Navigation: Buttons, buttons, who's got the buttons

What exactly do you mean by "navigation" here?

The action buttons attached to the different LiveJournal forms. The "Login" button, for instance, and the "Update Journal" button. Also, the drop-down menus used in certain LiveJournal layouts (for instance, the 'Update' item that appears under the 'Journal' item in XColibur).

What kind of problems might we see with the navigation on LiveJournal? How can they be fixed?

The navigation might not be appearing for the user, or might not be activated when the user clicks on it or hits return in an appropriate form. Both of these problems are generally caused by incomplete JavaScript support in the user's browser. This can happen if the user's browser is out of date, if its basic support for JavaScript is not particularly good to begin with, or if the user has used built-in options, plugins, or extensions to disable some pieces of JavaScript. (Many users do this to protect themselves from unwanted advertisements and other annoyances, and many others enable or disable such features accidentally.)

In this case, the solution is to upgrade one's browser, unselect any options that selectively disable JavaScript, add LiveJournal to any "trusted site" list that may exist to allow it to use JavaScript, or use a new browser. The "Navigation" section of FAQ 210, "Why does LiveJournal display incorrectly in my browser?" is specifically designed to deal with problems like this, and an answer to a question about missing buttons or unusable navigation should reference it.

What are some common signs of navigation problems?

• The user reports that there are no buttons on any LiveJournal form (the "Update Journal" form, for instance, or the login form).


• The user reports that there are no menu options on the main page under "Journal", "Customize", etc.


• The user reports that clicking a button, such as the "Update Journal" button, doesn't do anything.