What to do when web page keeps suddenly crashing in Dreameaver??

[dipech]

Hi Everyone,

I am in the process of creating my first website ever using Dreamweaver MX 2004. I am getting close to finishing it. I have not yet uploaded it to a server and preview all the pages locally. The problem I'm suddenly having is that the file for a page seems to somehow be getting corrupted and then Dreamweaver crashes each time I try to re-open the page. This is the second page this has happened to..

Has anyone heard of this kind of problem? Any suggestions??

Hope someone can help,
Diane

[dipech]

Just wanted to add that the page does still show up when I go to it from a linked page online.

Thanks,
Diane

[Doug Nelson]

I tried Googling "dreamweaver crashes" and got 29,100 results!

I don't use Dreamweaver, but I did see that it has a problem when opening or previewing a page that contains a link to a missing file.

Wish I could be of more help.

[dipech]

Thanks, Doug, this clue helps a bit. I have been making alot of changes in the links and other pages. Maybe there is some old code from an earlier version of the page that is causing the problem. Though how might I access it if I can no longer open the page (at least in Dreamweaver)?

I am just now searching the Macromedia site tech support area for any answers and will try searching on google next.

Thanks for the tip,
Diane

[T Paul]

Check out the Macromedia site and make sure you have the latest update.
Dreamweaver MX 2004 and Dreamweaver MX 2004 Update 7.0.1

About the 7.0.1 Update
Macromedia Dreamweaver MX 2004 (7.0.1) fixes known problems in Dreamweaver MX 2004. Some of these issues could cause Dreamweaver to perform slowly or occasionally crash, so all current Dreamweaver MX 2004 users should download and install this software update.

Stability improvements
The update fixes several bugs that caused Dreamweaver to crash, such as in certain circumstances when working on ASP.NET or JSP pages in Design view, or when applying bold or italics to text after applying a color style to the text.

[dipech]

Thanks T. I am using the latest update....

Still haven't figured this out....
Diane

[T Paul]

Hmmmm. What a pain. I suggest sending an email or making a phone call to Dreamweaver Support. Let us know if you figure out what is causing the crashes.

Best of Luck!

~T

[Hunter]

Are you using any extensions? I've been using DW for years (v3, 4, UltraDev, MX, and now MX2004) and the only time I ever had DW crash was with a bad extension. The only way to find out which one it is, unfortunately, is to either uninstall *all* of the extensions via the Extension Manager (just uncheck the box next to the name) and then re-install them one at a time (remember, that DW has to be shut down when installing an extension) and relaunching the app after each one to find the culprit. OR if you just installed some new extensions, start with removing those first.

Hmm just an afterthought. Did you install a new version of Java recently? If so, you might roll-back to an early JRE to see if that helps.

[dipech]

Hi,

So this is the online response I received via Macromedia support:

I am not sure if this is the problem, but I notice
> that you have a css link
> to an .htm file:
>
> <link href="../final-index-picture%20perfect.htm"
> rel="stylesheet"
> type="text/css" />
>
> If this page happens to link a file that includes
> this file, then it will
> crash due to an infinite loop. This is a known bug
> that we will fix for the
> next release.
>
> Try removing or fixing this link to see if that
> fixes the problem.
>

This does in fact appear to be the problem, but I haven't figured out how to work around it yet. If I just delete the code, I seem unable to format the library item which is my main web banner that the code relates to. If I cut and move the code to the "head" area, it has no formatting effect at all. There are some 50 other pages in my site that all use the same library banner item so this is a really huge problem...

I also discovered an online validation service at http://validator.w3org.
This indicated that one common cause of a "style element" showing up in the "body" section instead of the "head" is the use of xhtml syntax in html docs.

I did initially start out with my DW preferences set to "make all docs xhtml compliant" but later (after probs arose) unchecked this preference.

Does anyone know if there is a way to now get rid of the xhtml coding and classification of a doc as xhtml vs html??

Man, if you think photo restoration can be hard at times.....

Any advice, suggestions or alternative speeches would be appreciated!
Diane

[Hunter]

Originally Posted by dipech

I am not sure if this is the problem, but I notice
> that you have a css link
> to an .htm file:
>
> <link href="../final-index-picture%20perfect.htm"
> rel="stylesheet"
> type="text/css" />

While probably not the problem, it's a good rule of thumb to never use spaces in a file name that will be used online. (that's what the %20) is referencing. Also, never use any special characters in file names like +,'{}[]|\/?=()*&^%$#@!~`;: use only letters, numbers, dashes (debatable, but I will still use them), and/or underscores, and nothing else for your filenames.

Also, a CSS file should end in .CSS and not .HTM because the CSS file should not have any HTML formatting in it at all. If it has the HTM/HTML extension on it, the application could add all the HTML/TITLE/HEAD/BODY/etc tags to the file and create lots of problems.

