IE 8 download 1

[acent]

Greetings,

I have a problem... noticed it with IE8, but it may affect IE7 as well...

I have the following link:

<a href="/library/teachings/support_files/20091018.docx" onclick="return openBrowser(this);"><img src="/images/word.gif" /><br />Sermon Outline<br />20091018.docx</a>

If you wish to see it live,

http://www.arcconline.org/interactive/teachings_play.php?f=20091018

When the link is clicked, FF opens a dialog asking if I want to open or save the file - normal operation, both options work as expected. In IE 8, I get the normal dialog except the browser changes the extension from .docx to .zip. If I save the file and then change the .zip extension back to .docx everything works normally.

I'd really not like to have to explain to my users this workaround. After consulting my good buddy google on the issue, it seems to be a known issue. One post suggested to change the server and that the problem is with my webserver. This solution made no sense to me, so I was hoping that a guru here might know the answer to the quagmire.

Thanks in advance for any help.

"If it's stupid but works, it isn't stupid."
-Murphy's Military Laws

 

[ca8msm]

I think that's what happens if the client doesn't have Office 2007 installed (as .docx files are essentially just zipped up anyway, IE must think that it's helping you out by changing the extension for you).

It's not an ideal solution, but could you just provide the file as a .doc version so that it will still work for those users with older versions of Office?

Mark,

Darlington Web Design
Experts, Information, Ideas & Knowledge
ASP.NET Tips & Tricks

 

[spamjim]

...or possibly better yet...

Why don't you present the sermon outline as HTML so it is more accessible to visitors? Firing up Word just to read text that could have been read in the web browser seems odd.

 

[acent]

Thanks ca8msm, I'll have to try that. I'm not sure what Internet Exploder will do with .doc files. I know it is not the office version installed on the computer because I was first notified of the problem by a user with Office 2007 installed.

Thanks for the post, spamjim. Some of the sermon outlines are in .jpg format, almost all in .docx. I left them in the docx because they're not just for reading... they are question/answer fill-in-the-blank type stuff and I wanted to give the users an easy way to edit it and save it.

"If it's stupid but works, it isn't stupid."
-Murphy's Military Laws

 

[IPGuru]

I left them in the docx because they're not just for reading... they are question/answer fill-in-the-blank type stuff and I wanted to give the users an easy way to edit it and save it.

I see that you are using PHP
in this is the case I would definitly not present them as a .doc download
why not use a web form & collect the information directly instead?

if you realy do want to provide the document as a diownloadable file then I would suggest you reformat it into a non-propriatary format so that useres can read it regardless of what system they are using (your useres may not all be using Windows & Office), RTF might be a good option

 

[acent]

Thanks IPGuru for the post. RTF.... why didn't I think of that. I will try it and see if IE 8 can handle it. By the way, could you elaborate as to why the combination of php and docx is a bad thing?



"If it's stupid but works, it isn't stupid."
-Murphy's Military Laws

 

[IPGuru]

My suggestion regarding PHP was that you presented the useres with a web form & processed that directly on the server rather than providing a document to download, complete & then return
the format of the download was bnot realy important.

As to document format there are a number or people who would give you a whole host of reasons why they consider using a proprietory format (doc/docx) a bad idea & would sugest you adopted an open standard format instead (However I suspect a high proportion of your selected audience might currently struggle with ODT/ODs & most users can cope with microsoft formats)