View: code + design or live = code + blank page?

[Lise Voute]

My biggest problem with all DW-versions since 2013 was opening a page. Sometimes it opens to the page I want to see + the code. But just as often I get a blank page + the code. Since it happens in all those DW-versions I think I am doing something wrong.

I click on view>split>code+design. And again. Or code + live. And again and again and so on. Sometimes suddenly the page appears and I can work in it, but just as often I have to shut DW down after innumerable clicks and get myself a bar of chocolate and I kick something or other and resign myself to not working on the website today. Hopefully another day it will work. Or not. It is the reason I still work in DW 2013. Just to stay sane.

Whatever I click, the green V is next to code+live. Which seems to be because it is a responsive page and 'design' cannot work with it anymore in the versions after 2013. But the times when it suddenly starts to show, my last click was always on code+design.

Maybe I will feel dumb again when I hear the solution. So be it.

Ha, closed DW and started it again. it opens with the page visible but no code. So I wait a few minutes and click view>split>design. There it is!! OK, today no chocolate but getting some work done. As long as it works...

[pziecina]

This was a known problem when using Dw 2017/18, that apeared then disapeared for no real reason, (could also be caused by invalid code).

As it was also happening in previous versions of Dw, a link to a live page would help.

I often had this happen with newer css features that Dw did not support, such as extensive use of css shapes, and/or extensive use of javascript, (occasionally caused by external scripts in the code also).

[Lise Voute]

it is a relief to know that it is not again one of my own not-seeing-the-obvious in which I excel, but simply an annoying glitch of DW itself. I am happy that I can always revert to DW2013 if necessary.

My websites are www.yijing.nl and www.anton-heyboer.nl and I had this problem with almost all pages I tried to work in. I use only the basics, some css, nothing complicated, no javascript, but invalid code is a very big possibility.

I marked your post as helpful. I know now that trying to figure out why will not change much.

I will check the code as much as possible. Not easy with thousands of pages... I am obviously better with filling than with building it.

Thanks!

[pziecina]

Next time you see the problem, try commenting out the google analytics script, using notpad or a simple text editor.

The google analytics code has been known to cause problems, such as no display and long load times in Dw.

[Lise Voute]

Pziecina, I will remove the code and look at the difference in loading. At the moment it looks as if the biggest problem has been solved, but maybe one day is too short to know.

If no analytics code makes a big difference, I think I will get entirely rid of it. My website is not commercial, so I don't really need it anyway. Of course I love to see how many people come, but my provider has a good statistics report, with more information than analytics.

Thank you, I would never have thought of it.

[Nancy OShea · Accepted solution]

I see why DW is choking on your code.

    #1  Legacy Fluid Grid Layouts which DW stopped supporting.

    #2  400 plus code errors on your home page.  Your page contains a lot obsolete code.

    Showing results for http://www.yijing.nl/ - Nu Html Checker

If you're stuck with FGLayouts, you should use an older version of DW.

There is also a hack that may or may not work given that you're also using DW Templates.  Open your Fluid.css file. Scroll down to the Fluid Grid Properties and change the first value to X.  Save CSS file.  Close & then re-open DW.

Dreamweaver Fluid Grid Properties

----------------------------------

dw-num-cols-mobile: 5;    dw-num-cols-mobile: X;

dw-num-cols-tablet: 10;

dw-num-cols-desktop: 10;

dw-gutter-percentage: 25;

[Lise Voute]

Nancy, thanks!!!

I needed some time to digest that yes, what I dreaded - that my setup was obsolete - was true. Didn't sleep last night. But another fear, that the old DW-version would disappear some day, will not be a big problem. Thanks to your little hack I can now work with DW2018. Me happy!

And now starts the huge task to get all those errors out. I am thinking about a little message next to the donations button: if every visitor donates $2 a month, I can pay for some help with it. After all they enjoy it all for free.

But I am very happy about the big relief that I finally know what was wrong with DW, or rather what I did wrong. Tackling what I know is a lot easier than groping around in the dark.