Netscape 7.02 - an un-goodie and a warning

[halstrom]

:rolleyes:

Hi all,

I downloaded Netscape 7.02 just to see what my web pages would look like in their product (I'm an IE fan... dread using Netscape).

First, the un-goodie.

By default, Netscape 7.02 installs showing its "Modern" interface (they call it a theme). Unfortunately, the "Modern" interface does not adhere to the standard vertical scrollbar width.

So. If you're using any kind of a graphical interface for your pages, taking into account the vertical scrollbar width, so that your graphics end flush against the scrollbar on an 800x600 display, you now have a Netscaped web page, showing a thin streak the color of your web page background along the right edge.

Now the warning.

The Netscape 7.02 "Modern" interface defaults to extreme security options for Web Forms (all ASP.NET pages, that is) and does not treat the ASP:IMAGEBUTTON control kindly.

A click on an ASP:IMAGEBUTTON used to process links at the server (server-side image map) or as an ADD-TO-CART button yields the following Netscape warning:

"The information you have entered is to be sent over an unencrypted connection and could easily be read by a third party. Are you sure you want to continue sending this information?"

Place yourself in the shoes of a Web surfer who's just come to your website and is not well-versed in web programming. At the time of the click, the Web surfer has not "ENTERED" any information, and yet he/she is getting a message about information being sent which could easily be read by others.

Seems to me that the most likely conclusion the visitor will reach is that somehow your website is skulking about his/her computer and gathering private information and is about to transmit it. Not exactly a desirable conclusion, especially when running an E-Commerce site where trust means everything.

I've only tried it with ASP:IMAGEBUTTONS, so someone should test it with other web controls-- all web controls are part of a form...

At this point, I would venture a guess that it applies to other form elements as well. Why do I say that without testing other controls? It's been my experience that Netscape = expect surprises (not all of them pleasant).

What they're trying to do is warn the Web surfer that SSL is not being used. Unfortunately, the way they've gone about doing it could end up undermining a lot of .NET coding.

Perhaps this is their way of discouraging .NET development?

What they should have done is check for which kind of form element was being used. If a textbox or a text area, where actual information has been entered, and SSL is not being used. then by all means fire a warning. But it appears to me that their code only checks if a Form is being used and a Submit button has been clicked. Since an ASP:IMAGEBUTTON is rendered to the browser as an IMAGE INPUT tag-- you get a warning.

Thanks to Netscape's latest, I'm back to Client-Side Image Maps and straight <A Href="etc"><IMG SRC="etc" etc></A>

Don't you love it when people you've never met force you to program your pages "their" way?

Bottom line: be careful with how Netscape 7.02 treats your ASP:IMAGEBUTTONS, specially with E-Commerce sites.

:rolleyes:

[techgnome]

Originally posted by halstrom
:rolleyes:
Perhaps this is their way of discouraging .NET development?

No, not really.... NS7 isn't exactly on top of the cutting edge.... if you want a better test, try running Mozilla....

What they should have done is check for which kind of form element was being used. If a textbox or a text area, where actual information has been entered, and SSL is not being used. then by all means fire a warning. But it appears to me that their code only checks if a Form is being used and a Submit button has been clicked. Since an ASP:IMAGEBUTTON is rendered to the browser as an IMAGE INPUT tag-- you get a warning.
If a form is being used, and a submit button is pushed, OF COURSE it's going to check for SSL.... if SSL isn't being used, then a warning pops. up. Most people out there have also check that "Don't warn me again...." option on the message.


Don't you love it when people you've never met force you to program your pages "their" way?

:rolleyes:
Quite honestly, I think MS is guilty of this more than NS.....

[halstrom]

...When a visitor comes to your site, you don't need to throw messages at them, hoping that they'll understand them. You need everything going smoothly from the minute they hit your front page.

In business, the one customer you lose is the one who could have bought the whole store...you never know.

:)

As for needing another test, no not really. I was not testing my pages, but rather what their latest browser does to my pages.

[techgnome]

Originally posted by halstrom
...When a visitor comes to your site, you don't need to throw messages at them, hoping that they'll understand them. You need everything going smoothly from the minute they hit your front page.

In business, the one customer you lose is the one who could have bought the whole store...you never know.

:)

As for needing another test, no not really. I was not testing my pages, but rather what their latest browser does to my pages.
Well, if that's the additude, then you should be ensuring that the latest HTML W3C standards are adhered to.... which I don't think .NET des very well.... as for the messages thing, all I can say is that out of the box, EVERY BROWSER I'VE ever used has ALWAYS thrown up that message the first time I encountered such a senario. No biggie really.....

If you didn't need the test, then why did you even try it? You want things to run smoothly, yet not make sure that it's going to work OK in all browsers.... sounds like BS to me.... I don't know how many sites I turn away from simply because they were using ASP.NET and wasn't compatible w/ Mozilla..... They obviously don't need my business that badly.