CSS and PHP (Resolved)

Hi, need a little help.

I have a website using both HTML and PHP. To control the layout of the pages I've used css and a container table, being 100% in height, so that the copyright bar and links are always positioned at the bottom of the page. This works fine in the HTML pages, but I can't get it to work with the PHP.

You can see what I mean here: http://www.globalfreelancers.com/index.php

http://www.globalfreelancers.com/abo...eelancers.html

Is this a problem with php or have I just missed something? It's driving me nuts. :confused:

Nope, there should be no difference at all. Can you post the PHP for the footer area or the table? I guess my question is, what are you using PHP for? Maybe the problem lies there. I've looked at your css file and there doesn't seem to be a problem with that.

Here's the header:

Code:

---

<table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="container">
  <tr>
    <td height="160" valign="top">
<table width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="header">
  <tr>
    <td width="255" rowspan="2"><a href="http://www.globalfreelancers.com" title="Global Freelancers"><img src="images/gf_logo.gif" alt="Global Freelancers" width="255" height="131" border="0"></a></td>
    <td width="540"><div align="center" class="header"> <br>
        The Search Directory of Freelance Professionals</div></td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td valign="bottom">
<div align="center">
        <table width="400" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="search">
          <tr>
            <td><form action='./<? echo $PHP_SELF; ?>?action=searchform1' method='post'>
              Search Global Freelancers<br> <input type='text' size='46px' name='search'>
                &nbsp; <input name="submit" type='submit' onClick="remove_XS_whitespace(search);mystring.select();return false" value='search'>
            </form></td>
          </tr>
        </table>
        <br>
      </div></td>
  </tr>
</table>
<table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="bar">
  <tr>
    <td><a href='<? echo "$siteurl1"; ?>' class="bar" title="Global Freelancers Home"><? echo "$sitename1"; ?></a>
      | <a href="howto-suggest-site.html" class="bar" title="How to Suggest a Site">How
      to Suggest a Site</a> | <a href='<? echo "$siteurl3"; ?>' class="bar" title="Search Global Freelancers"><? echo "$sitename3"; ?></a></td>
    <td><div align="right"><a href='<? echo "$siteurl2"; ?>' class="bar" title="Suggest a Site"><? echo "$sitename2"; ?></a></div></td>
  </tr>
</table>
<table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="bluebar">
      <tr>
        <td></td>
      </tr>
</table>
<BR>
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="main">
<tr>
  <td valign='top' width='100%'>

---

And this is the footer:

Code:

---

</td>
</tr>
</table>

<table class="copyright"><tr>
      <td align='left'>Copyright © 2004 <a href="http://www.globalfreelancers.com" class="copyright" title="Global Freelancers">Global
        Freelancers</a></td>
      <td align='right'>Powered By - <a href='http://www3.sympatico.ca/zunic/' target='_blank' class="copyright">Links
        Caffe</a> Copyright © 2000-2004 gonafish.COM</td>
    </tr></table>

<table border='0' cellpadding='0' cellspacing='0' class="footer">
    <tr>
      <td><div align="center"><a href='about-global-freelancers.html' title="About Global Freelancers" class="footer">About
          Global Freelancers</a> | <a href='privacy.html' title="Privacy Policy" class="footer">Privacy
          Policy </a> | <a href='terms.html' title="Terms of Service" class="footer">Terms
          of Service</a> | <a href='contact.html' title="Contact Global Freelancers" class="footer">Contact
          Global Freelancers</a></div></td>
    </tr></table>
</td>
  </tr>
</table>
</body></html>

---

The php is for the directory.

Alright... do a test. Save your html file (the one without php) as a php file, but without any php commands. See if that creates the same results.

BTW, what browser are you using and what version of php?

Hi, just uploaded a php version of the about page: http://www.globalfreelancers.com/abo...reelancers.php
Worked fine.

