Help needed - CSS Issues in Developer Mode

[Anna Ewing]

Whilst making changes to my site I was testing out language changes that would be only relevent to a non-administrator and whilst doing so noticed a big issue...

When I change my administrative privledges so that my additional account is a "normal member" on my Ning network (as opposed to an admin) none of the CSS I have recently added to the appearance of my network under developer mode are visible??? As soon as log in as network creator or change my additional account back to administrator as opposed to "normal member" suddenly I can see all the CSS changes I have made again!

Is this just me missing something obvious??

The same thing is happening in IE, Chrome and Firefox.

Utterly confused.

Help!

Anna

[SweetPotato]

just try a hard refresh (ctrl + f5) and if that fails clear your browser cache.
should be ok then

[Anna Ewing]

Unfortunately it's nothing to do with the cache as this is happening on all browsers, on multiple devices (tested on ipad and laptop) and relates specifically to changing administrative privledges impacting upon the css.

This is not something that happened 6 months ago when i launched my network as my site is heavily customised via developer mode css theme changes which are displayed regardless of whom is logged in, however changes i made yesterday plus a change i made a couple of months back (struggling to recollect exactly when) i have now realised are impacting by this bug/issue.

To clarify (i was very tired when writing my original post last night)...

I have two accounts on my network - my creator account and a user account that has top administrator status.

I made changes to the css under developer mode whilst logged in as network creator. The css changes were fine both through firebug and also when updated onto my ning network. I did this on Firefox browser.

I then logged in on google chrome as my user account to check changes etc. All the new css was displaying correctly.

I then used firefox and my creator account and changed the status of my user account from top administrator to normal member.

I refreshed the page on google chrome so i could view my network as a normal member rather than top administrator and suddenly all my newly added css changes were no longer displayed.

I then returned to firefox and reversed this action by giving my user account back it's top administrator status.

I went back to google chrome refreshed the page and low and behold all my new css was back again!

This issue therefore in no way relates to the cache and is specific to the change of admin status and the baring this has on css changes made to the appearance of my ning network under developer mode.

[Aaron]

Hey Anna,

If you don't mind, shoot us a ticket from the Support link on your My Network dashboard so that we can take a closer look. I think some of this is caching-related as SP suggested (and note that we cache signed out versions of networks for ~15 minutes for performance reasons), but if you're seeing different things while signed in under different accounts, that doesn't seem right.

Thanks!
Aaron

[Anna Ewing]

Hi Aaron, thanks for your reply. This is what I can't get my head around - my kneejerk reaction too was the cache but I did all my usual empty refresh tactics as suggested by SweetPotato (thanks for taking the time to reply by the way) but to no avail. The fact that a change I updated months ago is also affected is rather odd...

Anyway, I have raised a support ticket just now so hopefully you can help me get to the bottom of it!

Anna

[Patrick Chappelle]

Have you switched out of Developer Mode? That's the only thing that makes sense here. Happened to me last year.

[Anna Ewing]

I have only ever edited my ning network in developer mode so from the day i launched that has been my default landing when opening up the appearance module. It's the only way i can get my ning network looking how i need. I was under the impression (may be wrong it's late and i have a weary tired brain tonight!) if i exit developer mode then i lose my custom edits? I did leave it a couple of months before re-editing my code as i split my time between working on ning and using wordpress and opencart to develop client sites for my business, so can't be absolutely sure what/if i have done anything differently ...

Did you have the same issue kast year then patrick?

[Patrick Chappelle]

Exiting DM will not remove your customization, Anna.

[SweetPotato]

I think it will, actually, or at least whenever I've used it to then go back to design studio everything is lost.

[Anna Ewing]

This was my recollection of back when i was pre-launch sweetpotato but luckily i had backed up my css work...

[SweetPotato]

It's always seemed counter intuitive that you have a developer mode where you can adjust less variables etc that are not then available in the design studio were one to, for example, hand a site back to someone who didn't want to worry themselves with advanced CSS but wanted to tweak the odd thing here and there in the DS.

[Anna Ewing]

Just double checked by logging into my network and as i suspected it has a warning saying leaving developer mode will lose all current customisation...so i have definitely only ever worked in developer mode since launch but this css issue is something that has happened post-launch ...so doesn't seem to be related to developer mode. Unless you think backing up my files leaving developer mode then reentering developer mode and reinputting my code will fix it? (remind me of the whole just turn it off and on again approach to unknown techy issues ;) ) What issue did you have last year patrick? The same as me?

[Patrick Chappelle]

Hmm. Interesting. I only tried using it just once, don't know what for. What I do recall is that being in DM removed customization from my members pages, and possibly other customization. Had to contact Ning help, and they told me to exit Developer Mode, and all was well again. I don't go anywhere near it for that reason.