Is Firefox losing the plot?

[Ray]

Am I alone in getting the impression that Firefox is not as good as it used to be? I seem to be getting more problems recently with some web sites, particularly on line shopping sites when you get to the checkout/payment stage. I am getting invalid url messages or transaction failures and yet switching to IE8 I can make the transaction with no problem.

I think I'm going to have to investigate using a different browser soon.

[Steve]

Its a worry if you have to switch to IE to solve one's problem. I moved away from FF when I got the Mac. I used to think that the amount of adds on possibly didn't help, surely they can't all be completely compatible. If I use it these days its an unadulterated version.

[Gary]

I dont have any problems with it Ray, I like Safari but its not as good at antiphishing as FF, also apart from installing glimmerblocker, the other ways to stop ads in Safari are hacks really. Have you got some URL's  I could try. I use it for buying from most sites and have no issue whatsoever with those messages you have stated.

[Rik]

I've not had any problems, Ray.

[Ray]

I hadn't until the last week or so, Rik, but I have a suspicion that it has something to do with the Noscript addin and it's handling/blocking of cross site scripting which some of the Bank payment sites seem to use. My problems always seem to occur at the stage where you are re directed to the payment site or the final stage of the payment.

[Rik]

I don't use Noscript, so that could well be the issue, Ray.

[Ray]

I've disabled it now to see if the problem disappears. 

[Gary]

No script can be a pain Ray as most pages need scripts I tried it and it was just to much of a niggle. It could be the cause of the issue.

[Simon]

I've never had any problems with Sea Monkey.

[Rik]

We should get Clive over here to give us an opinion. 

[Gary]

I wonder who will bring out Air Badger as a browser  

[Steve]

  h...y

[Simon]

I wonder when Wet Beaver will come out? 

[Rik]

Not till later in the season, or so I'm told.

[Gary]

I wonder when Wet Beaver will come out? 

At least I was sticking to a theme, Simon. You are a very naughty man 

[Simon]

Moi? 

[zappaDPJ]

I was an IE user but recently switched to FF after trying Chrome for a while. I didn't like the minimal approach taken by chrome but it did have a speed advantage and it also rendered web pages correctly, something IE is not capable of doing. I like FF and will continue to use it because of the features it has to offer including the one click skin feature and the plug-in spell checker. I've not yet encountered the problems Ray is reporting but I have encountered other issues that I find quite annoying.

FF is slow to render, very slow in fact. As an example if I click above for [more] smilies above I can see the the BBCode populate the window before the graphics appear. FF is also a pain in the backside as far as installing a plug-in is concerned. I've often ended up chasing my tail before finally having to google to find an FF specific install procedure. The other thing I don't like is the arbitrary way FF handles downloads. Sometimes it asks if it should associate a file extension with a particular application and sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it allows you to set that extension permanently but often the option is greyed out. That whole area needs to be looked at because it clearly doesn't remember previous settings.

I don't use NoScript because all of my websites contain content that NoScript would block. I don't know how it works but I suspect everything is blocked until you add a site to the list. If it was the other way around I certainly have a use for it but I do want to see all the content a site has to offer and then have the choice to block it after the event which probably makes its primary function redundant! However I suspect NoScript might be the source of Ray's problems.

[Rik]

You can set the file handling options, Zap: Tools > Options > Applications.

[zappaDPJ]

I've checked that out Rik and I have multiple listings for the same file type and associated application all of which are causing the problem mentioned above. I need to investigate further but thanks for the tip 

[Ray]

I don't use NoScript because all of my websites contain content that NoScript would block. I don't know how it works but I suspect everything is blocked until you add a site to the list. If it was the other way around I certainly have a use for it but I do want to see all the content a site has to offer and then have the choice to block it after the event which probably makes its primary function redundant! However I suspect NoScript might be the source of Ray's problems.

That is basically how it works, Zap, you have to unblock sites, and it can be a pain on shopping sites when you are making payments because when you unblock a script it resends the data, which isn't a good idea when you're making a payment, quite likely to end up with a duplicated charge!

I'm 99% certain now that it was the cause of original problems.

[Rik]

It's OK when ordering from DR, Ray, you get twice the meat.

[Ray]

It's OK when ordering from DR, Ray, you get twice the meat.

Wouldn't mind that, Rik, it's twice the cost I don't like. 

[Rik]

I've checked that out Rik and I have multiple listings for the same file type and associated application all of which are causing the problem mentioned above. I need to investigate further but thanks for the tip  

You will have, often things like Quicktime and WMP for an MP3, say, depending on which was updated last. Watch out for the 'Use other' at the bottom of the drop down list. I missed that the first time and couldn't  work out how to change the settings.  

[Rik]

It's usually twice the freezer space requirement too.

[zappaDPJ]

You will have, often things like Quicktime and WMP for an MP3, say, depending on which was updated last. Watch out for the 'Use other' at the bottom of the drop down list. I missed that the first time and couldn't  work out how to change the settings.  

Noted