Layer positioning - IE vs Netscape and Firefox

First off, I apologize if this has been answered on this forum. I have searched it as well as Google for over an hour to try to find someone with a similar problem, to no avail!

My problem is a layer (<div>) position discrepancy between IE and Netscape/Firefox.

<table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="5">
<tr>
<td>
<div id="articletext" style="position:absolute; width:325px; height:252px; z-index:1; overflow: auto; visibility: visible;" class="standardtext"><?php print nl2br($project["Description"]) ?></div>
<img src="/images/spacer.gif" width="5" height="252"></td>
</tr>
</table>

In IE it looks fine. I simply have a layer within a table cell with no left/top positioning. I use it to display scrolling text within a page. In Netscape and Firefox, when you load the page it shows the layer about 15-20 pixels to the right of where it should be. If you refresh the browser it shows the layer positioned correctly. So, I know the browser knows where it SHOULD be, but why doesn't it display it correctly from the start?

Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks!
Matt Tyree

Difficult to say from only that small piece of code but I suspect you may be running into trouble with padding.

This link probably explains it best... Box Model hack (http://tantek.com/CSS/Examples/boxmodelhack.html)

:)

Sorry...I just didn't want to throw a ton of meaningless code up there. Most of it is all php dynamic code anyway.

Would a link to the page itself help? If so:
http://www.craddockcunningham.com/experience_project.php?ID=50&categoryID=1

Thanks!

Hmm now I see what you mean. That's just darn wierd. Let me investigate further :)

So, you tested it in both browsers, eh? It IS friggin' weird! I can't figure it out. I've had trouble with layer positioning in Netscape before. But, it was a constant thing. A refresh didn't help. So, this problem is REALLY throwing me! :)

Thanks!

Any clues as to the cause?

Maybe you fixed it by now. Went to take a look at it, the only browser it looked strange in was netscape 4.8. I tried 8 and 7.2 along with a few other browsers. Only weird thing I saw was the little 1x1 pixel below the flash.

Vsim,

So, for you the layers weren't out of place? It's definitely not fixed yet. Still does it on my end for Netscape 7.1, 7.2, 8 and Firefox. Opera shows it correctly. As for Netscape 4.8...well, I'm not really too concerned about that one. ;)

The 1x1 pixel is also a huge mystery to me. I re-exported that swf 5 times or more trying to correct it. It's not there in Flash. It only shows up when I export the swf. ??????? Finally I just decided to live with it. It was the least of my worries at the time! :D

Thanks!
Matt