A recently linked post from Walls of the City clued me into a misconception making the rounds (yeh, I’ve had emails about it since). Sitemeter is not “down” nor does having the Sitemeter code on ones blog keep folks from viewing your page… unless those folks are using the least standards-compliant browser available, Internet Exploder.
Sitemeter and Sitemeter code on a blog page pose NO PROBLEM for folks using a browser that at least makes a good faith attempt at standards-compliance. I know, because I checked with three other browsers (in two different OSes) and had NO PROBLEMS either with Sitemeter itself or with blogs with active Sitemeter code.
Here’s my remedy for the Sitemeter/blogs-with-Sitemeter-code-not-viewable/loadable-in-Internet Exploder:
For blogs using the Sitemeter code, temporarily disable the code (see the link above), then
Thump the “Stop using a crappy browser (Internet Exploder)!” bone as often and hard as you can. Strongly, and in no uncertain terms encourage ALL readers to standardize their browsing experience on a more standards-compliant browser. I prefer Opera, but FIrefox is not bad, although considerably less elegant (and pretty consistently slower) than Opera. Both are worlds and away better than Internet Exploder.
Just say No! to Internet Exploder!
For those very few sites that refuse to load unless one is using Internet Exploder(even with Opera masking itself as Internet Exploder), because of very aggressive browser sniffing, Internet Exploder still has a limited–extreeeeemely limited–use on twc computers. But except for gag use, it’s completely unused on my main machine.
Kill Me$$y$oft’s Internet Exploder! It’s just tough love.
Use a real browser. Opera, Firefox and Safari* are all more standards-compliant than Me$$y$oft’s Internet Exploder, and NONE of them have any problems with the Sitemeter code.
AND: Note Peri’s remarks in comments. Microsoft’s been aware of this bug in Internet Exploder for years and just doesn’t care. After all, it’s only Microsoft’s customers who suffer, so why should they care?
*IMO, Safari is still not nearly as good a browser as either Opera or Firefox, but it’s still at least an order of magnitude better than Internet Exploder. Yes, I have it installed both using WINE in Linux and in a Windows VM. It’s relatively nimble, moderately powerful, a good browser. And the bundled Bonjour network/printer wizard is not a bad thing for non-techie folks who have trouble sharing network resources between various versions of Windows.
Trackposted to Nuke’s, Perri Nelson’s Website, Rosemary’s Thoughts, Woman Honor Thyself, McCain Blogs, Adam’s Blog, Right Truth, The World According to Carl, Shadowscope, Pirate’s Cove, The Pink Flamingo, Cao’s Blog, Dumb Ox Daily News, and Democrat=Socialist, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.
Heh heh. Thump.
I’ve recommended replacing with the html code. Can’t see the meter, but, too many people have not been clued in to Firefox and Opera.
There is a government auction site I visit that works better with IE. Other than that, it is just an”e” with a ring around it on my desktop.
Thanks for the head-up.
I posted about this same problem last night. It’s a bug in Internet Explorer going back to version 6. The same bug exists today in version 8 but they at least manage to recover from it. For details of the bug, go here. MSDN Forums post : Internet Explorer cannot open the Internet site – Operation aborted.
Sitemeter, StatCounter and Google Analytics all use the same approach of manipulating the DOM before the document has completed loading. All three of them can kill an Internet Explorer sesssion.
Microsoft knows that sometimes a web developer doesn’t have complete control of what goes into a page because of utilities like this, but they continue to insist that their browsers behavior is “correct”. As if a crash is ever correct software behavior.
Yeh, Perri, it’s the typical Me$$y$oft attitude that everyone has to comply with their way of doing things, even when the Me$$y$oft way is the crappiest way.
Heck, standard CSS can work in every browser but a Me$$y$oft Internet Exploder implementation. According to Me$$y$oft’s way of looking at things, that’s a result of all the other browser’s incompatibility with the Me$$y$oft Monolith.
*feh*
When I want stupid behavior from a 10,000 ton gorilla, I ought not have to see examples other than the feddle gummint.
BTW, Perri, funny thing: about three posts down on the page you linked at the MSDN forum was a guy gritching about how he got the error when he attempted logging onto his MSN homepage. Does this mean Microsoft can’t even code pages for its own browser? Mmmmm, could be…
*heh*
It kinda doesn’t matter if you like IE or not…currently 80+% of our website visitors who buy several $mil/year in parts from us are using IE. We had to put a team of folks on the problem last night to write sitemeter out of hundreds of pages of code on our company websites. We’ve been with sitemeter for years, have their “premium” paid accounts, and have lost thousands in lost sales and downtime associated with sitemeter and every excuse in the book. Last night was the last straw. They have also become difficult to get any email response from, in my experience.
It would seem that Sitemeter didn’t do a cross-platform test with the most used browsers on the planet before implementing something new. I’m sure my words mean nothing in the scheme of things, but I’m glad to pull this 3rd party headache from my businesses for the last time.
Dave
ah youre all a buncha haters.snicker*..I got me firefox but still use IE and whatever the prob was David..it seems to be resolved now eh?..hugs all around..lol 🙂