Wooops... Sorry about this. I just noticed that the MySpace music player gets stuck up against the MySpace URL box when using Iron Spider MySpace layouts. This positioning issue has been fixed with all Iron Spider layouts so that the music player is now nicely spaced out away from the MySpace URL box.

Also, the gray background glitch appearing behind the music player when viewing a Professional MySpace Layout in Firefox has been fixed as well as the horizontal positioning in Internet Explorer.

To correct the positioning and display of your music player, you can either return to my site, get the updated layout code and replace your currently installed layout code with that...

OR...

You can use one of these..

QUICK COPY-AND-PASTE CODE FIXES

For all Iron Spider MySpace layouts (except Professional series - see below):

For all Iron Spider Professional MySpace Layouts:

<style type="text/css">table table div embed, table table div object {margin-top: 15px;} table table div {background: transparent ! important;} * html table table div object {margin-left: 5px ! important;}</style>

Just copy and paste the applicable code into the end of the 'About Me' box on your 'Edit Profile' screen.

Sorry I didn't notice this glitch before but I normally don't use a MySpace music player on my profile. I guess this harks back to the days when I was actually trying to do the MySpace thing on dialup internet access (which is not fun, lemme tell ya). Back in those days, I used to like to strip my page down to just the bare essentials to make it load faster.

However, in my defense, I didn't receive a single email or MySpace message about the positioning of the music player so I guess I'm a lot pickier than most when it comes to profile customization.

Anyway, I now have a music player on my profile (he's a learner!) so that I can keep an eye on these things.

PLEASE NOTE ~

Be advised that this code fix DOES NOT APPLY TO BAND PROFILES. The full-blown promotional music player that appears on band profiles is a completely different kind of music player (and has no problems with positioning when using Iron Spider layouts).

COMING SOON...

All the backgrounds in the Professional MySpace Layouts and the Chromatic Table Layouts at Iron Spider are going to be slightly modified so that they will tile seamlessly. Will explain fully next blog post but the long and short of it is they will look a lot nicer if you use them on a profile that spreads out of proportion because you posted BIG videos or images...

Okay that's it!

Time to crack open a beer and get ready to watch some football...  .. (wahoo!)

~ Rob

Okely dokely!

I'm pleased to announce that 10 brand spanking new (yes I actually spanked them) MySpace DIV layouts are now up and running at robthunder.com

All these new overlays feature the following:

1. Cool header banners
2. 3 column tableless design
3. 100% original background images
4. Support for MySpace music player
5. Support for Youtube or MySpace TV videos
6. Ultra extra wide comments area to allow friends to post BIG pics

Check 'em out!

~ Rob

Greetings all Iron Spider Link Removal Licensees,

It has been brought to my attention that there is a glitch in the Super EZ Profile Tweaker regarding using a header banner code and an extended network banner code at the same time. Typically, what happens is the extended network banner displays correctly but the header banner is hidden. This glitch has been corrected. All Link Removal Licensees should return to the Super EZ Profile Tweaker download page (link to page provided in thank you email) and download the latest version of the Profile Tweaker.

Humble apologies for the inconvenience.

For all others who have no idea what I'm talking about, please see this page:
Iron Spider Link Removal License / Super EZ Profile Tweaker Package

~ Rob

Yeah I know. The Extended Network box isn't displaying wide enough.. I'm on it. Dang it!

Uhhh... MySpace.com... Hello? If you want to give Facebook a real run for their money then this sh*t has got to stop! Seriously...! Like when you guys decided to wrap a new table around the Extended Network table a couple of weeks back, you should have put the cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" attribute/value pairs in that new table right from the get-go ... ARRRRGGGHH! Come on guys!...

...And no, I'm not switching to decaf. I'm fine...

(*ahem*)....

...okay rant over... heh heh...

Fortunately, after the last fabulous episode of Bust-Code-Junky's-Chops-by-Messing-with-the-Default-Layout, I decided to put a special system in place that would allow me to rapidly update all my layouts.

All layouts should be updated shortly (like in about 15 or 20 minutes).

[UPDATE]

All Iron Spider MySpace layouts and editors are now updated to display the Extended Network table at the proper width. For all those who have been following this blog, you know the drill... (i.e., to fix your layout, simply return to my site, get the updated layout code and replace your currently installed layout code with that).

OR...

Use one of these easy...

COPY AND PASTE CODE FIXES

To fix any of my Professional MySpace layouts, use this code:
<style>table table table .blacktext12 {width: 335px ! important;}</style>

To fix ALL OTHER Iron Spider layouts, use this code:
<style>table table table .blacktext12 {width: 340px ! important;}</style>

Just copy-and-paste the applicable code above into the bottom of the 'About Me' box on your 'Edit Profile' screen.

That's it!

Have a good one...

