An annoyance using Firefox on Linux

-
Many of the Linux boosters point out how there is essentially no difference between Linux and Windows when it comes to essential tasks such as web browsing, email, and even basic office tasks when using Open Office. I have discovered over time that there are differences. In this post I'd like to point out an annoyance that occurs on web sites that use Javascript and Flash.

In this post I'm comparing Firefox 1.5.0.1 on Windows XP SP2 and SuSE 10. The SuSE window manager being used is Gnome 2.12.0. The annoyance I'm about to describe manifests itself on the ATI site (www.ati.com), and is visible on any site that has a mix of Javascript menus and Flash. The problem is this: Javascript drop-down menus appear behind Flash objects on a web page in Firefox running on Linux, while they properly appear in front of Flash objects in Firefox on Windows. This is what makes working with equivalent applications on Linux so difficult at times. Applications and functionality are not the same between platforms, and the equivalent user experience can be very inferior under Linux when compared to Windows.



This cropped screenshot shows the Javascript dropdown menu above the Flash object on the web page. This is Firefox on Windows. This is the correct rendering.



This cropped screenshot shows the dropdown menu behind the Flash obect on the web page. This is Firefox on SuSE Linux. This is the incorrect rendering.

Comments

  1. AnonymousSeptember 20, 2006

    Did you ever find a solution to this problem? I have a similar issue and I am trying to google a solution.

    ReplyDelete
  2. BillSeptember 20, 2006

    No, I did not. It is still a problem on Firefox versions installed on Suse 10.1 and SLED 10.

    ReplyDelete
  3. MattMarch 12, 2007

    This isn't a Firefox problem; it's a problem with the Flash plugin. All plugins render in the topmost layer in the browser window. Adobe allows the passing of a parameter called WMODE to allow for a work around.

    See this Adobe technote: link

    And this bugzilla entry: link

    Since the flash plugin isn't open source only Adobe can fix it. Sorry that I can't find more specific documents. Adobe's site appears to have problems today. I'm getting a lot of "Site Area Temporarily Unavailable" errors.

    ReplyDelete
  4. BillMarch 12, 2007

    I believe this problem is now OBE. I'm running the latest Flash version (9) and since AMD purchased ATI, the site has been extensively re-worked. The AMD/ATI site no longer triggers the problem, and I haven't run across any other sites that trigger it either.

    Thanks for going to the trouble to post the links, though.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

All comments are checked. Comment SPAM will be blocked and deleted.

Popular posts from this blog

A Decade Long Religious Con Job

-
Image
I rarely write inflammatory (what some might call trolling) titles to a post, but this building you see before you deserves it. I've been seeing this building next to I-4 just east of Altamonte/436 and Crane's Roost for nearly 12 years, and never knew who owned it. Today on a trip up to Lake Mary with my wife I saw it yet again. That's when I told her I wanted to stop by on the way back and poke around the property, and photograph any parts of it if I could. What I discovered was this still unfinished eighteen story (I counted) white elephant, overgrown with weeds and yet still under slow-motion construction. It looks impressive with its exterior glass curtain walls, but that impression is quickly lost when you see the unfinished lower stories and look inside to the unfinished interior spaces. A quick check via Google leads to an article written in 2010 by the Orlando Sentinel about the Majesty Tower. Based on what I read in the article it's owned by SuperChannel ...
Read more

Ten Reasons to Ignore Ten Reasons to Dump Windows and Use Linux

-
There is a tradition amongst the hard-core Linux aficionados to extol Linux's various virtues as a list of 10 or more reasons to substitute (as in "dump") an existing Windows installation with Linux. There's no reason to point them all out; a simple Google search (" 10 reasons to use Linux ") will provide you with such lists stretching back through the years, as well as hours of entertainment. One very recent list caught my eye over the weekend, published by PCWorld. Their article, " Ten Reasons to Dump Windows and Use Linux ", seems to have hit a nerve with me. Normally I just ignore such journalistic pap, since the majority of it comes courtesy of one ill-informed blog or another (such as this one). But in this instance a "real" publication put some time and journalistic "credibility" into this list, which places it in front of a wider audience than the typical blog poist (again, such as this one). So let's consider al...
Read more

Former Eclipse user re-evaluates Eclipse 3.3M5

-
Image
I've been using NetBeans for a while now, starting with version 4.2 in beta. One of NetBeans' key selling points (in my not-so-humble-opinion) is Java GUI building with Matisse . That feature continues to be quite powerful and unrivaled, especially for a free-as-in-beer IDE. I even wrote a lovely paean to the wonders of NetBeans and why I moved away away from Eclipse to NetBeans . Now, it looks like I may have to eat some of those tastefully written words. What you're looking at above is a complete Ruby on Rails project hosted and running within Eclipse 3.3 Milestone 5 on Windows XP. Milestone 5 was released this past Friday, February 9th. I installed it Saturday, and then went on a plugin hunt to fill out additional features and capabilities. Why did I decide to re-install Eclipse, especially a milestone? So that I could get a complete integrated development and test capability in one convenient package for Ruby on Rails. Like a lot of other folks I've been playing ...
Read more