Safari Debugging Strategies
Safari is a popular web browser developed by Apple that runs on Mac OS 10.2.0 and above. It it is a fast browser that incorporates features such as tabbed browsing, pop-up blocking and snap-back, which allows users to mark a page on-the-fly as a page to go back to with a click of a button.
Occasionally, users will report problems when accessing certain web sites. There are several things users can do to either solve or work around these problems.
- Turn on pop-up windows. Some pages try to launch legitimate pop-up windows in order to allow users to input or display addition information. Pop-up windows can be turned on or off via the Block Pop-Up Windows menu item under the Safari menu.
- Make sure you have the appropriate plug-ins. Although Safari ships with plug-ins such as Shockwave and Quicktime, the page you're trying to access may use some other plug-in. Check the support link on the web page or send a note to the webmaster of the page to see if there's a plug-in you're missing.
- Check the version number on your plug-ins. It's possible that a web page uses features available only in a more recent version of a plug-in. Launch Safari, go to the Help menu and select Installed Plug-ins. All the available web-browser plug-ins will be listed in the window that appears along with detailed version information.
- Change the web browser ID for Safari from Safari to IE 6 for Windows. Some web pages check the ID of the browser connecting to it and will decline access if the browser doesn't meet certain minimum requirements. While in some cases there is a legitimate reason for denying access—Netscape 2.0 would not handle many modern web sites, for example—it's sometimes used by web developers to avoid having to actually check their web pages with non-Internet Explorer web browsers. In order to change Safari's ID download Safari Enhancer and use it to turn on the Safari Debug menu. Under the Debug menu, you'll see the User Agent sub-menu; select Windows MSIE 6.0 from the list and then try connecting to your web site. This is not guaranteed to work, but has produced some surprisingly good results for many users. Remember that Safari will revert back to being Safari the next time you launch Safari or open a new browsing window so you'll have to set it back to being IE 6.0 every time you want to access a page that checks ID.
- Report the page to Apple. Apple has a feedback mechanism built into Safari that allows users to send information about web pages that don't work properly when viewed by Safari. Go to the Views menu and select Bug menu item. A button will appear at the right end of the Tool Bar with the image of an insect in it. When you access a page that doesn't display properly or work correctly, click on the Bug button. A window will appear with the current web page address along with a Description field where you can type additional information about the problem you're having with that page. In addition to the Description field there is a button labeled More Options which, when clicked, allows you to send a screenshot of the page as well as the source of the current page. Although Apple cannot guarantee they'll fix the problem—it might be a problem with the web page itself, not Safari—they are working hard to make Safari work with all web pages.
- Use Internet Explorer. Some pages that can't be displayed will work in IE.
Current Record: 1481
Create Date: 10-06-2003
Last Reviewed: 02-22-2008
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