Closed Bug 216466 Opened 21 years ago Closed 19 years ago

Modal Network Error Dialogs Suck (default browser.xul.error_pages.enabled to true)

Categories

(Firefox :: General, defect, P2)

Product:
Firefox
Component:
General
Type:
defect

Tracking

()

Status:
VERIFIED FIXED
Milestone:
Future

People

(Reporter: bugs, Assigned: mconnor)

References

(Depends on 1 open bug)

Details

(Keywords: conversion)

Attachments

(2 files)

patch
(deleted), patch
benjamin
: approval-aviary1.1a2+
Details | Diff | Splinter Review
patch to remove second declaration
(deleted), patch
benjamin
: review+
benjamin
: approval-aviary1.1a2+
Details | Diff | Splinter Review 
Frequently the ad server that is used by one of the forums I read is down, and
when the request for the ad fails, Firebird shows a modal dialog telling me the
connection was refused or something like that. If Firebird wasn't the active
window it flashes in the taskbar. Long ago there was a bug to turn off these
modal dialogs and use error pages instead. We should do that now.
Status: NEW → ASSIGNED
Priority: -- → P2
Target Milestone: --- → Firebird0.9
I've been using this pref:
browser.xul.error_pages.enabled: true (boolean)

Even with bug 157004, it works well enough that I prefer it to modal dialogs.
QA Contact: asa
*** Bug 223250 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 230129 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Summary: Modal Network Error Dialogs Suck → Modal Network Error Dialogs Suck (default browser.xul.error_pages.enabled to true)
Adding a couple dependencies, as current behavior needs fixing before this can 
change.  I wasn't sure about adding bug 157004 (more applicable to Mozilla than 
to Mozilla Firebird?) and bug 229737 (not that critical), so I didn't.  
However, fixing these two bugs is required before this bug can be fixed:

Bug 170216 - pretty up DNS error pages
Bug 226401 - properly store XUL error pages in history

Also adding the conversion keyword, because annoying dialog boxes that might 
steal focus (don't remember for sure if they do right now) aren't what most 
users want, and with bug 226401 still live, referring them to about:config 
doesn't work as well as it should.
Depends on: 170216, 226401
Keywords: conversion
*** Bug 234520 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
It is ad, so I expect nothing
ie, just ignore the http/ftp request
or at least only a about:blank

If some user realy wants a error page
give me a pref setting to override it to ignore the request

And in case of src attribute of <img> tag something like bug# 234656

*** Bug 234802 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
browser.xul.error_pages.enabled is annoying. 

If half the page is loaded and connection dies, it shows error page instead of
half the page. Also, if I open new tab, go to site a, click link b, b dies, I
can't go back to a
Target Milestone: Firefox0.9 → After Firefox 1.0
*** Bug 241332 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
> browser.xul.error_pages.enabled is annoying. 
> 
> If half the page is loaded and connection dies, it shows error page instead of
> half the page. 

I haven't hit that one.  What is the error message in the error page?  Do you
have a way to reproduce the bug?  Either way, file a bug and make it block bug
28586.

> Also, if I open new tab, go to site a, click link b, b dies, I can't go
> back to a

That's bug 226401, which this bug depends on.
Flags: blocking1.0?
-ing will take well tested patch that solves the shist/global history/back
button problems.
Flags: blocking1.0? → blocking1.0-
*** Bug 244916 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
I've set this ?blocking-aviary1.0.  A lot of people who I recommend FF to IM me
& complain about the dialog that appears whenever some ad server for a forums
page isn't working, or they have that ad-blocking hosts file.  I can't exactly
recommend going into about:config & setting xul.erorrpages.true because of the
back/forward issue.  None have switched back to IE though, they still like FF a
lot :D  Just a heads-up.  Go Firefox (or as I hear it commonly called, Foxfire
*sigh*)!
Flags: blocking-aviary1.0- → blocking-aviary1.0?
genuz, don't touch blocking flags that have been set by devs.
Flags: blocking-aviary1.0? → blocking-aviary1.0-
should bug 250990 be duped to this?  fixing this bug would fix that.
This bug is not getting fixed for 1.0, so that bug should not be duped and
should be nominated.
Depends on: 157004
*** Bug 257067 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 257388 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 271667 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 271749 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 272217 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
I prefer dialogs to error pages. Firefox really needs work in a different area:
notification. For example, when I have downloads pending, and the download box
already showing, and I switch to another app... Forefox will start bouncing and
beeping even if there's no action I need to take...
*** Bug 280054 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 280329 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
I really hate to get those alerts when I opened multiple tabs in background and
I am not even on the relevant tab of the error.

Maybe it is possible to change the favicon of the tab and addressbar and tab to
a not found icon instead of showing an alert. This way you can see a tab failed
before you click the tab and you are not disturbed surfing the current tab.
 
And maybe it is possible to change the color of the address bar to red and show
a friendly 'not found' page like IE. This would make the browsing experience
smoother in my opinion by not forcing the user to click the alerts away.
Flags: blocking-aviary1.1?
"And maybe it is possible to [show] a friendly 'not found' page like IE."

NO NO NO! TEN THOUSAND TIMES NO!

