Forum:FireFox 4 problems and oddities


 * Issues that appear to have been resolved have been moved to Forum:FireFox 4 problems and oddities/resolved. -- Fandyllic (talk &middot; contr) 28 Mar 2011 2:23 PM Pacific

Update From Wikia Staff

 * Copied from here. -- Fandyllic (talk &middot; contr) 28 Mar 2011 2:23 PM Pacific

Users with Firefox 4 should now be able to edit the site just as on Firefox 3; this fix went live a few hours ago. The issue was that some JS changes in FF4 meant the browser did not recognize some basic functions on Wikia, such as the edit window.

Alpha/Beta/RC browsers are very tricky to handle because obviously we want to make sure that when they are released that they are compatible with our site, but then again our techies have to weigh that against other important bugs. Technically, our site does not yet support Firefox 4 because it has not been officially released and thus the user group is very, very small. And, of course, conversely we need to know about these issues ahead of time because we can't just flip a switch to make our site browser compatible.

In other words, use beta browsers on Wikia at your own risk. If you love testing beta browsers (and I personally am someone who does) and see something not working, please, as always, contact us. Just be prepared to have to use an older version or a different browser on Wikia as a fallback if you are beta testing. --daNASCAT http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb32675/wikia/images/e/e9/WikiaStaff.png (help forum | blog) 21:05, March 22, 2011 (UTC)

General comments
It looks like the first fix Wikia did for the initial FF4 problems was all that was needed. The first two issues below appear to be non-browser-specific. -- Fandyllic (talk &middot; contr) 7 Apr 2011 2:25 PM Pacific

Drop down menus problem

 * Copied from here. -- Fandyllic (talk &middot; contr) 28 Mar 2011 2:23 PM Pacific

I recently upgraded today and have a problem with the drop down menus. The drop down menus, especially the wikia global header, stick for a long time. I never had this problem in 3.6 but now every time I mouse over one of the drop down menus, the menu stays down infinitely unless I hover over a link and then move my mouse away. Should I switch tabs when the menu is down, it will stay down until I return to the tab and mouse over a link before retracting the mouse..--


 * I get this same issue as well in FF4 as well as certain elements from JS nor functioning normally. daNASCAT, do you have a link I can read up on the changes of FF4's JS handling? Rappy 04:11, March 30, 2011 (UTC)


 * Firefox 4 is no longer beta, but I still have the upper menu sticking too often. It's driving me crazy. In addition to that, it may take one second for the menu to disappear in Safari (my secondary browser). I wish the menu had an open/close tab and that it would ONLY open when I want it to. This is seriously upsetting to me. --Liliana (my talk). 05:59, April 2, 2011 (UTC)


 * Add Safari to the list, it disappears about a second after I take the cursor away from it. In my opinion it should be more responsive than that. As soon as the cursor moves away from the menu it should go away. This wouldn't be such a big issue if it wasn't for the fact that the menu up top is HUGE!! I'd rather have a small strip that activates if you leave the mouse on top of it long enough, or an open/close tab. Like I mentioned above, this is seriously upsetting, I work in at least 12 wikis a day, this is slowing me down massively!!! --Liliana (my talk). 06:05, April 2, 2011 (UTC)
 * Those menus are supposed to do that. Add  to your CSS. Problem solved.


 * Thanks, it fixed the issue completely. I have added it to my css file. --Liliana (my talk). 05:01, April 5, 2011 (UTC)


 * Apparently this isn't a FF4/Wikia issue. I am noticing this same issue outside of Wikia. Java hover-overs on another site will stick open once mouse-over'd until you quickly mouse-over and out before it opens the pop-up. It seems something was changed in the way FF4 deals with the mouseout function. Wikia might be able to address this issue and create a work-around, but it would be better suited informing Mozilla about it. Rappy 06:58, April 5, 2011 (UTC)


 * Unfortunately, this doesn't help me, and I really don't care what happens in another site. I am not an admin in those sites, I am an admin in Wikia wikis with 34,000+ edits. Not to want to beat on a dead horse, but never before the introduction of Oasis had Wikia sorted to pop-up menus as a form of wiki interaction. In the common wiki, I am counting SIX pop-ups, PLUS the one I just removed, with the HUGE drawer coming from the top. The only pop-up I remember in Monaco was the MediaWiki:Monaco-sidebar which was out of the user's way (to the middle-left) in a way that it wouldn't conflict with browser functions (like the browser's bookmarks bar and address bar AND the computer's Windows taskbar). I just found that I HAD TO modify the settings in my computer to not "auto-hide the taskbar" in Windows and not to "auto-hide the dock" in my Mac because EVERY time I need to go to Wikia My Tools menu, keeps bringing up my taskbar and dock. But really? I have to remove a setting I've been using for years? I have 2 laptops so my biggest resolution in the newest is 1366x768, the other is worse 1024x768. Do I also have to move my taskbar and dock from the bottom of the screen to the left or right even though I've been using it like that for years?! That will take months of getting used to! Maybe this is a "cute" thing for new users who rarely edit on a wiki, but for someone who works in 10+ wikis a day this is a BIG handicap. --Liliana (my talk). 01:06, April 6, 2011 (UTC)