~ Rob

Woops... I forgot that some of my plain MySpace layouts have the Hide Extended Network code built in to them which was also messed up by the latest changes MySpace.com made to the default layout code. These have all now been updated so that the Extended Network box is properly and completely hidden, as in, no leftover empty table and everything repositioned correctly.

A little spit and polish was also applied to a few other layouts and I basically went over everything with a fine tooth comb including trying out some extremes in the Advanced MySpace Editor to see if any of the wheels fell off (and none did... *wiping sweat off brow*)..

On a related note, version 0.6 of the Super EZ Profile Tweaker is now out. The most significant changes are the Extended Network Styler and the Hide Code Generator have been completely rewritten (thus the version number increment). This was done to accomodate the aforementioned glitches MySpace.com created last week when they decided to wrap the Extended Network table in another table thus burying it one table deeper in the nested table heirarchy (sorry for the technobabble.. there is no easier way to explain it). They also threw in an extra <br> tag in there which messed up the vertical positioning. All current Link Removal Licensees may download the new version 0.6 update from the Profile Tweaker download page.

And that's it boys and girls. I'm freakin' exhausted... What a week!

Rob take break now...

See ya on the flip side.. :o)

~ Rob

Okay... Greetings everyone,

Just to recap, the Extended Network box on all MySpace layouts (not just mine) was affected by a recent change that MySpace.com made to the default layout code. Typically, the Extended Network box will now display a little wider and will no longer be vertically aligned with the top of the left column. I'm pleased to announce that all Iron Spider MySpace layouts have now been updated with a built-in code fix to correct this. 

The copy-and-paste code fix supplied in my previous post is no longer necessary --and in fact only works for some layouts.  Unfortunately, there is no easy generic copy-and-paste code fix that will work in all my layouts.

Hence, if you wish to correct the display of your extended network box, simply return to my site, get the updated layout code and replace your currently installed layout code with that. All my MySpace editors were also updated with the built-in code fix.

Related to this glitch, the MySpace DIV layouts currently available at robthunder.com were recently updated to remove the errant extended network text that suddenly appeared behind or on top of the banner ad (as a result of recent MySpace.com changes). The vertical positioning of the overlay was corrected as well.

And finally, all link removal licensees should download the latest version (updated yesterday) of the Super EZ Profile Tweaker. If you have a header banner installed and you updated your layout (as per above) then you should also update your header banner code. However, if you installed a custom code fix that I sent you, don't worry about updating your layout code but rather just download the latest version of the Profile Tweaker and use that to generate any future header banner codes.

Sorry it took me so long but this latest modification MySpace.com made to their default layout was a freakin' doozy to work around (which probably explains why I'm the only MySpace layout maker that actually addressed this issue even though it affected MySpace layouts across the net).

~ Rob

Alrighty then, it's been over a month and a half since MySpace.com made any changes to the default profile that could potentially mess up Myspace layouts so I guess we were due.

What happened this time is something I'm sure a lot of you didn't even notice because usually when glitches like this happen (e.g., strange grey backgrounds, borders around online now icons, etc), I get bombarded with emails and messages from users complaining about their layouts being messed up. But so far I haven't received a single email or message about this so I'm assuming that nobody thought it was that much of a big deal (although it was to me).

What Happened

Anywho, if you are using one of my layouts that defines the various MySpace tables (sections) through the use of a different background color and/or borders, you may have noticed that your Extended Network boxes (a.k.a. 'extended network tables') were displaying just a little too wide and were no longer vertically aligned with the top of your Profile Info box.

Why Did It Happen?

(Warning: May contain some technobabble.)

MySpace.com has now wrapped another HTML table around the Extended Network table which has placed it one level deeper in the HTML table heirarchy. Unfortunately, they did not give this 'wrapper' table a class name so accessing it using CSS has to be done the old-fashioned way using a morass of descendant selectors.

Whining-and-Bitching Dept.

Why they did this is beyond me as it is clearly a step backward compared to all the forward progress they were making the profile code over the past year by assigning class names to all the various MySpace sections, e.g., navigationBar, userProfileURL, interestsAndDetails to name a few. These class names made it a whole lot easier to zero in on each section using CSS code and hence made it a lot easier to make advanced MySpace layouts. It also seems like we're in for some new kind of feature that will appear below the Extended Network table as there is now an empty table below it...(?)

The Copy-and-Paste Fix

Okay, I read this far.... What's in it for me, you may ask?