Does anyone know if there is a way to now get rid of the xhtml coding and classification of a doc as xhtml vs html??

Well, you'd need to change your DTD (document type declaration)... hopefully you created the site by making a template and basing everything off of a template page so you can just edit the template and have all its child pages replicate the changes. Otherwise, perhaps it would be best if you start from scratch with a new base site and learn from the mistakes of this one. Don't worry, we all go through this, it's part of the learning process.

Any advice, suggestions or alternative speeches would be appreciated!
Diane

There are many good DW books out on the market - if you've not picked any up, do so. They usually run in the $50.00 range. Check out many of the developer/extension sites like Project Seven (aka PVII) -- www.projectseven.com -- they have a lot of good tutorials and add-ons for Dreamweaver.

[dipech]

Originally Posted by DonaldP

Was just curious to find out whether you solved your problem or not. If so, could you share your solution... if not, please contact me off-list and I will find a workable solution to your dilemna.

I just finished college with an AS in computer art and design. While in college, I assisted and tutored both students and instructors alike in a majority of the Adobe, Macromedia, and Microsoft graphics/imaging/page creation programs. So, I could likely assist you in finding your glitch and fixing it.

DonaldP

Hi Donald,

Thanks for writing. I did solve that problem though I don't understand what happened 100% to avoid it happening again. It was pretty bad as one by one my pages were crashing and couldn't be re-opened. It was something to do with code being in the body section that could only properly be in the head section on a library item for the website's banner.

I had used xhtml on these files and I'm not sure if that was also part of what went wrong. I solved it by revising the library item and then globally replacing the old version with the new.

I am new to Dreamweaver and part of the coding had to do with formatting the text in the banner area with CSS. After I did this I made it into a library item and a library item is not supposed to contain CSS.

I may need your help in the future with other things as I'm finding that Dreamweaver experts are not so easy to find!

I would be curious to know your opinion of how Dreamweaver compares to some of the other web creation programs; which one do you rate as the best, most user friendly?

Thanks again for contacting me,
Best regards,
Diane

[DonaldP]

Hi Donald,

Thanks for writing. I did solve that problem though I don't understand what happened 100% to avoid it happening again. It was pretty bad as one by one my pages were crashing and couldn't be re-opened. It was something to do with code being in the body section that could only properly be in the head section on a library item for the website's banner.

I had used xhtml on these files and I'm not sure if that was also part of what went wrong. I solved it by revising the library item and then globally replacing the old version with the new.

I am new to Dreamweaver and part of the coding had to do with formatting the text in the banner area with CSS. After I did this I made it into a library item and a library item is not supposed to contain CSS.

I may need your help in the future with other things as I'm finding that Dreamweaver experts are not so easy to find!

I would be curious to know your opinion of how Dreamweaver compares to some of the other web creation programs; which one do you rate as the best, most user friendly?

Thanks again for contacting me,
Best regards,
Diane

Hi Diane,

I was very happy to read that you finally figured out what was causing the problem. But, as you had said in your last message, you weren't completely 100% sure as to whether the problem may show up again or not.

A general rule of thumb, in this case, would be that if you have found a solution for the problem, then retrace the steps you took to alleviate the situation and place the information onto a text file for future reference. This way, should the situation arise again (and it just might), you'll have information to work with that will save you time, hair, and brain cells. *grins*

I self-taught myself hand-coding long before I was introduced to Dreamweaver, which I've been using on and off since version 4. Hence, I can go into my code, read what has been placed there, figure out where I made my mistake and make the appropriate corrections where necessary.

I have gone through approximately a dozen and a half different HTML and site-building programs, over the last 7 years. Many were trials, some were betas, and others were full-blown programs. Of all these programs, I've settled on two which have served me the best so far.... Dreamweaver (Macromedia) and FrontPage (Microsoft). Each has its own pluses and minuses that will either make you extremely pleased or drive you completely insane. Also, there are plugins and widgets that can be used to make life a little easier, depending on what you want to add to your site.

There are plenty of the programs that will state "no knowledge of HTML is needed", which, in my honest opinion, defeats the whole premise of site creation. Granted, there are some that will do what you want them to do, but if you should happen to make a mistake somewhere along the line, you're pretty much stuck. And what I mean by this is that if there isn't a separate window that will show you what your coding looks like, then how are you going to know what to fix?

With your permission, I would like the opportunity to see your finished site as well as the coding that was giving you grief (provided you have a copy of it on file, that is). I may be able to come up with a viable solution that will prevent the situation from arising again.

Oh, and for what it is worth, I do this on two different platforms... PC and Macintosh... which also have pluses and minuses, but I can tell you about those later if you wish.

Anytime you need help, please don't hesitate to contact me... I will help you where I am able.

Many Blessings and Best Regards,

Donald

P.S. - I almost forgot... you are much welcome!