888171 - Flash not initially active upon page load when tablet is in portrait mode

Status: RESOLVED WONTFIX

(Firefox for Android Graveyard :: Plugins, defect)

Description

[Angie Walker]

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Android; Tablet; rv:22.0) Gecko/22.0 Firefox/22.0 (Nightly/Aurora)
Build ID: 20130618033857

Steps to reproduce:

Load a flash video player page on a site such as Project Free TV (http://free-tv-video-online.me) while the tablet (7" Hisense Sero 7) is in portrait display mode, after the newest update which added "full tablet UI to small tablets" is installed.


Actual results:

Plug-ins are set to enable so no tapping should be necessary for the embedded flash video player to load, but it does not load until the button that activates the displaying of all open tabs is pressed, thereby displaying the tabs and activating the player's controls nearly simultaneously. Upon pressing the button again to hide open tabs, the video remains usable.


Expected results:

The embedded flash player's controls should have become visible and usable without the need to momentarily display all open tabs.  Note: this erroneous behavior does not seem to be apparent when navigating to the same video page with the tablet oriented for landscape viewing, so this is likely related to the differing behavior of the tab-list on small tablets when in portrait vs. landscape (i.e. I notice that interacting with a webpage in portrait mode automatically collapses the tab list but it does not do so in landscape mode.)

Comment 1

[Aaron Train [:aaronmt]]

(In reply to Angie Walker from comment #0)
> Actual results:
> 
> Plug-ins are set to enable so no tapping should be necessary for the
> embedded flash video player to load, but it does not load until the button
> that activates the displaying of all open tabs is pressed, thereby
> displaying the tabs and activating the player's controls nearly
> simultaneously. Upon pressing the button again to hide open tabs, the video
> remains usable.

I'm not sure what you're referring to here in regard to 'all open tabs is pressed' and references to tabs in general. For the aforementioned URL you have provided the plugin content is loaded, the JWPlayer still requires you to tap play to initiate playback. The same thing happens on desktop.

I just tested this on Nightly/Aurora/Beta with Flash with plugins set to enabled and for playback to start all I needed to do was hit the play button in the video. I did have to close a popup first though.

Comment 2

[Angie Walker]

OK, I understand that it's normal to have to tap the embedded video to activate the player but that's not my complaint.  Sorry if it's confusing to read... I'll try to explain further.

On my device, Hisense Sero 7 Pro, when oriented in portrait mode, the embedded player just stays a black rectangle at first.  No amount of tapping on it makes it usable... until I tap the Firefox button in the upper-left corner of the screen (the button that might say "2>" or "3>" etc. corresponding to the number of open tabs I currently have going.)  Once I touch that button and the list of open tabs is subsequently displayed, the embedded video suddenly becomes usable (i.e. it now shows a still image of the video and can be tapped to activate playing.)  It continues to be usable even as the "tabs button" is tapped again and the list of open tabs goes back to being hidden.

I do not see this behavior when I load the same page with the tablet in landscape orientation.  In landscape, the page loads and the player acts the way it's supposed to and responds to being tapped immediately, and plays, etc. without the need to touch that "tabs button."  Sorry I don't know if there's a better name for the button but that's the issue as I see it on my device.

Notes: I've never used Firefox for Android on a larger tablet than this 7" model so I don't know if perhaps you got lost in my original explanation because the behavior of tabs is different on your device; not sure but it's a thought if this still doesn't make any sense.  Also I am aware that the site in question is generally lousy with popups, etc.  I apologize for any inconvenience that causes in testing.  Myself, I have engaged both AdBlock Plus add-on and Silent Block.  I have created a custom list of strings for the browser "not to load" using Silent Block, and between these two add-ons I've managed to take most of the "suck" out of Project Free TV - but I have also tested the same URL I provided with both add-ons disabled and it does not appear to have any positive effect with regard to this issue; just makes the site harder to use.  Still, if you wish, I can provide my custom block list if you want to double-check for any possible relationship - or just to have an easier time using the site.  I've found it quite useful myself.

Comment 3

[Jan Henning [:JanH]]

Flash is going away (bug 1381916), so there's no point in pursuing this further.