Internet Explorer not loading third-party CSS

I doubt it's a CSS issue, but I guess it's caused by the images being loaded from a different domain. Like superuser.com gets its images from sstatic.com, such as the sprite that includes the logo.

Hence: are you sure another browser on that same machine doesn't give the same problems? If another browser has that same issue, then it is probably caused by some virus scanner. If not, then maybe some security settings in IE?

(Note that the CSS is loaded from sstatic.com as well, so if other parts of the CSS seem to be honoured, then it must be specific to images, not to blocking third-party domains in general.)

Arjan

Posted 2010-07-10T11:47:38.987

Reputation: 29 084

Chrome is fine - am trying to teach user (Father in Law) to use that instead.

Looks to be IE loading remote images... – Dan Kelly – 2010-07-11T12:15:45.083

@Dan, or: Chrome might be using different proxy settings, if any. As far as I know IE always uses the system wide proxy settings (which some virus scanner might have changed into its own), while maybe Chrome is using something different -- or none at all. Some virus scanner might also be intercepting IE traffic some other way (without a proxy), oblivious about Chrome if that was installed after the virus scanner was installed? I am just guessing, not using Windows so I don't know really. – Arjan – 2010-07-11T12:20:26.727

As above, Safe Mode doesn't improve anything.

I've tried adding SuperUser to the trusted sites and turning those settings to "Low" - no response.

Remote images certainly seems to be the cause of the issue though.

(No idea when the issue arose as FiL didn't even see the problem until it was pointed out even though BBC news didn't look right!) – Dan Kelly – 2010-07-11T12:40:26.983

@Dan, aha, BBC News. That uses a different domain for its static content as well, like http://static.bbc.co.uk/frameworks/barlesque/1.2.8/newnav/style/main.css (and many more other domains). Any other examples? (If you're interested: see the SO blog for the why.)

– Arjan – 2010-07-11T12:57:40.497

talktalk.co.uk, guardian.co.uk,
www.theregister.co.uk/ – Dan Kelly – 2010-07-11T13:01:09.080

@Dan, by the way: I doubt Safe Mode will change proxy settings, as when using a proxy that may very well be required to get onto the internet to start with. Guess Windows would not disable that then. Can IE actually fetch the Super User sprite directly? – Arjan – 2010-07-11T13:01:56.100

@Dan, right, static images for talktalk.co.uk are hosted on a different domain too, like: http://media.talktalk.co.uk/sites/TalkTalk/Components/Static/Generic_Components/Top_Navigation_Bar/BG.png And the logo for The Guardian is on a different domain too: http://static.guim.co.uk/static/91708/networkfront/images/guardian_logo.gif Can IE fetch it directly?

– Arjan – 2010-07-11T13:04:37.520

All those links seem to be fine when going directly.

As far as I can see there is no proxy setup for IE. – Dan Kelly – 2010-07-11T13:09:39.783

@Dan, but: still, it could also not be fetching the CSS to start with. You wrote "seems to have loaded the fonts correctly", which I interpreted as: it must have taken those definitions from the CSS. But that might not be the case. Now, The Guardian's logo is not defined in the CSS, but in the HTML. Did IE show that on the web page? See this screen capture for what I mean.

– Arjan – 2010-07-11T13:10:03.073

@Dan, I'm away for a bit. As I guess comments are not read that well, please add some examples from these comments to your question, for later readers. If the guardion.co.uk logo is not showing on the normal page either, then I guess you can also change the title to read "Internet Explorer does not load third-party images" or something like that. Success! – Arjan – 2010-07-11T13:14:43.233

Guardian Logo is loaded. Menu bar is not formatted - no grey background. No coloured font. Different font. – Dan Kelly – 2010-07-11T13:15:01.547

@Dan, hmmm. Just in case you don't know: Chrome has a right-click option "Inspect element", which either shows you references to an image in the HTML itself (like show in my earlier screen capture), or if it's not in the HTML source then it must be defined in the CSS. Maybe it can help figure out what, and what not, is loaded by IE. – Arjan – 2010-07-11T13:18:13.327

Ah, the menu bar colours and fonts are defined in a CSS file that's on a different domain. @Dan, I guess you can safely change the title to "Internet Explorer not loading third-party CSS" then...

– Arjan – 2010-07-11T13:21:00.880

Thanks Arjen. HAve to leave this for a while as need to head out. – Dan Kelly – 2010-07-11T13:28:49.977

Wasn't able to look at this until now and it's still happening. – Dan Kelly – 2010-11-21T12:36:44.613

@Dan, I already merged most of your comments into your question. I hope you don't expect any further magic unless you give us something better to work with than "it's still happening"... Success! – Arjan – 2010-11-21T16:12:56.747

Sorry Arjen, was wondering if we could stir more interest - the information provided is all we have - IE not loading remote CSS, other browsers are fine. No proxy set up. Safe Mode makes no difference. Don't know what else to try and change. – Dan Kelly – 2010-11-21T17:33:28.710

How's your hard drive space? Any chance you triggered some compatibility view? Sure there's no system wide proxy settings --notably from some virus scanner or firewall software-- that IE is using (but other browsers are not)?

– Arjan – 2010-11-21T22:25:20.447

Shift refresh has no impact. – Dan Kelly – 2010-07-11T12:14:00.267

As an aside: while many sites are not that smart, Super User et al actually ensure that server side changes are always downloaded by the browser. Many sites just refer to some-name.css, but Super User uses a unique version number which is changed whenever the HTML of the site is changed, forcing a browser to fetch the latest CSS. Like, today: http://sstatic.net/su/all.css?v=609fabe2825d. – Arjan – 2010-07-11T12:25:31.753

Internet Explorer not loading third-party CSS

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