Damn AOL!

dak888 · #1 (**permalink**) 10-08-2007, 11:41 AM

Who still uses this browser??? Apparently some still do....

Anyways, it was just brought to my attention by one of these so called users that our css based menu does not work in their browser. After a bit of reading, it appears our use of an .htc file for hover effects is the culprit. I suggested to this user to try using IE but guess what, apparently once you install AOL on your machine, it breaks IE as well as we tested on a machine here. (Windows 2000, ie6, aol 9.0 as reported by the user).

So, does anyone know of a work around for this or have any insight? I would hate to scrap the entire menu system because of crappy AOL! I know I shouldn't blame the browser but it's just frustrating.

Thanks,

DaK

**wige** · #2 (**permalink**) 10-08-2007, 02:34 PM

.htc files also can have problems in IE6 under XP SP 2 because of the need for elevated privileges. The first thing I would suggest is changing the mime-type to (or make sure the mimetype is) text/x-component.

(A known issue with csshover.htc)

dak888 · #3 (**permalink**) 10-08-2007, 02:37 PM

Thanks Wige, I caught that during my reading and have updated the .htaccess file already. However, that didn't seem to fix the AOhelL issue.

DaK

bj · #4 (**permalink**) 10-09-2007, 07:24 PM

Personally, I'd look at the stats and see how many people actually use this broken aoHell browser. If that person is the only one, or there are only a handful out of hundreds of thousands of visitors . . . I'd say it's about time for them to join the 21st century, don'tcha think?

dak888 · #5 (**permalink**) 10-10-2007, 09:16 AM

LOL, that's what I was thinking!

Anyway, it's a very small percentage between 2% - 3%. But....it is an e-commerce site and I hate to think I'm alienating (sp?) potential orders because they can't get around on the site. I've been searching around but haven't been able to find a fix or work around other than changing the whole menu system to one that doesn't use .htc files.

The percentage could also be larger if both AOL and IE are installed on the same system. From what I've read and what I've experimented with, even if people use IE it could still be broken because of AOL being installed on their computer. This is a bit more disturbing as AOL comes (or came) pre-installed on a lot of computers so I don't know if that's affecting it.

Thanks,

DaK

bj · #6 (**permalink**) 10-10-2007, 09:31 AM

There may be another way to approach this. It's possible that you can use the .js version of that script, served to IE only via conditional comments. This might work by simply swapping out the .htc and swapping in the .js. I seem to remember using this somewhere and it worked fine, though you should check it in IE7, since I can't remember if that raised other bugs.

A List Apart: Articles: Drop-Down Menus, Horizontal Style

And if the aoHell browser has an IE base it SHOULD read the script if it needs it. At least that's the theory.

bj · #7 (**permalink**) 10-10-2007, 09:38 AM

One other suggestion-- put this problem in front of the experts.

css-discuss.org

bj · #8 (**permalink**) 10-10-2007, 09:41 AM

OOOH, I've got a third suggestion! How about posting a prominent link to a detailed sitemap somewhere outside of, but very near to that that dropdown menu? That way you don't have to ditch the menu but these aoHell users will still be able to find navigation they can use . . . you can even label it AOL users sitemap, if you wanna give them the hint.

dak888 · #9 (**permalink**) 10-10-2007, 11:01 AM

Thanks BJ! I'll try posting on the css board you linked to and see if they know anything about it.

DaK