542560 - hbo.com - inaccessible site content: SeaMonkey not "supported"

Status: RESOLVED WORKSFORME

(Web Compatibility :: Site Reports, defect)

Description

[Felix Miata]

I cannot even paste in the page text, because all but the "get Flash Player" link is in:
http://i.cdn.hbo.com/custom-assets/img/error/minimum-requirements-upper-text.gif & http://i.cdn.hbo.com/custom-assets/img/error/minimum-requirements-lower-text.gif

The whole site is completely inaccessible currently. Deep links provided by Google produce either 404 or the same system requirements/supported browsers gifs. Google found a "contact us form", but submit on it too produces a 404.

Comment 1

[Stéphane Grégoire (yamo)]

Hi, 

This web site is very slow but on the index page I'm not blocked on which link is there a bug?

My useragent : Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; fr; rv:1.9.1.11) Gecko/20100701 Lightning/1.0b1 Mnenhy/0.8.3 SeaMonkey/2.0.6 not Firefox

In about:config I have this : 
general.useragent.extra.xfake = not Firefox

Comment 2

[Felix Miata]

In Mozilla/5.0 (OS/2; U; Warp 4.5; en-US; rv:1.8.1.23) Gecko/20090827 SeaMonkey/1.1.18 (PmW) the following copy & paste is what is there now"

"
Sorry, you must have the Flash Player installed to access HBO.com

In order to continue, please install the Flash Player.

Flash Player 10 - Get Latest
The browser you are using is not recommended

It appears you are currently using Netscape 5 which is not fully supported by this site. To optimize your viewing experience, please view HBO.com in one of the following browsers:

It appears you are currently using a version of Safari which is not fully supported by this site. To optimize your viewing experience, please view HBO.com in one of the following browsers:

    * Internet Explorer 6.0+ - Get Latest
    * Firefox 3.0+ - Get Latest
    * Google Chrome 4.0+ - Get Latest
"

Though now it's inaccessible in any latest Gecko, e.g.
Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686; rv:2.0b2) Gecko/20100720 Firefox/4.0b2:

"Sorry, you must have the Flash Player installed to access HBO.com

In order to continue, please install the Flash Player.

Flash Player 10 - Get Latest
"

Comment 3

[Felix Miata]

Using 3.6.8 I found a feedback form (but is wasn't easy wading through the mousetype to get there): http://www.hbo.com/#/about/feedback.html

Comment 4

[Karl Dubost💡 :karlcow]

Not the case anymore. Site has changed.

Comment 5

[Felix Miata]

Attachment: HTML saved from hbo.com opened in Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686; rv:32.0) Gecko/20100101 SeaMonkey/2.29; Build ID: 20140904220119

Page still includes "The browser you are using is not recommended", in black on gray, so it's hard to tell what is on the page without viewing source.

Comment 6

[Felix Miata]

(In reply to Karl Dubost :karlcow from comment #4)
> Not the case anymore. Site has changed.

Changed yes, but problem remains.

Comment 7

[Karl Dubost💡 :karlcow]

Attachment: hbo-screen.png

Ah thanks. I had missed that this morning during my test.
So Here's a screenshot. Note that they do not block users. They just give the message and then you can go on and use the site.

Comment 8

[Karl Dubost💡 :karlcow]

The error message page:
http://www.hbo.com/html/error/browser_message_e.html?return=http://www.hbo.com/

Given their JS it means also that the previous Opera (aka Presto) was failing. This could be partly fixed by doing feature detection instead of user agent sniffing, but I don't think we will be able to achieve that even contacting them.

The test goes with this logic:

==================================
Test (FlashOK and FlashVersion):
   Then test BrowserVersion
       OK we continue
   Else
       Error page E
Else aka not (FlashOK and FlashVersion)
   Then test BrowserVersion
       Error page A
   Else 
       Error page B
==================================
I wonder what is required from Browser to be working.