I'm using Firefox, and as far as I know it's PHP 4

I've just tried giving the footer an absolute position in css but that didn't work either. I also tried relative, no joy. I'm starting to pull my hair out here. :confused: :cry:

Ok, so the php extension doesn't destroy the CSS. Post a php file on the site with only the following:

PHP Code:

---

<? phpinfo(); ?>

---

That will show you what version you are using.

Ok, wait wait wait.

You're doing a lot of this:

PHP Code:

---

echo "$varname"; 


---

That isn't going to do anything for you.

1) Where are these variables being defined?

2) to echo a var name, you want to do this:

PHP Code:

---

echo $varname; 


---

Putting it in quotes makes it a string, and it won't print out a variable.

http://www.globalfreelancers.com/info.php

I actually bought the php script and have had to make a load of changes already, it was a bit of a mess. Unfortunately I don't know enough about PHP to totally fix it up.

Ok... well, is there a script that is creating all those variables on the same page as what you're displaying the links in? Otherwise, you're attempting to use global variables, which are not turned on by default in 4.3.2 (your version).

There are three files 1) index.php 2) header.inc.php and 3) paramlinks.inc.php

I'll attach the files, might be easier.

header

paramlinks

Ok, so they're not global vars. Everything is created within the file. Have you tried removing the quotes from the echos to see if that makes any difference? (I don't think it will, but that is still going to give you incorrect output).

the only reason a php file wouldn't render the same as a html file is that the php isn't putting out the same data.

ober0330: echo "$varname"; and echo $varname; both produce the same result in PHP as does echo '$varname';.... trust me, I do this all the time.

*slaps GingerNut for using tables to control layout!* - but I nderstand sometimes it's easier. ;)

GingerNut: You're mixing your eggs here.... use CSS or don't. When you do stuff like htis:

Code:

---

<table width="100%" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="header">

---

All of the attributes in that tag override what's in the CSS. Everytime. All of that needs to be in the CSS (or not, if you don't want it.) If it's a stlying attribute, take it out of the HTML and put it into the appropriate spot in the CSS.

For the record, I think the footer needs to float to the bottom (sounds odd, but that's how it is.).... maybe this will be of some use: http://www.w3schools.com/css/css_positioning.asp

TG

edit: try absolute:bottom; in the footer wrapper CSS definition.

Problem solved. I forgot to valign the bar, it should have been <td valign="bottom"> :blush:

techgnome, I've been using tables for years and it's hard to move away from them. I really should though. As for the table attributes and css, the site was thrown together rather quickly but I'll clean it up over the weekend.

Thanks for all the help, next time I'll pay more attention to what I'm doing. :blush:

Quote:

---

ober0330: echo "$varname"; and echo $varname; both produce the same result in PHP as does echo '$varname';.... trust me, I do this all the time.

---

"$varname" and $varname are the same (though the first is slower), but '$varname' is not. Stuff inside '' isn't parsed, unlike stuff inside "".

Quote:

---

Originally posted by CornedBee
"$varname" and $varname are the same (though the first is slower), but '$varname' is not. Stuff inside '' isn't parsed, unlike stuff inside "".

---

Why doesn't it work the same?

PHP Code:

---

echo $varname; 


---

That tells the PHP interpreter to print out the contents of $varname. That part should be easy enough to understand.

PHP Code:

---

echo "$varname"; 


---

This will tell the PHP interpreter to 'evaluate the contents of the double-quotes enclosed string and print this out'. Meaning it will print out any text in there, as well as evaluate (print the contents) of any variables contained therein.

PHP Code:

---

echo '$varname'; 


---

This however, tells the PHP interpreter that 'this is a string, print it out literally'.
So it would print the string $varname, not the contents of $varname.

I see, thanks.

KTottE also implied the reason why the second is slower than the first. The string has to be parsed in addition to the normal code.

Yes, and:

PHP Code:

---

echo 'string'; 


---

will be faster than

PHP Code:

---

echo "string"; 


---

But this is only apparent when you're doing large scale echo statements.