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.

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.

*** Bug 223250 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

*** Bug 230129 has been marked as a duplicate of this bug. ***

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.

*** 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

*** 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.

-ing will take well tested patch that solves the shist/global history/back button problems.

*** 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*)!

genuz, don't touch blocking flags that have been set by devs.

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.

*** 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.

"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.

*** 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. ***

Added bug 291954 as a dependency since enabling XUL error pages messes up extension installation.

Replacing duped dependancy with the bug it was duped to. (so it doesn't get missed) bug 170216 -> bug 280190

the dependencies can be worked through, but they're all relatively minor and can be addressed or not in the beta cycle.

switch thrown, please nominate the various deps as blockers for 1.8b4 where appropriate.

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.

Additional fix landed.

"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. ***