CGI doesn't work with Mac IE 5.1?

[jhubb]

I'm having a problem with two CGI scripts that don't seem to work on Mac IE 5.1. They work fine in Windows IE and in Netscape on both platforms.

It is our "Printer Friendly Version" and "Email Story to a Friend" links. When the user clicks on them, nothing happens.

I've searched all over for known issues like this with no luck. Any ideas?

[edited by: jhubb at 4:40 pm (utc) on Nov. 9, 2004]

[encyclo]

Welcome to WebmasterWorld [webmasterworld.com], jhubb.

Firstly, you might want to consult the Terms of service [webmasterworld.com] for the forum which does not permit the posting of personal URLs. If you can, edit your post the remove the link, otherwise a moderator will do it for you.

It's an interesting conundrum: as CGI scripts run server-side, there is nothing with the browser which would affect their operation. However, if the link doesn't function in one particular browser, it may be something in the surrounding markup which is affecting the link operation. Is the problem on one particular page, or on every page of the site?

Also, have you tried validating your HTML [validator.w3.org]?

[jhubb]

Oops, thanks for pointing that out about the link. I guess I didn't read the terms carefully enough!

I haven't validated the page, to be honest, because the whole dang thing would be invalid! I just took over as the webmaster for this newspaper and the previous person wasn't too clean with his code. I'm not even going to attempt to clean it up except where problems present themselves because the site is too huge and I have too many daily duties. We will be redesigning in early 2006, so I'll start with a clean slate then.

Good point about the code surrounding the link, but I can't see an issue with it:

<A href="/cgi-bin/printstory.cgi">Printer Friendly Version</A>

unless one browser doesn't like the way the path is called...

Thanks again!

[encyclo]

I took a sneak-peek at your page anyway, and although there are a glut of validation errors, overall the site is quite robust. The markup is rather rustic, but overall not too bad - and I couldn't identify any potential pitfalls which would stop the link functioning. It certainly worked just fine for me with Firefox 1.0 on Linux, and the markup used for the link is about as as standard as it is possible to be.

If you build a test page locally with the original markup, does the link work? If not, try removing chunks of markup one at a time until you can try to identify the culprit. Also, does the mouse cursor change when you hover over the link (with the page name showing in the status bar), or does the link appear to be "inactive"?

[jhubb]

Well part of my problem is that I don't have a Mac to test with. I started getting feedback from Mac users that they couldn't use these features and finally I cornered one of them into helping me troubleshoot. I've basically been trying things and having him check on his end, conversing via email.

Incidentally, the same thing happens to him when he tries to use the "Print This" and "Email This" features on a sister website which uses different scripts. However, he says that the same features on the New York Times website works for him... And I can't tell any difference between the three's markup.

[encyclo]

Are all the affected scripts called

something[b].cgi[/b]

?

[jhubb]

The two on my site call .cgi files. On our sister site, one calls a .pl file.

[travelin cat]

jhubb,

we see this happen a lot... we have a travel site filled with scripts. Some work on IE and not Safari and some the other way around. We have never found a solution to this, we just reccomend that the user try a different browser.

Not very sophisticated, but it helps.

[whoisgregg]

In either case, it could simply be the markup returned by the cgi which is at fault. Try outputting the "results" page in a functioning browser, save the source, and look for problems there. (The "Fill out your friends email" page or the "printer friendly" page.)

There could also be javascripts as part of the returned page which are incompatible with Mac IE 5... If you'd care to sticky me a link, I'm up for helping. :)

<added>
Or change CGI scripts! :)
</added>