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     It seems that I am the only one who is facing problems when trying to post a new question or doing a reply.

    It is rather difficult to describe what I am seeing but I will try.  When I go into compose mode, the screen splits into two with a dark black line separating
    the top half from the bottom.  The IE vertical scrollbar will just scroll the contents of the top half.

    The bottom half contains the Subject box which is fully visible and usable.  Then the most part of the bottom half is white space.  On the left there are
    "Verdana" followed by "12px" below.  These look like the application of fonts.  Clicking either one produces nothing.

    At the bottom left, there are "Design", "HTML" and "Preview".  Again, clicking them has no effect.

    Somewhere near the bottom, I can type this text I am typing now.  It is an area that is also white, hence I can't
    see where the area starts or ends.

    The text I type won't line wrap.  It will just keep going to the right.  I have to hit Shift-Enter to move to a new line.
    From this, I can tell that the typable area can show 3.5 lines (the top just scroll into nothingness, ie white.)

    I thought it was my IE (IE7 on Vista).  But I tried IE 6 on Windows 2000 in a VM and the result is the same.
    I tried Chrome on this same PC, and the result is similar, but is slightly better.  There is a row of vertical black
    dots to the left of "Verdana 12px".

    Shift-Enter in Chrome produces a new line visually when I type and also in the message that is finally posted.

    Shift-Enter in IE 7 produces a new line visually when I type, but when the message is posted the whole message
    is just one continuous line.

    Help help!  This has happening for over a month.  Am I the only one facing this?


    Thanks.
    Wednesday, February 11, 2009 3:31 PM
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    Ah, at last someone has responded.  Thank you very much indeed.  And you know what, it is all back to normal now (on IE 7 and Chrome).  As I am experiencing the same problem on IE 6 on Windows 2000, IE 7 on Vista, and Chrome on Vista, I am certain someone must have played with something on the server side.

    It's a pity I did not get a screenshot of the IE and Chrome screens when the problem was there.  Otherwise it would illustrate clearly what I meant.  The problem is that I don't get to see the edit box with the rounded corner black borders and the toolbar on top.  The source code was too complex so I didn't bother to decipher.

    It looks like a HTML rendering problem, like with some parts of the HTML missing and so causing the display to go haywire.  The only thing resembling the toolbar are the words Verdana and 12px.  They appear as clickable, ie cursor turns to a finger, but clicking them has no visible effects.

    At the bottom, the words "Design", "HTML" and "Preview" are clearly the ALT text for the three tabs that I see now.  But again, nothing happens when I click them.

    Nothing has changed on my side.  I experienced the same problem from different location through different ISPs and networks.  If it is some firewall, then it is odd that the firewall would only clip off some data from one specific page on MSDN Forum.  So I think it is unlikely to be a firewall problem.

    Happily the problem is gone now.  I will remember to capture the screen the next time the problem surfaces.

    Thanks.
    Monday, February 16, 2009 12:16 AM
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    Hmm...well, good to hear that things seem back to normal mostly. One possible culprit might be some cached .js file or something that is related to the editor. Sometimes things either get clogged up in some cached tier of content deliver network, or sometimes some cached version of a .js file on the client might temporarily create some strange client side behavior. If this comes back, it will be helpful to see a screen shot and confirmation that it happens on multiple machines with cleaned cahce, or even if it can be repro'd through different ISPs...perhaps the ISP cache tier had a hold of some legacy .js files or something along these lines.
    Brent Serbus STO Forums Program Manager
    Monday, February 16, 2009 5:13 PM
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    Hello, anybody home?  Can someone say what are specs must the browser/PC have in order to use this MSDN forum website?  I have no problems with 99% of all websites I visit.

    This website is a joke.  Two minutes ago, I tried to start a new post on a Visual Studio forum using Chrome.  But I got hit with the same problem, a blank white area that makes it impossible for me to enter the stuff I want to enter.

    Then I came back to this post, and viola, the reply works!  An editor box appear at the bottom like in the past, and this is where I am typing now.

    But before I typed, I quickly went to the Visual Studio forum to try and post my question/  And you know what?  The Visual Studio forum disappeared!!!!  Vanished!

