Bug 26461 – Link error for anchors in sidebar

• Component: New Bugs
• Status: UNCONFIRMED

[Rick]

This is a usability problem for the user.

This bug affects the latest version of WebKit, Safari and older Safari versions back to version 3.2.1 for sure. This bug is *not* encountered on various Mac versions of FireFox nor the last version of Internet Explorer for Mac (5.2.3).

The stripped down web page with URL (listed above) depicts a page of text with a left-hand side bar. The sidebar contains images and text. The images and some text are anchored to external links.

These links are not recognized by the engine, depending on the elements in the main content area to the right, and the position of the cursor as it hovers over the linked element.

The main content area to the right of the sidebar may contain various HTML elements, such as paragraphs, unordered lists, various headers. In the example, unordered lists and H3 headers are in this content area.

When hovering over the images or text in the left-hand sidebar, the engine may not recognize that the sidebar elements are within anchors. This is indicated by changes in the cursor from an arrow to a pointing finger and back to arrow, when the cursor is moved vertically over the images in the sidebar. When the cursor is an arrow, clicks will not cause the link to be recognized.

This link problem occurs when the main content area contains unordered lists and H3 headers, but not when the content consists of simple paragraphs.

The link error occurs when the cursor is over the linked image or text that is directly beside the UL or H3 elements, but not when they are between those elements.

The example uses a CSS file, and the errors continue to occur (in part) when the header link to the CSS file is removed. That is without CSS, the errors continue for unordered lists, but do not seem to occur for the H3 elements. The CSS file contains references to simple paragraphs, list items and H3 elements.

So, further tests will be needed to strip down the HTML and CSS to determine if the possible source is HTML rendering or CSS integration.

The errors occur whether the sidebar is left-hand or right-hand.

The errors occur when the sidebar is constructed using a sub-table within the main content table, *and* when the sidebar is constructed using a special <div> within the main table using CSS to define the sidebar with the Float element.

If I can be of further help in isolating the problem to a smaller subset of HTML/CSS, I will find the time to do so. Let me know how I can help.

   Thank you,

Rick Hyman

[Lee Ann Coleman]

Created attachment 463740 [details]
Webkit

Webkit safari