Crashing Internet Explorer

I hate Internet Explorer. So do thousands of others.

I found a little script that will, when used will crash Internet Explorer.

for (x in document.write) { document.write(x);}

Wrapped within script tags this will every time crash IE. Cool huh!

Well, no not really. On the site where I found this the poster suggests inserting this script in a page and then sending the link to your friends that you know are still using IE. As all it’s going to do is crash their browser, all you’re going to do is piss them off.

Unless you explain (before you give them the link!) that Firefox will handle it properly and this is yet another reason to switch to Firefox.

It would be very sensible NOT to put this on a page with high traffic. It’s just going to drive traffic away from your site, not force them to change to Firefox.

Similarly, how many people do YOU know that have installed Firefox having seen that bloody annoying message at the top of a blog when surfing with IE:

You’re using IEx. Some features are disabled for IE users because it sucks. Please use Firefox and come back again.

Yes, IE sucks. No, I can’t install Firefox at work and no, I won’t be back, thanks anyway. Listen to me, MAKE THE F*****G SITE COMPATIBLE!

Block Firefox? What the F—?

They say that extremists are everywhere. Go watch the news and you’ll see what I mean. Most of us are able to say, thank god that’s not me. I’ve even heard some say “It’s ok, it won’t affect me, it’s in a different country!”. While I’m not sure I subscribe to that way of thinking (dumbass!), here’s something that does affect me. And you if you’re using Firefox.

Some websites (mainly phishing or spamming sites I suspect) are blocking any user with Firefox. Why Firefox Is Blocked details the reasoning as this:

The Mozilla Foundation and its Commercial arm, the Mozilla Corporation, has allowed and endorsed Ad Block Plus, a plug-in that blocks advertisement on web sites and also prevents site owners from blocking people using it. Software that blocks all advertisement is an infringement of the rights of web site owners and developers. Numerous web sites exist in order to provide quality content in exchange for displaying ads. Accessing the content while blocking the ads, therefore would be no less than stealing. Millions of hard working people are being robbed of their time and effort by this type of software. Many site owners therefore install scripts that prevent people using ad blocking software from accessing their site. That is their right as the site owner to insist that the use of their resources accompanies the presence of the ads.

This is the second biggest pile of utter shit (after the story of the people that block Internet Explorer) that I have read.

Numerous web sites exist in order to provide quality content in exchange for displaying ads. Accessing the content while blocking the ads, therefore would be no less than stealing.

Stealing? Stealing what? The definition of stealing (from Wikipedia):

In the criminal law, theft (also known as stealing) is the illegal taking of another person’s property without that person’s freely-given consent.

So, if I choose to block adverts using AdBlock Plus (link to the Firefox Plugin!) I can’t be stealing. How can I be stealing if I can’t take something I can’t get because it’s blocked?

Millions of hard working people are being robbed of their time and effort by this type of software.

And millions more hate the spamming bastards that rip off copyrighted content from legitimate sources and wrap them in advertising, Google Adsense, flashing banner ads and indecent pictures of women, supposedly from “your area” offering themselves for possibly illegal activities. And what about the right of the viewer to see what they want on a website and not the other dross???

Netscape users can simply set their browser to IE mode to continue to enjoy the site that sent you here. FireFox users can use Internet Explorer, Opera or Netscape (in IE mode) to access it. FireFox users also have the option of using the IE Tab plug-in which uses the IE rendering engine to display pages, but also disables the Ad Block Plus plug-in.

So, you’re actually suggesting to the masses that people use an insecure browser while at these advert riddled script kiddie sites? Oh, hang on a mo, those sites get blocked too.

On the same page there was a link to Popular Technology dot net which said

Adblock effectively robs these free sites of their revenue. If Internet Explorer came with a feature such as Adblock, you would effectively wipe out thousands of websites, maybe more. These are the same free sites users of Adblock frequently visit. The irony is how this is self-defeating.

Adblock effectively robs these free sites of their revenue. WTF? FREE sites? Dependent on the definition, free could mean two things:

1. Offering content for free.
2. Stealing content, putting up at a free host (blogger for example) and then putting advertising in to make money from something they don’t pay a penny for.

This is getting right up my nose. I’m off to download AdBlock Plus. If I find a site that blocks me because I am using it then, whatever. It probably wasn’t worth visiting anyway!

Thanks

Block IE? Don’t Be Stupid!

This is a direct copy of the post over at my main blog. This is intentional.

Pressing that damned Stumble! button for yet another evening’s inane entertainment brought me to a forum thread for a Linux community called Open Addict. The first post in the thread says:

I’ve blocked Internet Explorer from viewing our front page and will implement that code on the rest of our site as we roll out the new format.

I’m sorry, you’ve done what??? You’ve blocked IE? Ooookay…

The reason, which you can read for yourself if you fire up IE and browse the front page, is that the dynamic menu code and other formatting issues looked like pure crap or didn’t work at all with Internet Explorer. Everything looks and works fine with Firefox, Opera, Konquerer, etc… but not IE and I’m sick and tired of hacking and tweaking things because IE has rendering bugs and doesn’t adhere to web standards like better browsers.

So, rather than make your website cross-browser compatible you’re just going to block one of the major browsers? Actually, your website doesn’t display properly with Firefox. I am running FF 2.0.0.5 (updated automatically today) and your front page has a horizontal scroll bar. Okay, it’s just 20 pixels or so, but it really is a sign of crap design. No website should have a horizontal scroll bar.

What’s the big deal? Well, believe it or not, most people coming to our site are using Windows and IE. This could hurt out traffic potentially, but I’m just fed up with IE rendering issues. So if you’re an IE user, I hope you’re not offended by any of this - it’s nothing against you as a user. Just please install and use Firefox or Opera if you use Windows. Better yet, use Linux and all of your dreams will come true.

The Big Deal? You freely admit that “most people coming to our site are using Windows and IE”. Does that not tell you something? Most Linux people are the advocates of the OS. They believe they “have seen the light” and are bent on converting the unwashed masses away from the evil of Microsoft and IE. And then you block IE visitors from seeing the “Linux Goodness”? That’s the big deal.

I have ranted about this before as it really gets up my nose. I agree that Internet Explorer is the root of browser evil, however, it’s the most used browser. Let’s do some stats:

Since 02 July (when I started running Google Analytics) I have had 2,992 visitors. 2,992 is 100% of my visitors. 2,064 or 68.98% of those visitors are using, yep, Internet Explorer. 771 or 25.77% use Firefox. The other 157 or just 5.25% visits are made up of 7 different browsers. Guess what’s on the bottom. Yep, Konquerer. Just 1 visit.

With almost 70% of my visitors using IE, If I would to block the browser then 70% of my measly 150ish visits per day would disappear. Do I want to risk that? No.

So, want my recommendations? Heres’s two:

1. Put a bloody big banner at the top of the page that simply states “Internet Explorer Sucks” and recommend alternative browsers.

Or (and this is much better)

2. Simply allow “Most People” to visit by fixing the sodding scripts, and menus.

There are millions of websites out there that don’t need funky scripts and shit to make their websites work with IE. All you are doing is re-enforcing the opinion (Wrong I know, but still it’s the consensus) that Linux users are all geeks, nerds, fanboys. or all three. Linux should not be elitist, yet you seem to think it is.

Folks - If you’re here because you got blocked by the Open Addict website, try this Linux Operating System instead.