GarageGames.com on Opera

#1 Doing the pages by hand like always. Works in Firefox and IE. As much as I like Opera it does have a number of problems. Less and 1% of our users use Opera so I budget an equal mount of effort into developing workarounds. If you find and fix a bug I will implement it.

#2 10 out of 9 people get tricked by statistics as well.

Opera in most cases, is configured to reprot itself as MSIE to the server.

In my opinion you've done something wrong when you have to resort to workarounds
to get your web application to work in more than one web broswer. Why not stick to standards?
Also, there are a number of 3rd party plugins supported by all three browsers.

I will have a pretty hard time finding and fixing site bugs when you do server side processing, of course, not impossible. But I'd probably have to throw out the overall code design to get it to work, breaking all other functionality in the process.. ;)

I guess it's no use fighting you big corporate guys on this anyway, so I'll just go get Firefox installed...

#3 Yeah seems to me instead of using CSS to do the little tab effect, they're using javascript instead which is the culprit in this case. I don't know what is the problem with sticking with web standards instead of jumping on to the latest web hype technology bandwagon which is currently Web 2.0 aka AJAX.

#4 If the website do not work on Opera this is normal to see the Opera user base dropping to less than 1% ;o)

I have the same problem on my Nokia 770 who use an Opera we broswer... I'll try to take a look at the CSS/javascript code if I have some time this weekend.

#5

Quote:you big corporate guys

LOL! Been a while since I was called that =P

#6 It sucks when Firefox eats up so much memory that I have to force restart on the machine. It especially bugs me when I open pdf files and the damn reader pops up a message UNDER firefox to tell me that the browser is redirecting to a different page if I attempt to exit the document. So then both Adobe and Firefox crash the whole friggin' machine. Plus, the only extentions I have area simpler theme and Chatzilla. Where is that memory going? In comparison, I get just about the same amount of memory usage with 20 tabs open in Opera as I do with 1 window open, both with google as the loaded page. Opera is proven to be much faster from a cold start. Too bad it didn't catch on, as I love it much more than Firefox, even though I use it because it is the only other choice that isn't either IE, or some other variant of IE based off the over-ActiveX-bladder plugin of IE.

BTW, If you have any trouble with Firefox and the amount of memory used, check this page for some tips: kb.mozillazine.org/Memory_Leak

#7 It is a terrible pain in the ass to make websites work for all of the major browsers out there. Please be kind to the guys who have to suffur doing it. Trying to make everyone happy tends to make nobody happy. Sometimes you just have to dissappoint some people. It's not a pleasure to have to choose either. But you have to do it.

#8 I didn't mean to offend, I have no problem with the GarageGames website, it is much more aesthetically pleasing than many other websites. I was just venting, and I guess it was inappropriate for this thread..

#9 Anton is right.

However, I do feel your pain Cameron and understand. I use Opera, but had to start using IE to just to use the new GG site, but its a small compromise I am can live with.

@ Matt,

Yup, when did GG become THE MAN sticking it to the little guy :P ROFL!

#10 Yeah, I got IE installed on this computer as well, but It's access has been thwarted in any possible way, which means it doesn't even get to browse the net anymore ;) Switching to IE to browse the GG site is not an option, so I guess only Firefox remains. This would also mean GG is helping create a monopoly using its market position ;) (As the only place you can get a game engine this damned good for so little money)

But seriously tho, I'd love it if GG tried toning down the use of 'special tricks' some browsers support and try sticking more to standards in order to cover as many browsers as possible. You know what? I wouldn't even mind if that page I complained about just looked damned ugly in my browser, the big problem is it doesn't even work at all. (I don't get the link list)

I understand tho a site of these proportions must be quite a lot of work for a one man team to maintain/update.


@ Matt just a little pun :)

#11 The figures for Opera users will definitely be skewed. By default it is set to identify itself as IE, plus a number of people will be using more than one browser to access the site.

Personally, I use Opera to visit the forums and Firefox to view the "What's New" page. I might consider using Firefox for the whole site, if it worked more consistently (it doesn't always load the entire page for some reason).

#12 twilightuniverse.com/2006/03/dear-media-temple/

#13 I don't use Firefox for the same reason as Cameron. After a while it eats up alot of memory and the system gets very slow, until I close it.

#14 I tried to find where the bug was located but it was more difficult than expected. The problem cames from the JS tab code (not CSS) but I didn't find exactly from where...
It would be easier to change the tab code by another one than to debug this one. Rick certainly have better things to do so we'll have to wait for the next version of the website. ;o)

#15 Just happened by and saw this thread. I'm an Opera user as well, but just loaded up IE to post in the forums because the JS drop down menus hover over the "check this to be emailed when replies are posted to this thread" checkbox, making it impossible to check the box.

I understand that it can be very difficult to make a site work properly in every browser. On the other hand, my company has a site, which I maintain, that uses a JS library for drop down menus that works flawlessly with Opera, IE and Netscrape (FF, Mozilla, NS, whatever). It's called coolMenus, and can be found here: www.dhtmlcentral.com/projects/coolmenus/

So, it's up to you. 1 fix for you, or 1000 workarounds for us.

#16 Hrm, and one more thing while we're here. I know it's off-topic, but, since I didn't check the "Notify me at email@address.com when new replies are posted" the first time I posted to this topic, I don't see an obvious way to submit that checkbox without posting again. It'd be nice if there was another html form (maybe a single button) that allowed me to get myself on the notification list without submitting a post. Outside of this scenario, there are threads I'd like to watch that I don't really need to post to.

So, when you have a chance.... issue #2 ;)

Thanks for your efforts. I'm sure I seem like a picky asshole. Really, I'm just trying to give some CONSTRUCTIVE criticism.

#17 I'm having some trouble getting the site working with lynx.

if you could go ahead and get that fixed up for me..
that would be great. yea... thanks.

Oh yea, seems we had to move your desk to the basement seems we have a little "Rat" problem.
if you could go ahead and set some traps get that cleared up for me that would be great..
thanks.

#18 Score: +1, Office Space Reference

#19 The "What's New" page seems to work in the new Opera 9. You have to click on one of the top tabs for the content to show (in Firefox and IE the content for "All" shows immediately), but it does show now.

The top menues also seem to behave themselves more.

#20 Just thought i'd butt-in here...

I tried the site on Opera Mobile (for PocketPC), and it just didn't work - seemed to be a big problem with the tabs (i.e, they didn't display properly).
What made it a bit worse was that to access certain parts of the site, you *need* to go through the tabs.

Considering Opera was the only browser that i could get working that displayed most sites acceptably on my PocketPC, i was very dissapointed.