Problem with Java on Firefox 24.0 (affects picture uploading, picture viewing, and other things)

Hi Greg,
I don't really think this is a YLF bug per se, more of a problem with Firefox in general, but thought I'd let you know anyway and ask if you knew of a fix. Basically, with today's update to Firefox 24.0, Java has stopped working (not just on YLF but everywhere). This affects several things that I have noticed so far on YLF. First, I can't upload photos anymore - instead of the picture upload icon, I get a message that says "Please enable JavaScript if you would like to include photos in your posts." Second, when viewing photos, the pop-up photo viewer no longer works. Instead, clicking on a thumbnail takes me to a new page with just the one photo and I have to use the back button to get back to the forum. Finally, the edit post/ report spam/ etc that usually pops up when you hover over the gear icon does not work.

These all still work fine in Safari. I do prefer Firefox though so I hope you know how to fix the problem! I have read that Mozilla has decided that Java is too insecure to be always active, but that you can enable for certain sites manually. However, on my version (for Mac) I can't figure out how to do this. My Java applet plug-in still says "always allowed" but no Javascript is currently working on any site.

PS - I will reply in a minute using Safari with screenshots. (since I can't upload them on Firefox, grr...)

12 years ago

Diana

Veteran

Using Safari now to upload the screenshots.

#1 is what I get instead of the picture upload icon.
#2 is what happens when I click on a photo. You can see it's a direct link to the image rather than the pop-up with navigation that I'm supposed to get.

By the way, I am using Mac OS 10.6.8. All my software is up to date, including (I assume) java. The Firefox is the newest update (24.0, downloaded today).

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Greg

Administrator

Hi Diana,

From the screenshots, yes, Javascript is definitely disabled in your browser for some reason. I have FF24 on my Mac, but that isn't happening in my case. In fact, in version 23 they removed the option to disable Javascript and now you have to install a special plugin to do that.

By the way, "Java" and "Javascript" are actually two completely unrelated things. Most websites, like YLF, use Javascript. But very few require Java. This explains why that Java applet plugin has no effect.

Still, that doesn't help to explain why Javascript isn't working. Do you have any other plugins installed?

Also, here's something that might give us a little more info: Right click anywhere on the page and choose "Inspect Element". A new area will appear at the bottom of the page. At the top of the area, click "Console". Then...

Reload the page
Click in the console area
Press command-a to select all
Press command-c to copy all
Open an email message to me
Copy the console contents into the email using command-c
Send that to me

Finally, just out of curiosity... what is it that you prefer about Firefox?

Cheers,
Greg

Thanks, Greg. I just sent the console data to you in a PM.

I've changed nothing with my plugins, etc, except for the automatic firefox upgrade to 24.0. YLF and Java were running fine yesterday on 23.

These are the plugins I have (I think I have had them all for ages although I admit I haven't checked in a while):
iphotoPhotocast 6.0
Java Applet Plugin 13.9.7
movenetworks quantum media player npnmqmp 071701000001
picasa 1.0
quicktime 7.6.6
shockwave flash 11.8.800.168

I also have the evernote web clipper extension (v5.7).

As to why I prefer Firefox? At this point I'm not sure to be honest. Just familiarity I guess. It used to run substantially faster and hung up far less often than Safari but Safari seems to have improved a lot recently. I also think Firefox is highly customizable, which I like, but again I think Safari has improved a lot in this regard.

But maybe I should try Chrome?

Well, this is interesting. My work laptop has just updated its firefox as well and everything is working fine on that computer. It is a newer model Macbook pro but is running the same system configuration (10.6.8). I have more plugins on the work computer too.

So confusing.

Strange. The thing I would try is disabling all of the plugins. If Javascript works after that then re-enable the plugins one by one and see which one is the culprit.

I use Chrome most of the time. Chrome and Safari share (mostly) the same internal engine and I find that they generally do a better job of rendering websites than Firefox.

OK, I will try that when I get home. Thanks, Greg. Funny thing is that I think this laptop (the work one, which works fine) has all the same plugins plus more.

I forgot the reason why I don't like to use chrome. Although I have two google accounts, I dislike being always logged in to them while I am online (I use macmail most of the time to access my gmail so I don't even log on to do that) and Chrome kept nagging about it (I haven't used it in a while though so maybe this has changed?). Also, I'm not sure it's fully functional when not logged in.

But Safari was being fairly well behaved when I was using it yesterday so I might try that for a while.

Deactivating all the plug-ins did not work. Oh well. I am just going to use Safari on this computer for a while. I did not realize how much of the internet depends on Javascript!

On a related note, with safari it appears I can only type in the reply box if I click it near the top (basically where it says "your reply here.") In firefox, I could click anywhere in the box and be able to type. Is this supposed to happen in Safari?

No, that isn't supposed to happen. I'm in Safari right now and it isn't happening here. Can you tell me the version number of your browser?

Safari 5.1.10 on OS 10.6.8.

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