Not to justify bad code but I just wanted to bring it to your attention that no one is immune to having a bad website. Obama raises millions in a month yet his site, including this link that I got from his campaign via email, has problems (as at the time of this writing - 545pm naija time, June 20, 2008):

https://donate.barackobama.com/page/contribute/bignews?source=20080619_PF_ND_L1 (issues opening an inc file)

How does he expect me to give him money if the page isn't up and running?

Folks, and I am speaking in general, I know many of us beat our chests and say we do everything from the graphics, to code to the dba stuff. However, if your site doesn't pass muster, quality assurance wise, all your work is for naught.

i checked it out (Firefox) and everything seems fine _{(perhaps they have secret military department that check every link on obama and saw your post - who knows?)}

As for quality assurance wise, i'm sure we won't get any progress in that regard until people actually start giving value to their websites

However, negligible errors will always abound, especially when WYSIWYGs are used (i used TotalValidator). The most important thing, i suppose, is to ensure all works well in most browsers, considering that newer browsers tend to suppress these errors (I stand corrected though)

Uhm this site opened at one click on my Safari+Broadband.

So the problem could have been from your Pc conf,

I guess the problem is really from your end. I just checked now and found that the site is perfectly ok.

I knew this post would solicit such comments

It didn't occur to me to post the error until after I closed my browser. As at the time I was on the site, I had refreshed 3 times and got the same error.

Oh well. I will chalk this one up to "next time have more proof"

@poster i advice u contact obama and tell him wat u observe?

@ yawa-ti-de

watch your choice of word and in matters as this, verify well before making posts. Guess what, if you google obama, do you think a link to this thread might be found on the results?

Watch before you leap

I thought my "chalk it up" statement would end this thread but I guess not.

Look folks, I know what I saw and am not crazy or going "ya wa". Haven't any of you experienced something that others say they haven't and even suggested that perhaps you're the one going kolo? Geez! Let us take a look at the meaning of "riddled": http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/riddled - I choose my words carefully which is why I rarely take back or withdraw anything I say.

Look folks, I know what I saw. There were 4 php errors on the page. I refreshed 3 times, same thing. I closed my browser, after which I regretted not copying and pasting the error I saw and left for a while. I owned up to my mistake. You guys are still posting.

Let us not forget, this is the web. It wasn't a CD that would have had to send out a patch for download. This is the web. It is possible my dear friends that someone uploaded code that didn't work at that particular time, discovered the error later and fixed it by the time you guys went to the page? Are any of you guys going to LIE and say you have never uploaded bad code that caused a page to crash only to immediately re-upload the right code? Consider your answer(s) wisely.

Again, I will stand by what I saw. Again, next time I encounter such, I will take a screen shot and paste it on here for all to see.

Thanks (If I know this forum well, I bet someone else will post something to the contrary again )

There are hawks in this forum, ready to pounce on you even with the slightest of slipups, give the lady space, how many of them do we have here anyway

@webemarald
Thanks for jumping in. Truthfully, I am not seeking any favors on the grounds that I am female. I am quite a strong black woman willing to defend my own, anytime, anywhere, anyhow. I also know that many Nigerian men find such women intimidating and threatening ("Can you imagine this woman?". Having said that, I can be nice and gentle and no my place in society as far as tradition is concerned (I am a really nice woman, I really am )

If I make a mistake, I expect people to point it out. If I am convinced that I have made a mistake, that is, if I haven't seen it first, I will be the first to apologize. I also believe in facts and the use of the dictionary so, when it comes to words, before I type anything, I am confident that it suits the situation which is why I rarely take my words back.

I know majority of my posts are rather harsh and/or controversial but they aren't meant to be taken that way. I guess I am a rather hard pill to swallow (reminds me of those chloroquin pills I had to take as a kid) but hey, that's just who I am.

Thanks once again. Again, the error wasn't a slip up. What was a slip up, for which I have admitted, is that I didn't provide a snapshot.

By the way, if everyone would take the time to read my post, I specified the date and time I found the error. Again, choice of words. I did that for a reason. If anyone didn't look at the page at that exact date and time, then you have nothing to say on this matter. In a court of law, I would have been completely vindicated as the judge would ask, "under risk of public execution, did you indeed look at the page AT THE EXACT DATE AND TIME quoted?"

For your reading pleasure, I will close with quoting that exact date and time again:

(as at the time of this writing - 545pm naija time, June 20, 2008)

Nairaland. What goes around comes around. Interesting.

well, i guess they fixed the error.

@webmonk, if you are looking out for errors, mozilla is one sure way to miss it

webdezzi:

@webmonk, if you are looking out for errors, mozilla is one sure way to miss it

Lol. Sureeee. Perhaps IE is up to the task?

yea, i am of the habit of boasting of error-free designs until i had a client point out the "object not found" javascript error out for me, right from my very own site.
she went ahead to ask me what object was missing, a ruler or a pencil?

ie helps a lot with javascript errors

meanwhile i did all browser checks after development, just a slight update i made while doing some SEO work.

that is to say, none is above error, even obama's site, when there is one, you fix it and move on

@webdezzi

she went ahead to ask me what object was missing, a ruler or a pencil?

You're kidding right?