function checkAndPromptForBrowserOrFlashUpgrade(){
    var cookieNameBrowser = "hbo.browser.upgrade";
    var cookieNameFlash = "hbo.flash.upgrade";
    if( (readCookie(cookieNameBrowser) == "ignore") || ( readCookie(cookieNameFlash) == "ignore") ){
        return true;
    }


    if(flashSupported() && flashVersionGood()) {
        if(browserVersionGood()){
            return true;
        } else {
            window.location.href = '/html/error/browser_message_e.html?return=' + encodeOriginUrl();
            return false;
        }
    } else {
        if(browserVersionGood() ) {
            window.location.href = '/html/error/browser_message_a.html?return=' + encodeOriginUrl();
            return false;
        } else {
            window.location.href = '/html/error/browser_message_b.html?return=' + encodeOriginUrl();
            return false;
        }
    }

    return false;
}


function browserSupported(browserName){
    var supported = false;
    var supportedBrowsersOnPC = ['Microsoft Internet Explorer', 'Chrome', 'Firefox'];
    var supportedBrowsersOnMac = ['Firefox', 'Safari', 'Chrome'];

    if(isMac()){
        for(var i=0; i<supportedBrowsersOnMac.length; i++){
            if(browserName == supportedBrowsersOnMac[i]){
                supported = true;
                break;
            }
        }
    }else{
        for(var i=0; i<supportedBrowsersOnPC.length; i++){
            if(browserName == supportedBrowsersOnPC[i]){
                supported = true;
                break;
            }
        }
    }
    return supported;
}

function olderBrowserUnsupported(){
    var unsupported = false;
    var bname = getBrowserName();
    if(bname == 'Microsoft Internet Explorer' && getBrowserMajorVersion() < 6){
        unsupported = true;
    }
    return unsupported;
}

function browserVersionGood(){
    versionGood = false;
    bname = getBrowserName();
    if(!browserSupported(bname)){
        return false;
    }
    if(bname == 'Microsoft Internet Explorer' && getBrowserMajorVersion() >= 7){
        versionGood = true;
    }else if(bname == 'Firefox' && getBrowserMajorVersion() >= 4){
        var versionString = navigator.appVersion;
        var spacePosition = navigator.appVersion.indexOf(" ");
        if(spacePosition > 0) {
            versionString = navigator.appVersion.substring(0, spacePosition);
        }

        if(firefoxVersionGood(versionString)) {
            versionGood = true;
        }
    }else if(bname == 'Chrome' && getBrowserMajorVersion() >= 4){
        versionGood = true;
    }else if(bname == 'Safari' && getBrowserMajorVersion() >= 530 ){
        versionGood = true;
    }
    return versionGood;
}

function firefoxVersionGood(browserVersion) {
    return versionCmp(browserVersion, 4.0);
}

Comment 9

[Felix Miata]

Where'd you get SeaMonkey 9.23a1pre? Could IE7 or FF4 really be better? ROFLOL

No checkboxes show up here. There is no acceptable Flash for Linux any more, if there ever was anywhere, so my SeaMonkeys know nothing of the existence of any such plugin. So, it's not just broken sniffing, but HBO isn't ready for HTML5 either.

Comment 10

[Karl Dubost💡 :karlcow]

Felix, I'm faking UAs. 
I would have the same results with yours :)
Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux i686; rv:32.0) Gecko/20100101 SeaMonkey/2.29

Comment 11

[Karl Dubost💡 :karlcow]

Attachment: hbo-screen-seamonkey-linux.png

With your UA, Felix I get the Checkbox. 
But I do have flash on this computer so I receive 

http://www.hbo.com/html/error/browser_message_e.html?return=http://www.hbo.com/

In your case you receive which has no checkbox.
http://www.hbo.com/html/error/browser_message_b.html?return=http://www.hbo.com/

But this because they consider you absolutely needs flash to get the experience of the site. 

What do you propose Felix?
Are there parts of the site you would like to access without having flash?
If yes, would you like to contact them?

Comment 12

[Felix Miata]

(In reply to Karl Dubost :karlcow from comment #11)
> Are there parts of the site you would like to access without having flash?

Absolutely. In particular, the programming schedule. All Flash does for a program schedule is make it harder to use. If nothing better, a non-Flash page with links to schedule in PDF format is preferable to a technology no longer viable for Linux users. This applies to all programming providers, not just HBO, and not just for cable or satellite programming providers. Just because someone looks for a schedule on the Internet doesn't imply they want to click a schedule link and watch TV on a little puter screen instead of their magnitudes bigger TV.

> If yes, would you like to contact them?

As I am not a current subscriber, probably better someone else do that.

Comment 13

[Felix Miata]

Home page and schedule now open in SM with no browser messages evident.