Jump to content

Browser Identification & Yahoo


Yankee
 Share

Recommended Posts

I went to yahoo and it looked like the old yahoo from way back. Just a bare page with a search box so to speak. It says:

 

Why miss out?

In order to see all the new Yahoo! home page has to offer, please upgrade to a more recent browser.

 

Well, I changed the browser identification to IE 6 on XP and guess what? I get all of the page. It is not that Konqueror cannot display it, it is that yahoo is blocking this browser when identified as itself! What a crock. A new user might think Linux is no good and go back to windows.

 

On the upside, I don't have to look at all the crap, and yes I know...Use Google...I do but there are probable many more sites that do this. So for those of you who use yahoo and can't figure out why your pages do not display right it seems Konqueror has been black balled by yahoo.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm sure the same would happen if you had IE4 or IE5? Why blame Linux? Try Netscape 2 or 3 as well? Maybe it doesn't work with that as well? You get the point!

 

Pointless post.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm sure the same would happen if you had IE4 or IE5? Why blame Linux? Try Netscape 2 or 3 as well? Maybe it doesn't work with that as well? You get the point!

 

Pointless post.

I would agree with the conclusion, but... I think the poster wants to draw attention to the fact that yahoo attempts to force users to use the latest browsers. It is clear why - you need to have the latest browser with javascripts enabled to watch the advertising content. IMHO, it must be up to the users to choose whether they want or not that content displayed, since the terms and conditions do not prohibit blocking the content. Another shameless trick.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

coverup is right. set Konqueror to IE4 etc. and it does the same thing. Like I said, I like the part "please upgrade to a more recent browser". Konqueror is not old! Very good point about the ads...I guess this works out ok for us...we get a plain yahoo without all the crap with no effort at all...there is always a bright side!~

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Remember, they will always code for the browsers they are expecting, ie, firefox, etc. I doubt very much they have konqueror in mind!

 

My example was that IE4 won't work because it's OLD. Just like Netscape 2 and 3 is OLD. They won't work either. But other obscure browsers which aren't as common, aren't going to work, because they are not being checked for. The code doesn't check if you have konqueror and whether it's able to do the job or not.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Remember, they will always code for the browsers they are expecting, ie, firefox, etc. I doubt very much they have konqueror in mind!

I think you're a little off-track, Ian. Fair enough that a site doesn't work properly with old browsers which haven't got the features required in the website. But given that Konqueror can do everything the website needs, it shouldn't be refused just because it's not called A or B or C. That's just poor website coding.

 

Yankee's right here, it's not that Konqueror can't do it, it's just being stopped by a simplistic name check. So what happens? The browser has to spoof the name. And then they do browser statistics and amazing, IE has 90%+ share. Opera has been spoofing the IE names for years, which makes Opera's percentage look artificially low and IE's even higher. And then when they're designing websites they see the stats and say "oh everyone uses IE anyway so we don't have to worry about the other ones". Vicious circle.

 

So I don't think it's a pointless post, really.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And that's why I said:

 

I doubt very much they have konqueror in mind!

 

I gave examples of old browsers. I also explained that people are developing websites, without accounting for some obscure browsers. And if they all use Windows, konqueror is obscure to them!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I gave examples of old browsers. I also explained that people are developing websites, without accounting for some obscure browsers. And if they all use Windows, konqueror is obscure to them!

Wait a sec Ian, there is an HTML standard, and konqueror and firefox comply with the stanadrd. So why woud anybody develop websites for a browser? Because IE users bring the largest share of revenue even though IE is not 100% standard compliant. So they say, hell with the standard. As for the rest 10% of users, their attitude is "Take it or leave it". I use the latest FF with NoScript extension. Even if I allow javascripts from yahoo.com, Yahoo mail refuses to work unless I completely disable NoScript, 'cause it blocks the third party ad content.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I also explained that people are developing websites, without accounting for some obscure browsers.
You're missing the point. Konqueror works fine, apart from the fact that the website designer put in a check against the browser name. That's poor website design, because if Konqueror can do the features required, it should be allowed to do them, even if the website designer has never seen Konqueror. The check should be against available functionality, not against the browser name.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't believe I'm missing the point, in fact, I think I hit the nail right on the head. They're looking for popular browsers, than looking for the capabilities. So, in what you say about HTML standards, and that konqueror can do it, just backs up what I said about the way they designed the website.

 

The only thing I've made a mistake on here, is to compare old browsers with that of konqueror. Because, obviously konqueror isn't old. But you have to make it *look* like another browser to get it to work by spoofing.

 

I probably used different words, but the end goal is the same - bad website design.

 

Oh, I think my second mistake was saying this post was pointless - maybe it is to some degree, or maybe it's not. But I'll not edit the post, if someone wants to complain about it, please feel free, and I'm sure it'll be modded accordingly. We have different views on it, I've just stated mine by what I thought at first read.

 

We all know and have experienced that some browsers don't work. Even Firefox used to be one of them, and needed spoofing. It's the world we live in, and until they code how it's supposed to be done, then what can we do?

 

Actually, I manage to block all the ads from Yahoo's site without any loss of functionality. Maybe the noscript program is actually blocking the legit scripts, that actually allow you to use the mail functionality, or whatever - I've never used to to say whether you pick or choose what scripts you want to run. I use adblock and block the content instead.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On the upside, I don't have to look at all the crap, and yes I know...Use Google...I do but there are probable many more sites that do this. So for those of you who use yahoo and can't figure out why your pages do not display right it seems Konqueror has been black balled by yahoo.

 

Yeah, try http://aims.atlasair.com - same thing, though one can tell the "error" message was not written by someone who's first language is english. It will work past the login, but some features will not as it uses extensive (and unneeded) active-X.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...