I would actually beg to differ with respect to IE and finding javascript errors:

1) IE by default has the debugger turned off. This hides even the slightest error unless the user turns this feature on
2) FF comes with a javascript console which also catches CSS errors
3) Other tools that work well on FF are venkman and firebug
4) IE does have a similar tool but a majority of developers are used to doing their testing on FF because it follows W3C and web standards better than IE

Now, with respect to 4 above, am I saying that IE won't get better? Nope, so don't misquote me please. With IE8 and all its promises (or lack thereof), who knows? Also, maybe with time, more and more developers will start trusting IE's debugging tool. For now though, I would say to join the bandwagon of fellow developers who use FF primarily for testing.

hmm Na wa

You got me wrong, they are many ways you can check and control errors

the status bar javascript warning is what am talking about, an average computer user looking to get a website can easily see the ie status bar warning icon, click it and see the error, which my firefox hides

although firefox has lots of goddies, internet explorer is not that bad.
we all have our mistakes and our ability to correct them is what matters

well some minuses for firefox
1. i love the scrollbar coloring especially for my multimedia websites, i still dont know why the ff3 is still the way it is

2. the main reason i switched to firefox for normal browsing was tabbing, now ie is giving it to me

despite these, i still love my firefox + my nasa night launch theme and the web developer extension

@webdezzi
You might want to check your FF configs with respect to javascript hiding. If you have the web developer toolkit, you should have the javascript console come up by default. Next time, look for a red circle with an exclamation point in the top right of your browser, click on it and see what errors you have.

Other FF extensions, among others:
1) HTML validator
2) Color Picker
3) Ruler
4) Live RSS feed
5) IE tab (with this, I don't have to ever manually open IE again )

Again, the status bar javascript warning is not what I am talking about. Sorry for the confusion. There are other errors that IE ignores which you can only see if you turn off/on the config for that in your IE options menu. Just do this from your IE:
1) Tools -> Options -> Advanced Tab -> Browsing

2) Check if "Disable script debugging" is checked. If so, then as I stated above, by default it is always checked. If not, it means you unchecked it. However, I doubt the average user would know to uncheck it. I am saying this based on work experience - the quality assurance tester at a place I worked years ago almost got me to strangle him because he found an error I could not replicate. It was only after I sat with him and he showed me how to enable the script debugger that I was able to replicate and subsequently fix the error. Also, there are javascript errors that can only be replicated when you are not using HTTP 1.1 settings and again you can check the status of your settings via #1 above, only this time, it would be under "HTTP 1.1 settings" and not "browsing". Again, I say this from work experience.

Back to FF. Since you have the toolkit, I assume you know where to go for extensions and I am sure you are aware that there are tons of them. Just go through the list and download those that suit your needs.

To the others: Happy Browsing! Get FireFox!!

i taught it's was post of obama website, so which one is the fight ova IE and FF huh? kwpsueeeeeeeeee

Who cares fighing over FF and IEs for webmasters?

For experienced webmasters, developing website MUST BE ACCESSIBILITY on cross-browsers (browser compatibility), not only FF and IE, all other browsers! Error-free on Javascripting, CSS, Document Type, etc. (See picture below, For List of web browsers) .

Not just standard Web browsers, to the practice of making pages on the Internet accessible to all users, especially those with disabilities in both in the USA and UK.

90% of all webmasters who are hearing FAIL PROVIDING A CLOSED CAPTIONED websites on all VIDEOS FILES for deaf internet users.

There are ton of free captioning/subtitle plugins add-on to Flash and Dreamweaver as well as commerical video-audio editor softwares.

Google it!

@yawa0ti-de

From TV news on CNN, MSNBC, and Fox stated that Obama made over $20 millions from public fundraising using website like you mentioned on your first post.

Don't forget that there are 51% Americans are credit card owners hold at least 2 credit cards out of total 300 million USA residents in 50 states. Which means the exactly number of Americans who are really credit card owners are: 150 millions.

Check the facts the following link below:

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Banking/CreditCardSmarts/1In7AmericansCarries10CreditCards.aspx?GT1=9113

The majority of USA and UK purchasers/customers use credit/debit cards, phone by check, and PayPal/AuthorizeNet/WorldPay account electronically while minority use cash/check written.

Tessy Wats Up

@ztyle, nothing much busy moderating job to be catch up since i missed out 2 days out sick before weekend started!

oh i see but i really miss u online anyway good to have u back and better @ uspry1

sorry if this sounds like yawa, those settings arent new

i was talking of an average user pointing out a status bar error out for me and not some advanced user digging out errors.
the error displayed on IE's status bar and mozilla ignored it TO THE AVERAGE USER.

_{*hmm, we really need a proofreader before using nairaland these days*}

@webdezzi
and I saw that. However, my point was that in order for you to totally ensure that your code is a bug-free as possible, it would help to do what I stated. After all, our sole aim in life is to endeavor to produce error-free code right?

@post
point was assuming without conceding you were right about the error message, you thread title is grossly EXERGERATED , error? maybe but riddled with errors?? you no try

chessguru, i guess you wdnt be good at law. I took the pains to state the time (along with other variables) I noticed the error because I knew ppl like you would say what is being said here.

Read my first post again then reply again if you must

People it happens. I bet you she got caught at the exact time the site was being updated or fixed. Sometimes an update does not work and you get a php error, it takes you about a minute or two to correct it and anybody who hits the site at that moment will get the php error, but minutes later it will be gone. I have seen it on major sites like the New York Times even, where the html code is all wrong, probably because of one tiny error, of course it gets fixed but if you hit the site at the exact moment when the error is up you get the screwed up page.