Well here's quick copy-and-paste fix I worked up:

<style>.FIX_EXTNET_DEC_2007 {}table table table .blacktext12 {display: block; width: auto;}* html table table table .blacktext12 {width: auto;}* html table table table {margin-left: 0px;}.blurbs table, .friendSpace table, .friendsComments table {margin-left: 5px;}.blurbs table table, .friendSpace table table, .friendsComments table table {margin-left: 0px;}table table table .btext {width: 334px;}table table table table .btext {width: auto;}table table td.text table {margin-top: -15px;}table table td.text table table {margin-top: 0px;}.latestBlogEntry, .blurbs, .friendSpace, .friendsComments {margin-top: 15px ! important;}.FIX_FIREFOX {}html:not([dummy]) .latestBlogEntry, html:not([dummy]) .blurbs, html:not([dummy]) .friendSpace, html:not([dummy]) .friendsComments {margin-top: 0px ! important;}.FIX_OPERA {}@media all and (min-width: 0px) {.latestBlogEntry, .blurbs, .friendSpace, .friendsComments {margin-top: 0px ! important;}}</style>

Just copy-and-paste all that code into the end of the 'About Me' box on your 'Edit Profile' screen to get your Extended Network box to display normally again. This should work fine for all my Plain MySpace layouts or layouts made with my Advanced MySpace Editor and will hold you over (if you're really bugged by this glitch) until I individually fix all the layout codes at my site which should be by the end of the day tomorrow.

If you have a header banner installed using the Super EZ Profile Tweaker, send me an email with your MySpace URL before installing this fix so that I can send you a custom code fix for your layout.

That's it for now. More updates tomorrow...

:o)

~ Rob

Phew! What a morning!

Alrighty then, for all those who woke up, logged onto MySpace and were horrified to find frogs plastered all over their profile, this is what happened:

Image Shack --which is the image hosting service I use, or rather formerly used to host my MySpace background images-- went into some kind of major malfunction early this morning and could not serve up some of their hosted images. When this happens, what Image Shack will sometimes do is display the Image Shack logo placeholder image instead (hence the frogs). This is what you were seeing on your profiles.

So fear not. You did not get hacked and --contrary to a rumour floating around-- Iron Spider MySpace layouts continue to remain free to use (providing you abide by the Terms of Use).

I've since decided that I've absolutely had it with Image Shit ...er uhhh... Image Shack ...*ahem*.. yes I know.. somewhat unprofessional of me to say that but they basically just wasted half my day with this debacle and this is not the first time. Over the years, I've come to realize that they provide no technical support nor any explanations for their outages and essentially become a big pain in the posterior for all of us when they suddenly tank out like this and leave us with some kind of weird throwback to an ancient Egyptian plague running all over our once beautiful MySpace pages.

So enough is enough.

I have moved all my MySpace background images to a new more reliable image hosting service, upgraded to a pro account (spared no expense) and spent this morning updating all my MySpace layout codes with the new image URLs.

If you are one of the unfortunate souls who got affected by the 'frogs-in-your-layout' glitch, you can correct this by simply returning to Iron Spider, retrieving the updated layout code (all layout codes at my site have now been updated including my MySpace editors) and reinstalling it in place of your currently installed layout code.

Once again, most humble apologies for this inconvenience.

Regards,
Rob
ironspider.ca

Greetings everyone,

Well it looks like ImageShack tanked out on us again and is failing to serve up a number of the background images and contact tables in my MySpace layouts. The symptoms of this will be that your profile will display an ImageShack frog placeholder image either all over your layout, in the top left corner and/or in your contact table. Typically, these glitches work themselves out and are corrected by ImageShack before the day is out. Nevertheless, rest assured that I am on top of the situation and I'm not going anywhere until this is all worked out. I may possibly be moving all my images over to a new image host so that this doesn't happen again (getting a little fed up with ImageShack).

Most humble apologies for the inconvenience.

Please check in periodically on my blog here for more updates.

Best regards,
Rob
ironspider.ca

As outlined in this post, some recent changes to the default MySpace template created some rendering issues that messed up the display of the navigation bar (Home, Browse, Search, etc.) and messed up the table borders in the left column and in the Friends Comments section for Firefox users.

All free MySpace layouts at my site and my MySpace editors have been updated with the fix for both of these issues so if you wish to reinstall your layout, everything is ready to go now.

Here's a quick copy-and-paste fix for the messed-up-table-borders-in-Firefox glitch:

<style>table {border-collapse: separate;}</style>

Just copy-and-paste the above code into the end of the 'About Me' box on your 'Edit Profile' screen.

Manually correcting the display of your navigation bar (Home, Browse, Search, etc.) is a little more complex. First of all, the symptoms are that the link separators will be displaying in the wrong color or will be showing up when the navigation bar is supposed to be completely hidden.

To correct this manually (instead of just reinstalling the layout code from my site) carefully change all instances of this line in your layout code (Iron Spider MySpace layouts only):

...to this:

.navigationBar table td

Uhhh... Yeah that's only for the more experienced MySpacers, BTW..

Okely dokely, that's it, that's all...

~ Rob
ironspider.ca