Firefox 3.0 (#4): downgrading to Firefox 2, iWeb pages do not display correctly -- AppleScript fix, more
Downgrade instructions and an AppleScript patch for iWeb-created page issues.
Wednesday, June 25
Downgrading to Firefox 2 If you are experiencing dire issues with Firefox 3.0 and wish to downgrade to the previous release, visit this page, then select the appropriate language (en-US for English-speaking, US residents, for instance). Download the disk image and install the software.
iWeb pages do not display correctly -- AppleScript fix We previously reported that Firefox 3.0 exhibits issues when rendering sites created by iWeb, including photo galleries. Several potential fixes for this issue have emerged, but none have proven universally effective.
An AppleScript that patches iWeb appears to be the best current bet. After applying the patch, republish your site and check for persistence of the Firefox display issue. The script's author says that his path should fix photo album pages, photo slideshow pages and blog comments (version 1.3 and later).
However, he notes that you may need to make a change to the affected pages (anything will do), or iWeb won't upload new versions of them, and some people have reported that the patch may not work if you have objects on the page with shadows added by iWeb.
MacFixIt reader Don O'Shea writes:
"I tried the patch, but it didn't work for me."
Crashes on launch Users continue to report an issue in which Firefox 2.0 crashes immediately upon launch.
MacFixIt reader Susan writes:
"I have tried multiple downloads of 3.0 and it always immediately crashes. It will not start up in safe mode either. I have never had issues with Firefox before. I haven't added any extensions lately. I tried to load eBay countdown today, which is a windows based program but nothing happened. Now I can't do anything...I replaced the older version with 3.0 because that's what I always do, with no problems. I tried deleting any new programs I've added recently, very few."
Another reader adds:
"The program will not start. The farthest it gets is that I get asked whether to start a new session or restore the old one (I've tried both). The Firefox menus appear in the menu bar, but they are dead. They cannot be clicked. Within about 5-10 seconds, the spinning beach ball appears. Shortly thereafter, I get this error message and the program does not open: 'The server may not exist or it is not operational at this time. Check the server name or IP address and your network connection and try again.'
"Clicking away the error dialog box does nothing. It reappears with regular frequency until I force quit the program. I've done all the things everyone has suggested (remove and reinstall all components including App Support and .plist files, delete login items, eliminate file sharing, etc.)."
Finally, Joe writes:
"Downloaded Firefox 3 yesterday. Had previously erased all traces of the beta I was using (including the .plist, app support, etc.). It simply won't open. It just sits there in the dock. I believe it finally indicated it wasn't responding. Interestingly, I received an error message that it was looking for a server it could not connect to. I've never seen that message before - ever. The beta worked flawlessly."
If our previously noted fixes for this issue prove ineffective, you may want to consider downgrading to a previous release of Firefox as aforementioned.
Spinning pinwheel when loading pages Some users report persistent spinning pinwheel progress indicators when attempting to load pages in Firefox 3.0. One reader writes:
"After launching the new Firefox I am getting the infamous spinning beach ball and have to force quit. Trashing the preference file, downloading a 2nd time and restarting did resolved the problem."
If you are experiencing a similar issue, please let us know.
Add-on compatibility If you are experiencing issues with add-ons after the update to Firefox 3.0, backing up your bookmarks then deleting the Firefox folder from ~/Library/Application Support and re-downloading all add-ons.
Spell Catcher incompatible One MacFixIt reader reports incompatibility between Spell Catcher and Firefox 3.0:
"Ever since the 1st beta of Firefox 3, Spell Catcher does not work properly. While fine in Firefox 2, automatic correction and also requested corrections do not work properly. I contacted the Spell Catcher folks, and they wrote back that it had something to do with a new input method in Firefox 3. I also wrote to Mozilla about this after each beta, but never received an answer from them and the problem has persisted in exactly the same way. Let me demonstrate what happens with this. Whenever there is an auto-correct, some sort of Asian looking characters are added after the correct spelling of the word, but the incorrect spelling is not replaced."
Feedback? Late-breakers@macfixit.com.
Previous coverage:
- Firefox 3.0 (#3): will not start, more fixes
- Firefox 3.0 (#2): crashes, missing bookmarks, iWeb issues, network user problems, more
- Firefox 3.0 released: initial issues
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