 * We are not turning this into a Monaco/Oasis debate. The problem stems from Firefox, not Wikia. Issue solved, let's move on.--


 * Wow, what a retort. As Godisme and I have stated, this isn't a Wikia issue; it's a FF issue. Complaining here about something that isn't a Wikia issue might end up with a fix, but chances are small. There's no need to be rude or crass about it as this is not a Wikia issue. If it bothers you that much, please choose a browser that this doesn't happen on (IE8, FF3.61) and wait and see if there is a work-around Wikia is able to do to fix the issue with Firefox and Safari. BTW, you are always welcome to use Monobook instead of Oasis. In other words, if you can't deal with it, don't. I was simply revealing that this isn't Wikia's incompatibility with FireFox 4, it is something FF4 has changed. Rappy 02:01, April 6, 2011 (UTC)


 * It's not a Firefox only issue, as I stated above I'm having the same problem with Safari, not too long ago my "My Tools" and my username menu both stuck on me at the same time in Safari. And someone mentioned they had the same issue with Chrome above. Sorry, I'm not using IE or Chrome, I reserve the right to choose what I install in my computer. What I will do to rest this case, is perhaps try to get used to my taskbar on the side. Rather than give the users here a headache pounding on an issue that may never get fixed, and instead instruct users for a "quick work around" of having to install an entire different browser. Unfortunately, Facebook and other sites I visit have functions on the left and right side of the screen which will indeed conflict with my taskbar; but I guess I can't win when it comes to this. However, I thank you for the information you provided about the other sites it seems to affect as well. I wasn't trying to be rude, I am often known for going right into the heart of a situation and working my way. Sorry if it seemed that way. --Liliana (my talk). 02:50, April 6, 2011 (UTC)


 * Sorry I didn't see that you mentioned this being a Safari problem too. At this point I am just going to corroborate Safari as another browser where this is happening. Thanks. --Liliana (my talk). 02:54, April 6, 2011 (UTC)

(reset indent) What you still don't understand is that this isn't a Wikia incompatibility. It's a change in the way Firefox handles the javascript. Wikia might be able to write different code to simulate what the javascript is supposed to be doing already, but the issue would still lie in the way the browsers are handling the javascript; not Wikia. Rappy 06:35, April 6, 2011 (UTC)


 * I understand that, the effects are still the same, a now three browser issue that Wikia wants us to deal with 6 times on each page we browse. --Liliana (my talk). 08:19, April 6, 2011 (UTC)


 * No one from 'Wikia' has told you to deal with anything. I am suggesting that if you 'can't' deal with it to search for alternatives. Rappy 12:29, April 6, 2011 (UTC)
 * Pro tip: Use the solutions given to you instead of ignoring them and complaining about how the problem is still there because you haven't done anything. It takes about 5 minutes to download a new browser, and there are no submenus in Monobook.


 * How come you guys are negating this to be a Wikia issue? Liliana explained it very well. The popup menu at the top with links to other wikis opens when you hover the mouse, but the fact is that browsers have menu bars, the address bar and the tab bar at the top, and if you need to move the mouse there to open a menu or return from changing a tab you get that guge wikia popup opened. That's not something every other website has, so it's specific to wikia (bad design). And as explained Liliana about the MyTools, it's the same problem. Hopefully this one you can choose at what side of the bottom bar you want it, since having it on the right side would open it specially for users that use the mouse with the right hand. The menu of other wikis should be triggered only with an on click event and not on mouseover. That's the best solution at all. Don't wish all the anonymous users to come to this forum to read and accept the solutions you propose, some of them (hiding it by CSS) aren't possible for casual readers and even people that doesn't know what CSS is. --Ciencia Al Poder (talk) -WikiDex 09:04, April 9, 2011 (UTC)


 * The issue here isn't the implementation (which is a whole new ball of wax). The issue was the fact that they 'stick' open when moused-over, something that isn't intentionally coded to do. This specific issue is not a Wikia issue. This issue happens to me with the same browser on non-Wikia sites. It is a change that Firefox made in FF4 that caused the menus to act differently, not something Wikia did. Chrome and Safari also have the same issue. It's tied to the way those 3 browsers handle the mouse-out function and is something that the browsers need to address. If Wikia wants to address the other issue about bad implementation, by all means, let them. I hate the menus too and hide them with CSS. But until they wish to decide to handle it differently, the issue entailed here, is not a Wikia one. Feel free to start another topic about how the menus should be done away with or changed to click open rather than mouse-over open. I will totally support it. Rappy 09:42, April 9, 2011 (UTC)


 * You missed my point above. The issue here in not the implementation, it is how and why it's used. My biggest issue here is that:


 * Wikia should have open/close button for that drawer.
 * As Ciencia noted, we ALL have to access our bookmarks and menus, and we don't always want the drawer to slow us down. It's just bad design.
 * The implementation has issues, it sticks.
 * Since it has issues, the whole Wikia navigation shouldn't rely solely on the use of it. Is should, however, just like any other major site: Facebook, MySpace, MSN, CNN, Yahoo, etc,etc,etc... be USED in moderation...


