it seems that selected IE settings are not always used in the eBook. This is of course very good - it gives more control over the appearance of the ebook!
For instance, it seems Java is allowed in my eBooks regardless of any IE settings saying no Java. Likewise the use of cookies seems to be OK.
Also, if I set up preferences on font-size in IE, then run an eBook - the IE settings don't seem to effect the eBook rendering.
Is this how it is supposed to work? Or is my system "special"?
I hope to be able to predict what users will actually see when they run my books.
Please advice and elaborate a little on how IE settings and eBooks created using AEC are related!
Do you run into many users who do not have Java installed on their systems? I've thought about Java but the low percentage of users who have it installed has prevented me from learning it.
This is somewhat OT. This is a great brain storming program written in Java. And it's free.
I "dont know Java", but I'm learning by example. Having been at it for a few weeks, I can now modify and even write up rather (in my own humble opinion) complex code!
It would be great if it does turn out that 95% of the machines do have Java installed. That seems high to me; especially when they report javascript has the same percentage. Also note the percentage of users with IE6 and FireFox reported for Jan. of this year on the two sites. W3Schools are more in line with what I've found.
Please note that I do not have a problem here. The issue is wheter things will work the same way on other systems.
Or did you reply to some other of my recent questions? (Like the flickering issue in IE?)
I use Javascript in my ebooks. They seem to run very well regardless of how I choose to set up IE. So, at least on my system, it seems that AEC does NOT inherit user settings regarding Javascript in Internet Explorer.
This is obviously a GREAT thing. It allows me and every other author to use Javascript without having to worry about user settings. I'm just hoping to clarify this issue.
Likewise, it seems that cookies from my eBooks are accepted regadless of how I configure IE. And this is also a GREAT thing because of the reason above. (I use cookies as part of my navigation structure)
If using that doctype I posted is the magic bullet to override IE settings, well then that is good to know!
Can't say for certain what impact the DOCTYPE has on performance. A long time ago I posted a query about DOCTYPEs and what impact they had on the performance of ebooks. Never received a definitive answer, but found on one occasion removing the DT did resolve an issue--so try it as needed.
From trial and error, I've come to the same conclusions as you. It doesn't seem to matter if Javascript is turned off in IE's preferences.
As for font size setting in IE not effecting ebooks appears to be true. However, I've found the opposite not true. That is when font size is changed with Activ's controls and closed the new size carries over to IE.
That font-size carries over back to IE I had no idea. Hopefully, it may not be a big issue though.
I've emailed Sunil/support to get some official word on how things are supposed to work re: Javascript/cookies. Trial and error is risky, like you mentioned a while ago.
"The question is complex, but I am looking into it and will reply in this thread.
The issues deal with different implementations of various windows versions and IE versions regarding what settings carry over to applications like AEC-compiled eBooks."
** This is clearly very important stuff, and Sunil and Co are the ones best positioned to clarify the question.
The clean solution is to use CSS stylesheets for resizing font size. The user is given an option of changing the font size and a javascript program reloads the stylesheet with the different font setting.
Don't have much to add to this thread, as I try not to dwell on the issues I can't control; if any user settings limit the ebook behavior, it will also limit the browser befhavior as well, and that's the choice of the user. If they change the text size because their vision is poor, so be it.
Java and Javascript, on the other hand, are two very different animals; the only things they have in common is four letters, and the fact that both can work on the Web.
Your settings for Java and Java Applets won't affect your Javascript behavior, and vice versa. Be sure that, when testing, you are testing for the right things...
Users JavaScript Support 6½% none/disabled, 93½% enabled
On one of my sites that tracks those sorts of things, I've noticed about 9% have JavaScript disabled. I don't have any statistics there on Java, sorry.
The main thrust of this thread is NOT about font size.
It is about the functioning of Javascript in AEC-created ebooks under various IE settings.
I think it is important to know if scripts will be disabled in the ebook if they are disabled in IE.
On the systems I have tested (win-XP and IE50/55/60), it seems user settings in IE make NO difference.
But then perhaps my system is "special" - surely there is some hard-core knowledge around that could be shared!
Please Sunil - chime in if you have more to say on this!
cheers, jaxz
Quote: from jaxz on 1:02 pm on June 15, 2006[br]Sunil emailed me.
He says this (roughly from memory):
"The question is complex, but I am looking into it and will reply in this thread.
The issues deal with different implementations of various windows versions and IE versions regarding what settings carry over to applications like AEC-compiled eBooks."
** This is clearly very important stuff, and Sunil and Co are the ones best positioned to clarify the question.
I use Internet Explorer 6 and have in the past disabled scripts for testing. The javascript ran fine.
Java on the other hand.... I don't have any java applets or servlets (or whatever) to run in my eBooks.
I think if you're planning on going this high tech (using Java) you should just include a link to Sun's website so the reader can download and install the latest version of Java if not installed already.
Had same results as you running an Activ ebook, that included javascript, on a Win2K box with javascript disabled in IE. The javascript in the ebook worked fine.
Do you have any friends who are running Win98 or ME? Any of them using IE 5.0 or 5.5? It would be nice to verify what does and doesn't work in ways of javascript. Also, have you searched the forum because this issue came up some time before and I believe Sunil weighed in on it.
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