Ebay in league with M$?

[linux_learner]

on desktoplinux.com someone reported that mozilla didnt work with ebay http://www.desktoplinux.com/cgi-bin/board/...Page=0&Session=

 

we debated it for a bit, contimplating if it could be a misconfigured browser or what not. http://www.desktoplinux.com/cgi-bin/board/...Page=0&Session=

 

while the ebay home page displays properly, other pages may not. i decided to look at the source code and see why. i found this

 

function MM_swapImage() { //v2.0

var i,j=0,objStr,obj,swapArray=new Array,oldArray=document.MM_swapImgData;

for (i=0; i < (MM_swapImage.arguments.length-2); i+=3) {

objStr = MM_swapImage.arguments[(navigator.appName == 'Netscape')?i:i+1];

if ((objStr.indexOf('document.layers[')==0 && document.layers==null) ||

(objStr.indexOf('document.all[') ==0 && document.all ==null))

objStr = 'document'+objStr.substring(objStr.lastIndexOf('.'),objStr.length);

obj = eval(objStr);

if (obj != null) {

swapArray[j++] = obj;

swapArray[j++] = (oldArray==null || oldArray[j-1]!=obj)?obj.src:oldArray[j];

obj.src = MM_swapImage.arguments[i+2];

 

notice on line 4 it has "objStr = MM_swapImage.arguments[(navigator.appName == 'Netscape')?i:i+1];". obviously their looking for sites that identify themselves as Netscape or Netscape compatible.

 

look at the source yourself http://www.ebaycareers.com/jobsearch/index.html

 

now i point this out not to whine, but to act upon this. we need to act here. we need the linux community to email ebay and tell them what we think about this.

Edited February 28, 2004 by linux_learner

[Steve Scrimpshire]

...Also we do not support Linux and more and more Linux users are finding eBay harder to use. We recommend that you try a current Macintosh or PC. We do apologize for any inconvenience or concern this has

caused, and we thank you for choosing eBay.

 

Hmmmm...what is totally wrong with this statement?

[Gnubie]

I propose a boycott of Ebay until they fix this. There are plenty of other auction sites on the net which do not discriminate against their customers.

[liquidzoo]

I sent an email to eBay Customer Support reguarding this very issue. I cannot speak for their source code, but here is the response I got back from a very polite rep:

 

Hello Andrew,

 

Thank you for writing to eBay customer support. My name is Julian and I

am happy address the concerns you are having regarding compatibility

issues with different OS and web browsers.

 

I can assure you that eBay does not endorse one browser or OS over

another nor would we refuse service to members who use a particular type

of software. eBay may not be maximized with certain browsers but it

would not completely stop working for a particular browser.

 

I personally use Mozilla Firefox at home and many of my friends use a

Linux interface so I'd be wary if eBay decided to discriminate against a

growing population of members who do not use the 'main' browsers such as

IE or people who use a Windows interface.

 

The eBay site is constantly changing and while updates may take longer

for other browsers, they will occur.

 

If you feel like some of these issues were not fully addressed and that

there are certain changes you would like to see on the site to address

these concerns, might I suggest that you write to our suggestions so

that our site programmers will be able notified of your concerns which

are important to a fair number of people, myself included.

 

Many of the changes made on the site are due to suggestions received

from our eBay Members. While we are unable to implement every

suggestion, we do review all of the suggestions we receive.

 

You can send your suggestions by following these directions:

 

1. Click on "site map" located at the very top of every eBay page.

2. Click on the link titled "Suggestion Box" found in the third column

near the bottom.

3. Click on the link titled "Send us your suggestion to improve the eBay

site."

 

Thank you for your time and for being a part of the eBay community.

 

 

 

Regards, 

 

Julian C.

eBay Customer Support

 

Take this as you will, but it looks promising. Anyone wanting to email eBay can do so by going to their help pages and clicking on the Contact eBay link on the left hand side.

[Gnubie]

Would they really need to redo the site for other browsers if they just followed W3C standards from the start? :unsure:

[Ixthusdan]

Think of it like this: if you have a/some tunnel vision programmers whose experience is windex indoctrination, they will not even consider "standards" out of pure ignorance! So , some decent programmer type folk should communicate with eBay and explain what the standard is, and more specifically, what to do in their code to change their flub.

[linux_learner]

i dont see this as ignorance. i see this as a deliberate attempt to be IE exclusive. if it was ignorance, why would they add the code to block browsers identifying themselves as Netscape?

 

 

objStr = MM_swapImage.arguments[(navigator.appName == 'Netscape')?i:i+1];

[Ixthusdan]

I was giving them the benefit of the doubt, since I generally am very suspicious of ms any way! B)

 

Either way, the bottom line is that eBay is messed up!

[Pzatch]

I use Ebay sometimes and yes I did have trouble the first time I tried to make a sales account. They insisted on using M$ Exploder. But about three weeks later they started accepting netscape both in linux and M$. Then I tried Mozzilla and it worked also.

 

That was three months ago and things might have changed back but I don't think they would do that after going through some effort to make it universal. That page might still be a forgotten throw back and someone from here might be all they need to be reminded of it. It is a little used page.

[arthur]

Internet Exploder...that's funny, I think I'll start calling it that... :D

[bvc]

I've bought and sold recently and for a long time with mozilla on lin and win and never had a prob. :huh: :unsure:

[Darkelve]

Internet Exploder...that's funny, I think I'll start calling it that... :D

I myself find the name "Internet Exploiter" more applicable. :P

[linux_learner]

just to be clear on this. this problem doesnt occur through out the entire site (at least not that i have noticed). it only occurs http://www.ebaycareers.com/jobsearch/index.html

 

i went to irc.mozilla.org #mozillazine to ask why some view the site correctly and some dont. they said its a poor browser detection script and probably fails sometimes. they said it has to do with the "user agent".

 

<Wolf> well, it looks like cheap browser detection.. so it probably fails.

<Wolf> when it shouldn';t

<Wolf> it doesn't seem to be using the UA

<linux_learner> UA?

<Wolf> User Agent.

<linux_learner> is there a fix for that

<Wolf> complain to the website owner?

<Wolf> heh.. and most likely Mozilla is broken because of site detection, not incompatibility

 

these are just excerpts from the conversation. if i posted all of it, it'd be really long.

[youngmug]

I should note that MM_ functions usually mean they were generated by a Macromedia product. This prefix seems to be a signature. It might be wise to also inform Macromedia of their broken detection (especially since so many people use their products to make websites).

 

To me it seems like they just used what Macromedia made without considering cross-browser compatibility. Most likely, they just tested it on IE. (Sigh).

[Darkelve]

I should note that MM_ functions usually mean they were generated by a Macromedia product. This prefix seems to be a signature.

Yeah, you're right, that's Dreamweaver Code.

 

If the problem really lies with this script, I am pretty certain they will take it into account. Css support was much clamored for in version 4, and with Dreamweaver MX, support has made huge progress, IMHO (though still not enough).

 

What I am wondering is, could this actually be made with an *old* version of Dreamweaver?? Above code would surprise me if it isn't.

 

 

Darkelve

Edited March 1, 2004 by Darkelve