 * Quite frankly Wikia is the only site that has 6 to 7 instances of that feature. We shouldn't have to install addons or additional browsers to deal with this, we can always keep our browsers the way they are and go somewhere else. I don't want to have to do that AGAIN though... And I know where this is going, you complain enough people will tell you to "buzz off if you don't like it". --Liliana (my talk). 19:04, April 10, 2011 (UTC)


 * The phrase "You get what you pay for" comes to mind. And you're absolutely right - if you don't like it, you don't have to deal with it. But please don't waste our time by arguing a useless point that honestly won't get anyone anywhere anytime soon.

(reset indent/edit conflict) I'm not telling you to buzz off in the least. You two are complaining about two different things here. The sticking issue is not the same as 'it shouldn't be there to begin with'. This thread was started because of the issue with the menus 'sticking' and was derailed into how Wikia should do away with it or choose another method to display those links. Please, if you wish to complain about implementation or other methods that should be used, start a new thread. As far as the sticking issue, this thread is done as it is not a Wikia only issue and is a browser issue with JS code that is being handled improperly by the browser. I completely understand your point and Ciencia's point and haven't missed that issue. Those issues belong in a new thread. Rappy 19:10, April 10, 2011 (UTC)

Forum 'New' images
These are shown on every forum thread in the last 7 days with FF4. With FF3.61, they only showed if I hadn't visited the thread since it was updated. It is now impossible to tell which threads I have viewed and which ones I haven't because even threads I view still show the 'new' image. Rappy 07:27, March 31, 2011 (UTC)


 * I get this too - and in Chrome, actually.


 * Been getting this problem in Chrome for a long, long time &mdash; more than a year, probably... The 888th Avatar   (talk)  01:29, April 2, 2011 (UTC)


 * You should create a new separate forum post for this issue or use Special:Contact. This post is for FF4 specific issues. -- Fandyllic (talk &middot; contr) 7 Apr 2011 2:23 PM Pacific


 * That's FF4/Chrome having new "security" features that prevent style from changing anything besides colour on visited, and Javascript can't even see if that's changed. There's considerable debate in the programming community about the usefulness of this particular feature, but for now it is what it is. It started happening in Chrome abou six months ago, and in FF starting with FF4 Beta. --daNASCAT http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb32675/wikia/images/e/e9/WikiaStaff.png (help forum | blog) 00:37, April 8, 2011 (UTC)
 * That's disappointing. I'm curious - what does this protect against?
 * It's to guard against history sniffing (ie. websites that try to check which websites you've visited). - Adan Aileron (talk) 09:34, April 8, 2011 (UTC)
 * I see what you did there, daNASCAT. Rappy 06:01, April 8, 2011 (UTC)
 * Aha, I see as well. TLUL 06:05, April 8, 2011 (UTC)
 * I c wat u did thar--
 * (edit conflict) It's funny when you see something like this that you've seen before... BTW, Tim, are you Canadian? Rappy 06:08, April 8, 2011 (UTC)


 * There's nothing here but bad coding practices. You do not need to see if a link has been visited to change it's style. Just use the css selector a:visited and style it accordingly. It would work as expected. --Ciencia Al Poder (talk) -WikiDex 09:43, April 8, 2011 (UTC)


 * Hey Ciencia, I hope you're doing well! Do you happen to know where would those things be modified now for Wikia's new look? I'd love to change the look of my "Wikia's new look" site, but I'd like to know how limited it is. Since your site looks absolutely astonishing, and the fact that I was recommended using Monobook (see above), I would love for my site to look just as cool... but how long will Wikia support Monobook for, and would it be even worth going through the trouble? By the way, congratulations that's the best site I've seen in Wikia since I came in May 2009, I have yet to find one Wikia site that ever toped yours =) --Liliana (my talk). 14:48, April 8, 2011 (UTC)


 * Since I had left Wikia in summer last year for a while I couldn't do much with this one #1 before the move, but as you can see I used a class attribute to place background on my pages. The same technique I used to place the logo behind the text in this one and turned out pretty good. I'm merging those two wikis now, and the first one will be no more. I see answers sites can not use monobook at all. But anyway, apologies if this has turned way off topic, please respond on my talk page! --Liliana (my talk). 15:54, April 8, 2011 (UTC)

Last Call
I've been following this thread closely for the last few days to see if anything major is coming up, but seeing as not, I'm probably going to drop this off my radar except for the normal occasional check. If you are still seeing a major issue either solely on your wiki that you can't fix with local CSS or across all wikis (irregardless of CSS, JS, etc., etc.,), please let me know in this section and let me know soon! Thanks! --daNASCAT http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb32675/wikia/images/e/e9/WikiaStaff.png (help forum | blog) 14:27, April 12, 2011 (UTC)