Troubleshooting Relative Page Layout Problems
The recently-introduced Relative Page Layout (RPL) Action is very powerful, and it lets you build web pages which will not break when rendered in a browser, even if the visitor has increased the default text size for their browser. It offers all the advantages of being able to use CSS-positioned ("layer") items while the contents of the page behave in a similar way to table-layout pages.
Instructions on how to use RPL can be found in the What's New section of the Using Freeway guide. If you don't have the guide, you can download it from http://www.softpress.com/support/usermanuals/, and you will find the section on Relative Page Layout starts on page 136. This will also explain exactly what it does (as it is difficult to explain without seeing HTML text zoomed in a browser window).
An error message displays when publishing or previewing your Freeway file
A common issue you may come across when using RPL is that an error message displays when you publish, preview or preview the page in a browser. See the screenshot below.
Unless you manually chose HTML 3.2 for the HTML version of your page (which is very unlikely), the reason that this error message displays is because you have a non-layer item on your page.
When working with RPL, it is always best to switch on the CSS Layout button on Freeway's toolbar (so it displays in blue), which will mean that every item you draw on the page will be a layer item. For RPL to work, every item on the page must be a layer - and the error message tells you that the Action will be ignored on the page(s) listed in the error message dialog.
When you see this error message, note down each page listed before clicking OK. You can then go to each page listed in turn, click on the header bar of the Site Panel (to toggle it from Site to Page) to see a list of all the items on that page. Note that sometimes you may need to click on the disclosure triangle to the left of the page name to see the list of items.
Select each item in turn in the Site Panel list and make sure that the Layer option is checked for each item. For "inline" items, make sure that the CSS option is checked. Once all the items are now layer items, preview the file again to see the RPL working correctly.
Items move (or disappear) on the page when viewed in a browser
Because of the way that the RPL Action works, it is often the case that when an item is used on the page which overlaps multiple items (or, on occasions, if an item extends beyond the outer extremities of an item behind it), RPL cannot work out exactly what it is being asked to do. If the Action becomes confused like this, items may display in a different location to where it is placed on the Freeway page or they may disappear completely.
See the screenshot below for the type of layout which will prove to be problematic when using RPL. Notice that the cutout image of the Freeway box is overlapping both HTML items - and this will cause problems (in this case, the yellow box will not display when the page is previewed in a browser).
If you have similar issues to this, it can often be fixed by excluding one or more items from RPL. To do this, select an item (usually this is best done by selecting the item which overlaps multiple other items) and go to Item>Actions and choose Remove from Relative Page Layout. There are no options in the Actions palette for this Action. In the case of the layout in the screenshot above, applying the Remove from Relative Page Layout Action to the cutout image of the Freeway box will make RPL work perfectly.
Another method to fix this type of issue is to select all the items which may be causing the problem and group them by going to Item>Group. This is, however, less reliable than removing items from RPL.
Removing an entire page from RPL
In rare instances (which ultimately will depend on the complexity of the layout) you may need to exclude one or more problem pages from RPL. If you applied the RPL Action to the Site Folder in the Site Panel, then you can go to the page you want to exclude, make sure nothing is selected on the page, then go to Page>Page Actions and choose Remove from Relative Page Layout. This is essentially a "page" version of the "item" Action mentioned earlier.
Problems with inline layout items when using RPL
Freeway users who are building pages with RPL with "inline" items (ie, those which are used within a parent HTML item by double-clicking inside the parent item) may find that RPL automatically assigns a height value to an item which is intended to have an "undefined" height. If this is the case, you should try selecting the item you want to have an undefined height and then go to Item>Actions and choose Modify Height. In the Actions palette choose between Undefined and Minimum in the Height popup.
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Last Updated
30th of September, 2011
