Random Boomer]

12. Interesting architectural decision

Storing stylesheets in a subdomain instead of on the same domain as your webpages seems like it introduces exactly this kind of risk from server/firewall/configuration issues.

Your webpage stylesheeet links are pointing here:
https://upload.democraticunderground.com/styles/style-layout-wide.css

But if I change the url to the main domain, they actually load:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/styles/style-layout-wide.css

So something is going wrong with the subdomain address.

[progree]

13. Did you mean to reply to me? I'm progree, whose knowledge of Internets programming, style sheets

firewalls, interwebs, intertubes, etc. is near zero. I'm just a regular rando DU member, at about the GW Bush level of "comprehension" of this left coast valley technology Maybe you can DU mail Elad, who is the admin that deals with most (all?) of the coding issues? Or EarlG. This seems like info that might help them. Thanks!

[Random Boomer]

14. I was lost on the page!

My DU style sheet wasn't loading, so I was struggling to read and post. I was trying to reply to the appropriate person, but I obviously failed!

[progree]

15. No problem at all. Maybe you can reply to EarlG's thread on this subject

in Announcements at https://www.democraticunderground.com/101312796
it's still an active thread