    I launched another browser, IE 7, to go to the same page: http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/categories/, and the listing is totally different from this one.  I now have two screenshots of the the same page but with vastly different contents.  The first one showed about 20 forum groups.  The second one showed 51 forums, and the Visual Studio forum I wanted was there.  But I couldn't post, because I got the same big white area problem.

    It seems that Microsoft has started its decline with the departure of Bill Gates, or maybe it's just a coincidence in timing.  A forum web site is not exactly the most complex software to do.  There are tonnes of forum sofware all over the place.  It is amazing that, of all departments, MSDN cannot get it right.

    I like to think that it is my PC/browser's problem as no one else seems to be complaining.  But as I have said, I have no known problems visiting all other sites I visit.  What special control does the forum editor box use?  What can I do to find out?


    HELP!  HELP!
    Friday, February 13, 2009 8:18 AM
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    The system requirements are posted here: http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/help#117  It looks like you are using supported browsers and operating systems. I have not heard of others reporting these issues.

    When the font style and size selections don't work, when you say clicking them produces nothing do you mean the styles and sizes are not applied to the selected text? Do you see drop downs letting you select different fonts etc?

    When you click the "HTML" view at the bottom do you not see mark up? Is the selected View highlighted at the bottom? 

    Could you possibly screen capture what you are seeing with regard to the "white area problem" and vertical black dots and post a reference to the image(s)?  Which Visual Studio forum were you trying to find?

    I have not heard of people reporting these kinds of issues. Are you working from behind any corporate firewalls, do you have some non default client security or accessibility settings in your browsers?  It might be worth a try to dump your cache, maybe there are some client javascript files out of sync.

    Brent Serbus STO Forums Program Manager
    Sunday, February 15, 2009 9:44 PM
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    Ah, at last someone has responded.  Thank you very much indeed.  And you know what, it is all back to normal now (on IE 7 and Chrome).  As I am experiencing the same problem on IE 6 on Windows 2000, IE 7 on Vista, and Chrome on Vista, I am certain someone must have played with something on the server side.

    It's a pity I did not get a screenshot of the IE and Chrome screens when the problem was there.  Otherwise it would illustrate clearly what I meant.  The problem is that I don't get to see the edit box with the rounded corner black borders and the toolbar on top.  The source code was too complex so I didn't bother to decipher.

    It looks like a HTML rendering problem, like with some parts of the HTML missing and so causing the display to go haywire.  The only thing resembling the toolbar are the words Verdana and 12px.  They appear as clickable, ie cursor turns to a finger, but clicking them has no visible effects.

    At the bottom, the words "Design", "HTML" and "Preview" are clearly the ALT text for the three tabs that I see now.  But again, nothing happens when I click them.

    Nothing has changed on my side.  I experienced the same problem from different location through different ISPs and networks.  If it is some firewall, then it is odd that the firewall would only clip off some data from one specific page on MSDN Forum.  So I think it is unlikely to be a firewall problem.

    Happily the problem is gone now.  I will remember to capture the screen the next time the problem surfaces.

    Thanks.
    Monday, February 16, 2009 12:16 AM
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    Hmm...well, good to hear that things seem back to normal mostly. One possible culprit might be some cached .js file or something that is related to the editor. Sometimes things either get clogged up in some cached tier of content deliver network, or sometimes some cached version of a .js file on the client might temporarily create some strange client side behavior. If this comes back, it will be helpful to see a screen shot and confirmation that it happens on multiple machines with cleaned cahce, or even if it can be repro'd through different ISPs...perhaps the ISP cache tier had a hold of some legacy .js files or something along these lines.
    Brent Serbus STO Forums Program Manager
    Monday, February 16, 2009 5:13 PM
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    Answerer
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    The gremlin is back!!  This is the data entry area.  I found this by clicking blindly all over the screen.  A screenshot of this can be found at <http://sameoldplace.net/images/MSDN Forums Edit IE.png>.  At this moment, Chrome is working normally.   I am typing this in IE.

    Notice that on the IE edit screen it is one super long line that goes on and on irrespective of window width.
    Thursday, February 19, 2009 12:13 PM
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