QRZ Seeks Technical Advice

[AA7BQ]

Okay folks, here's your chance to help fellow Macintosh users. #We've received a number of inquiries from Mac users (many on AOL.COM) who say that when they visit QRZ pages, all they get is a bunch of HTML code and the pages are pretty much unreadable.

Nobody here at QRZ has a Macintosh and so we can't confirm or deny that the problem exists, let alone begin to take steps to correct it. #Perhaps someone reading this has the technical wherewithall to figure out or tell us what's going wrong. #We and the affected users would really like to hear from you if so. #Your technical advice would be much appreciated.

Thanks,

-fred

[KC2JCA]

Which Macintosh OS, and which Browser software? I don't really see anything in the source code that would preclude Macs from viewing the page. I'm thinking something along the lines of an older system that may not quite understand XML and Stylesheets.

73, Jim - kc2jca

[KC2JCA]

Jumping in again...

I'm now 95% sure it's the XML that's causing the trouble.

Refer Mac users to http://www.xml.com/pub/r/377 for an XML capable browser and more information.


73, Jim - kc2jca

[kb9tqn]

I'm on a Mac with IE 5.1.3 and all is well.

[w3jjh]

I have Mac running Netscape 4.7.x under OS8.6, 9.1, 9.2, and 10.1. They have no problem with QRZ. I have also used Internet Exploder 5.1 with OS 10.1 with good results. However, I get best results with the Opera browser under 9.2 or 10.1.

You can download Opera from http://www.opera.com.

[kb3drf]

Hello
I am using a Macintosh notebook(laptop) G3 256M ram,operating system
9.1,also using netscape 6.2 and explorer 5 (mac versions) for my browsers.While using earthlink as my internet provider(3 years) everything is fine while surfing qrz.I had a free disk for aol(1 month) so
I programed my hard disk with there software and gave it a try.So far it is
running but a couple pages in the swapmeet were just code!!
I will play with aol a little more and drop another report if it changes.
the software from aol was there new version . 73 Mat kb3drf http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[KD7PVT]

I have no problems at all, using a Mac/OS 9.1 with iCab v2.7.1 #as a browser. #I normally surf with Javascript turned off, and have had no problems with the QRZ.COM site.

[k7emi]

I've had no trouble with my Macs running OS 9.1 or 9.2 or my linux boxes or netbsd or the windows machines I keep around ONLY for logging.

Now that I think of it, I don't think my SPARCclassic running Solaris had any trouble, either.

I was a sysadmin at an ISP, so I can help if you point me at some errors. So far I've seen nothing on this site.

Sometimes some sites need IE, but ugh, does that make me feel dirty. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[n4aba]

AOL 4.0 and 5.0 generate a request to download a file when using "Get Callsign." Text downloaded seems to be XML, so it seems that the page forces XML usage w/o checking to see if the browser is XML compatible; maybe Java would be better?

As for IE, 5.0 on the Mac works FB, previous versions generate similar code, showing browser incompatibility. (Think it was IE4.5 I checked last night...different Mac.)

Current systems are an iMac running OS9.1/IE5.0 and a PC running Win98/IE5.0. BTW, the new site much quicker on both the Mac and the PC, don't have the Linux system up yet to check. I'll also load iCab to see if there is any problem there. PLEASE keep up the good work! You guys have contributed so much to the hobby....I have several non-amateur friends that are amazed at the amount of support/help/friendship that is available, and this may get them into the hobby.

Cheers;
Andrew KG4GSC

[km6xu]

A local Linux webmaster has a good use for old Macs:
http://www.jeffbasham.com/mac-couch.jpg
http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

[N2ERN]

No problem here.

G4/860 w/520 mbRAM. Under 9.2, IE runs fine, so does Netscape. Haven't tried OS X yet.

I used to run AOL with my old Mac clone Power Computing PowerCenter 150 under system 7 with no problems. AOL is very Mac-friendly

[kg4kfy]

I had a similar problem with a project at work. In my cgi-scripts where you put the "Content-type: text/html" at the top to let the browser know what is coming I had "text/plain" and whenever the scripts were executed the output had plain at the top and Netscape displayed the code and not the page. This wasn't on Mac though...

Nick

[ka5kti]

I sometimes use a mac powerbook G3 running OS 9.2 and IE 5.1 to access QRZ.com. So far no problems.

I might focus on AOL. I've heard some sites have separate logins for AOL users...has to be for a reason! You might try having these folks try to login thru another service provider if that's possible- in order to determine if it's something wrong with their mac (or software) or AOL! If it is AOL, call their tech support (and get a cold one...you'll be waiting a while for them to answer!!!http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

Good luck and 73!
Scott- KA5KTI

[KD5NRH]

One thing I would watch for, though, is small, tiled backgrounds. I doubt this is the case anymore, but it seems that, at one point, one of the Big Two browsers had its Mac version set up quite stupidly WRT tiled background images; rather than downloading it once and reproducing it locally, it would try to download it again for each instance.
I discovered this problem when a previous employer's braindead web designer decided to make a background blue by tiling it with a 1x1 pixel blue image. (Don't ask me why, especially since it was pure blue, i.e. #0000FF.) Macs would seem to hang as they tried to download that image thousands of times in succession.

[aa1mn]

While Macs at one point in the past were considered to have a cutting edge over IBM PC compatible computers, this is no longer the case. This is due to the very fact that many of their software and operating systems are NOT compatible with IBM features MACs have thus excluded themselves from ease of use and operation. Talk about built in deadend evolution!

Best thing to do is to purchase a non-MAC PC, thus avoiding such nusainces in the future. Rand and rale all you will, Mac lovers, but bottom line...it's the truth!!!

[KG6IYD]

Just to add my $.02, I'm on MacOS X with MSIE 5 and the page looks great.

KD7PVT appears to have a viable answer to this issue of Mac compatibility. Once this issue is resolved i will get a Mac myself. I am tired of all the big brother "spookware" piped in and out by McAfee and Microsoft XP and will cope with this problem by going to the Mac OS as soon as it is feasible to do so. And that time is in the VERY near future... --73 de r.w.--

[aa1mn]

"Big Brother"? "Spookware"?

Sounds to me, Radioweenie, that you've been spending too much time in Area 51 having extraterrestrials perform genetic experiments on your DNA.

Ooops! #Now the sixty years secret is finally out...

[WA4CB]

QRZ works fine on Macintosh OS X (10.1). I've tried it with most major browsers and via AOL 5.0 for Mac OS X.

QRZ, like most sites, looks better on a Mac. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif

FWIW, QRZ also loads fine on my Linux boxes. I usually browse with the latest Mozilla build or Netscape 6.2.

kit

[KC2JCA]

It appears this thread lost focus and turned into a debate on whether Mac is better than PC, or not.


Back to the problem at hand. The culprit is XML.

Please have your Mac users, unable to load the pages properly, upgrade to an XML friendly browser.

Problem solved.

73, Jim - kc2jca

[KC2IXB]

Friends don't let friends use Macs! http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif