[thelist] Causes of IE6 Crashes

[Lee Kowalkowski]

On 09/07/07, Ken Snyder <kendsnyder at gmail.com> wrote:
> I'll definitely try to check the CSS, JS, and ActiveX.  The app doesn't
> use ActiveX, but I'm assuming from your comments that disabling ActiveX
> in IE can possibly affect CSS/JS/HTML.  Is that correct?

Hmm, only JS really, if it's using bindings to an ActiveX component.
ActiveX is used in IE for AJAX, CSS filters, embedding Flash, Adobe,
Quicktime, WMP, Java Applets etc...

> And by
> "disabling" CSS and JS do you mean removing <style> and <script> tags,
> or turning off CSS and JS with some IE setting? (I don't see any such
> settings)

Better to remove from the client if you can consistently reproduce the problem.

You can only turn off CSS in IE via the Registry:
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main]
"Use StyleSheets"="no"

To turn off JavaScript (You need to do this for the Security Zone the
application is running in, which will either be Internet or Local
Intranet):
o  Double-click the security zone in the status bar or go tools >
internet options > security.
o  Click the Custom Level... button
o  Scroll down to Scripting and disable "Active Scripting"

Active X can be turned off in the same place as JavaScript, it's "Run
ActiveX controls and plug-ins", not far from the top.

On 10/07/07, Ken Snyder <kendsnyder at gmail.com> wrote:
> Looking carefully through the CSS and JS, one thing did jump out at me...
>
> The app uses the following CSS in an IE-only included stylesheet:
> img { behavior: url(/libs/iepngfix.htc); }
>
> where the .htc file is the one from twinhelix.com
> (http://www.twinhelix.com/css/iepngfix/demo/iepngfix.htc)

Oh my!  This is using CSS, JS and ActiveX!  Interesting it uses the
AlphaImageLoaderFilter, which doesn't work on my XP/IE7 installation
(because no CSS filters or transitions do), I have to wrap the
relevant JS in a try/catch to prevent the error message (but IE didn't
crash, it just gave an error message about one of the DirectX DLLs).

> I see two potential pitfalls with this one statement:
> 1. It applies to every image instead of only png images

Hmm, your CSS rule is likely to be applied to all images unless you
can be more specific (without using attribute selectors), e.g. if you
only need it for the header.

The HTC will not attach itself to non ".PNG" images anyway according
to its documentation.

> 2. HTC extensions may not have proper apache headers for expiration on
> the server.

Does it have the mime type "text/x-component" too?

-- 
Lee