169157 - elmar-wisotzki.de's Atari ST section's sniffer allows Netscape 6/7 but blocks Mozilla

Status: VERIFIED FIXED

(Tech Evangelism Graveyard :: German, defect)

Description

[Damian Yerrick]

User-Agent:       Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:1.2a) Gecko/20020910
Build Identifier: Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:1.2a) Gecko/20020910

"At the Moment my library supports only Microsoft Internet Explorer
(Version 5.5 or higher) and Netscape (Version 6.2.X or higher).  All
other tested Browsers didn't interpret the complete instructions yet."

This page normally has links to Atari 2600 style demos written in
JavaScript, but instead of links to the demos, Mozilla users get
"Browser not supported" text with no link.

Reproducible: Always

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Go to http://www.elmar-wisotzki.de/
2. Click the Atari ST tab inside the page.
3. Scroll down to the individual demos.

Actual Results:  
\/iew online: Browser not supported! (no link)

Expected Results:  
\/iew online: (Link)

The offending JS code can be found in a forthcoming attachment.

So I see two problems:
1. <script language="javascript"> should be
   <script type="text/javascript" language="javascript">
   (language attribute retained for compatibility with old browsers)
2. the checks for Netscape should rather be checks for Gecko

Unlike most "deny" evangelism bugs I find, which block the whole site
and give no way to contact the webmaster, this bug blocks only a
portion, and I get a human contact: [e-mail]

Comment 1

[Damian Yerrick]

Attachment: The relevant lines of JavaScript code from the sniffer

Your Atari ST style JS demo page's browser sniffer has a bug
or two.  Information about this bug can be found at
http://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=169157
The Netscape 6.2 and 7.0 browsers (which you allow) are branded
versions of the Mozilla browser (which you block).  Please fix this
problem for the benefit of all users of browsers based on Mozilla
code.  Hint:  Sniff for "Gecko" rather than "Netscape6" or "Netscape7".
Better yet:  Sniff for the actual DOM elements that your scripts use.

-- 
Damian

Comment 2

[Damian Yerrick]

(Comment 1 was a copy of the e-mail I sent to the webmaster.)

Comment 3

[Erik S-O Johansson]

Confirmed on Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:1.2a) Gecko/20020910

Suggestions to the whiteboard: [havecontact][havefix]. This is not, in my
opinion, really a deny issue, thats because the thing would have worked with the
correct javascript.

Well, let's wait for a response from the webmaster.

Comment 4

[Mathieu Pillard [:mat]]

yup, they should sniff for gecko.
fix : http://devedge.netscape.com/viewsource/2002/browser-detection/


please someone add contact info.

Comment 5

[Erik S-O Johansson]

Mat, the contact info is in the description: [e-mail]

Comment 6

[Damian Yerrick]

Elmar Wisotzki <[e-mail]> wrote me this e-mail:

> Ok , now I sniff for Gecko (rv: 1 and above). With NS7 (windows-version)
> there is everything ok, but under linux (I tested it with ns7 and mozilla
> 1.0.1) there is the same effekt like in early ns6 version -> the
> clipping-command in JavaScript didn't work. (As far as I remember there
> were a ns6.2.X version which did it right. )  Ok, you see what I mean
> if you watch the smiley in the first demo under windows and then under
> linux.  (before anyone blame me I will not block the linux-version.)
> 
> if you're a mozilla-freak, you can add this to the bug-list
> 
> best regards Elmar
> 
> ps: ns and mozilla are slower and do not have the smooth display like msie.
> I hope they can enhance their version.

I tested the site five minutes ago with mozilla 1.2a, and it's been
unblocked.  I'm resolving FIXED.  Any remaining issues with performance
or clipping in DHTML should be split off into their own bugs.

Comment 7

[Brant Gurganus]

verified on 2002092204 WinXP Home SP1

Comment 8

[Bob Clary [:bc] (inactive)]

tech evang june 2003 reorg