WAT becomes obscured after running validation check on multiple frames

[graemecoleman]

Environment: 32-bit WAT/IE11/Windows 8.1

Possibly a duplicate bug report, and possibly an issue with IE rather than the WAT, but I've noticed that the WAT often becomes obscured for certain frame tabs when running a validation check and selecting W3C Nu Markup Checker (all frames). Subsequently, none of the controls within the WAT can be accessed via the mouse. The only solution appears to be to close the browser tab and to try and re-validate the frame content again.

[matatk]

This does sound a bit like #46, but seems a lot more specific. I have not yet been able to reproduce it (also using the same versions -- though you didn't mention which WAT version you are using -- is it the latest, i.e. 2015-02-04?)

Would it be possible for you to provide a URL that triggers this problem?

In the meantime, @jun325: do you know what might be causing this?

Thanks, all!

[graemecoleman]

@matatk It's 2015-02-04.

For client confidentiality reasons, I cannot actually provide the URL on here, but I can say that the issue occurs when the WAT (through the Nu Validation checker) attempts to validate 4 frames (present on a single page) at once - the results for each frame are opened in a separate tab.

For three of the frames/tabs, the WAT appears as normal, but for the fourth (and "busiest") frame, the WAT is obscured. It seems to occur mostly when (a) multiple frames are validated and (b) when one of the frames contains a significant amount of content.

I don't think it's a major bug (as it covers quite an edge case), and I think it'll be difficult to replicate across other websites, but I thought I should call it out.

[matatk]

@c0ley: understood. I thought that, in previous testing, we found a site that had loads of frames. In fact, now I recall it was: http://www.msn.com/en-gb/ -- though I've just tried that and not seen any visual aberrations (and I seem to recall the content is different depending on location, irrespective of the URL used, though I'm guessing other localised versions will also have many frames).

Let's see if @jun325 has any ideas on the possible cause, or perhaps if @menovak or @stevefaulkner, from their testing, have seen something similar.

[ghost]

I don't understand the cause because I can't reproduce it yet.

[graemecoleman]

@matatk @jun325 Thanks for looking into this. I've encountered the issue a few more times, but I'm coming to the conclusion that it is an issue with IE and not the WAT.

It's a difficult issue to replicate, but it seems to occur intermittently when (1) the user is attempting to validate multiple (>3 or >4) frames at once, thus several new tabs are opened automatically; and (2) the browser's window is quite small. Indeed, it is possibly to restore the toolbar to its "normal" state by simply toggling the size of the browser.

Hence, I guess it's probably a non-fixable issue with IE. Feel free to close this bug, but I thought it might be worth highlighting!

[matatk]

I would like to keep this open until we can be sure it's IE. Over time, I'm sure we'll find more reliable ways to reproduce this. It may not be highest priority, but I think we should keep it open as long as it remains a problem.