Trouble with Firefox and SpanishDict.com

Question

Hi, I upgraded to Firefox 5, everything worked with SpanishDict for a while, but soon it degraded to not being usable. Instead of formatted HTML I get the raw code of the page (what you see if you do View Source). It's as if the encoding has tricked Firefox, or something similar to that.

Has anybody got any idea what causes this? I mean, it's really nice to see your Javascript and and session ID, but I'd rather be seeing the Spanish stuff in the browser of my choice.

Hi Pablo! Welcome to the forum! - sanlee, Aug 9, 2011

I have vista, too. and I am having trouble with my firefox - sanlee, Aug 9, 2011

Answer 1

I've been using Firefox exclusively since joining this site, and never had any problems.

Answer 2

I have been using Firefox 5 with this site since they released it and have had no problems with viewing this site.

To understand the problem we would probably have to know how you are implementing your html.

Inline CSS or html tags work well here. If you are trying to effect the page heading or introduce your own CSS external files you will probably encounter problems. Are you trying to use your own (Java) scripts?

No - nothing fancy, no tinkering, no CSS or any scripting, etc. The page refreshes are all source code. Opera seems fine, but I'm really stumped by this weirdness. I guess nobody else is having the problem so it's something specific to my Vista environ - Pablo-Peligroso, Aug 8, 2011

Answer 3

My Firefox 5.0 displays everything perfectly.

Answer 4

I just upgraded to a new version and am having an awful time. It is so slow and I am having trouble posting pictures. I don't know what is wrong -- it always worked perfectly.

Check the add-on or extensions that are loading. You may be using some that are not compatible with the updated version. - 0074b507, Aug 9, 2011

Thanks Q ! - sanlee, Aug 9, 2011

Answer 5

I noticed in recent weeks that SpanishDict has been undergoing several incremental updates, causing minor new features and fixes to appear, having some short-duration service outages, and even possibly issues. If your problem was temporary, it could have been due to site changes, especially since you mention this odd behavior only occurred on this site.

I suggest you make every effort to continue here, as this is clearly the best Spanish/English learning website out there, by far.

Haha, I agree about Spanishdict, and I would have even continued with (gulp) IE. - Pablo-Peligroso, Aug 9, 2011

Answer 6

Thanks for all of the ideas! Let me address a couple of the salient ones:

1. The Firefox install did complete, and I had been using it for maybe 2 months prior to the outbreak of the problem. I only had the problem on this web site, and had been using this web site for a short time (a week or two?) before the outbreak. Otherwise, uninstalling would have been the first thing to try.
2. I did not save a screen shot of the problem (sorry, tech support). I can tell you that it looked like View Source except in text format (no HTML attributes like color, etc.)
3. I am using Firefox at this moment, so I guess that the problem has suddenly cleared up.

The only thing I can say at this time is that I moved my laptop to a different connection. I moved it from a miserably slow satellite connection to a normal DSL connection.

Sorry for all of the bother. It seems like it was some anomaly having to do with a bad refresh on a bad connection (my best guess) that somehow persisted itself through a cache, or whatever. I never thought about clearing the cache either! Too late ...

Thanks again.

PP

Answer 7

FF5 views the site fine for me. I would say your FF profile has been corrupted somehow, but, if that were the case, I would expect all websites to have this problem for you.

Still, it might help to uninstall / reinstall FF. This could cause loss of all your bookmarks and whatnot, though; so, you might want to write down the more important ones.

Or maybe import your bookmarks into another browser. - webdunce, Aug 9, 2011

Answer 8

I agree with webdunce - did your FF installation run and complete without interruptions or other odd behavior? It sure feels like the install is not completed.

I've had nothing but good experiences with Firefox for years, and I keep it current. I use it on both Windows 7 and Windows XP.

Answer 9

Running FireFox 5.0.1 on Macs, no problems at all. I think webdunce has the right idea, try uninstalling all its files and start from scratch. It has that microsoft sound to it, I take it you're using Windows?