The IE "friendly" error messages are one of the nastiest things on the net.
First, if the site returns an actual error message that contains real
information, you don't see it. Second, it's lead to sites returning errors as
regular pages because they're trying to avoid the user-hostile IE "friendly"
error page.
I meant on cases where connection is broken or when there is no valid 404 page
on server. You can also serve a blank page like now and the alert but the alert
disturbes the browsing process. You have to click it even if the page is not
currently visible. It is a process that irritated from when I first used
Firefox. (And others seeing the duplicates and votes) An error page in content
area allows the person to continue. If the error page is not liked you could
also choose for the blank page and a clear status indicator like a red location
bar or/and favicon showing the failed status. (I like that last one because you
can see a tab failed before arriving)

And if a page has a custom 404 show it instead of blank or custom friendly page.
I do not see any arguments against a friendly page if you maintain the pages own
custom pages if it has one... But I just like to get rid of the alert click action.
"And if a page has a custom 404 show it"

How in the name of Tim Berners-Lee do you tell a "Custom 404" from a plain
vanilla 404? Answer: you can't, and you shouldn't even try. If the site returns
some generic error message, then show that generic error message.

The only time you should consider any other action is if you can't connect to
the site at all.
Sorry, I am not a very technical person familior with every detail of the http
protocol :) I just try to look at the interaction. Well I was just suggesting
something has to be done to streamline the 'not found' process. The alert is
annoying and locks the whole browser till you click it. An unnecessary drastic
action to present such simple information.
This bug is exactly about getting rid of that annoying alert, more generally
about network errors and the annoying dialogs they currently cause. 404 and its
ilk are not network errors, nor do they cause annoying dialogs, nor are they the
subject of this bug.
I did not mention 404s in first message. I just liked a friendly webpage message
for the disconnect error 'not found'. The 404 was a reaction on Peter da Silva. 

But what about the suggestion of a 'failed' favicon in the tabs if a url fails
to load? This way I can quickly filter out which links in which tabs are
offline. (favicon is not needed because the page failed) And a friendly
disconnect page if you arrive on the tab suggesting you to refresh or check the
url. Thus not for 404's etc but only for network errors. It sounds to me as a
much better sollution than the locking alerts and this way the disconnect
message is confined to the tab instead of the whole browser window.

Well the error page is mentioned by the bug but I like to add the suggestion of
the favicons or another state indicator in the tab.
"But what about the suggestion of a 'failed' favicon in the tabs if a url fails
to load?"

I think that's a great idea. I'd also like to see most of the modial dialogs
(and in the Mac version, sheets) turned into regular windows. Particularly
preferences.
+ing - This is not a promise for a working patch, just investigation.
Flags: blocking-aviary1.1? → blocking-aviary1.1+
Depends on: 285055
*** Bug 288971 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 289617 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
*** Bug 291624 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
Depends on: 291954
Added bug 291954 as a dependency since enabling XUL error pages messes up
extension installation.
Flags: blocking1.8b3+
Replacing duped dependancy with the bug it was duped to. (so it doesn't get missed)

bug 170216 -> bug 280190
Depends on: 280190
No longer depends on: 170216
Assignee: bugs → mconnor
Status: ASSIGNED → NEW
Depends on: 292624
Whiteboard: make this a beta blocker, not an alpha blocker
Attached patch patch (deleted) — — Splinter Review 
the dependencies can be worked through, but they're all relatively minor and
can be addressed or not in the beta cycle.
Attachment #187164 - Flags: approval-aviary1.1a2?
Attachment #187164 - Flags: approval-aviary1.1a2? → approval-aviary1.1a2+
switch thrown, please nominate the various deps as blockers for 1.8b4 where
appropriate.
Whiteboard: make this a beta blocker, not an alpha blocker
Status: NEW → RESOLVED
Closed: 19 years ago
Resolution: --- → FIXED
Error pages suck too, so make sure there's an easy preference setting to let
people switch back without grovelling through config files.

I prefer the idea of deferring the dialog until you switch to the tab.

Mike, why you are adding the pref a second time? It's already declared
somewhere in the middle of the file. This patch will remove the second
declaration of browser.xul.error_pages.enabled.
Reopen until the duplicated pref is removed.
Status: RESOLVED → REOPENED
Resolution: FIXED → ---
Attachment #187187 - Flags: review?(benjamin)
Attachment #187187 - Flags: review?(benjamin)
Attachment #187187 - Flags: review+
Attachment #187187 - Flags: approval-aviary1.1a2+
Whiteboard: [checkin needed]
Whiteboard: [checkin needed] → [cb] ready to land for 1.8b3?
Additional fix landed.
Status: REOPENED → RESOLVED
Closed: 19 years ago → 19 years ago
Resolution: --- → FIXED
Whiteboard: [cb] ready to land for 1.8b3?
Status: RESOLVED → VERIFIED
"Error pages suck too, so make sure there's an easy preference setting to let
people switch back without grovelling through config files.

I prefer the idea of deferring the dialog until you switch to the tab."

I agree, or perhaps only have an alert if you are on the tab that fails to load,
else have an error page (but only if the back button issue is fixed).
This bug is closed.  Please move all advocacy to new bugs.

Sorry for the bugspam.
*** Bug 307139 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***
QA Contact: general
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