JSWare - About Problems With The Menu

Sorry for the inconvenience...
but there may be no menu for your browser.
   Did you arrive at this page because you had trouble with the JSWare menu and clicked the link on the home page? Maybe the menu did not function or was not visible? Are you using Internet Explorer with script disabled, or are you using an older browser?

• For all browsers except Internet Explorer

   The JSWare main menu has worked for a number of years in all of the major browsers: Mozilla 1+, Netscape 7+, Firefox, Opera 7+, Konqueror 3.1+ and Safari 6+ are all adequate. If the submenus do not show when hovering the mouse over the main menus ("Software", "Code and Utilities", "Info and Diatribes", etc.) then your browser is probably many years old and needs to be updated.

Note to Opera users:
   If you use Opera it may be "pretending" to be Internet Explorer online. Opera was designed to send an IE userAgent string (which identifies the browser to the website) in order to avoid display problems. Unfortunately, that can cause as many problems as it solves. You can change the userAgent string in Opera settings. If the string includes "MSIE" your browser will be mistaken at jsware.net for Internet Explorer, JSWare will give you the IE version of the main menu, and you will find that the menu does not work.

• For problems with Internet Explorer

   This website is designed to work with Internet Explorer (IE), but Internet Explorer is grossly outdated in its support for web standards and its ability to process webpage "style" code (CSS). The last notable IE update was in 2001, and the last major update to IE's ability to display webpages was in 1998 with Internet Explorer 4.

   Due to Internet Explorer's limitations, IE requires its own simplified version of the main menu, with some features removed. And the IE version of the main menu requires script to function. If you have script disabled in Internet Explorer the main menu will not work. The menu may not even be visible.

   Although JSWare.net is a script-free site for all other browsers, if you want to access the JSWare website using Internet Explorer you must enable script. Sorry for the inconvenience, but the rest of the Internet cannot be held back by Microsoft's decision to ignore web standards and neglect their browser.

We recommend switching to another browser, for 3 reasons:

1) Internet Explorer has had numerous security-related problems, the vast majority of those relate to the use of script, and Microsoft has historically been slow to fix the bugs. So it is not advisable to enable script in IE.

2) Internet Explorer is outdated and incompatible. IE is the only browser that has not been designed to be compatible with internationally recognized web standards. It is the only browser that needs special treatment. If people would stop using Internet Explorer then webpage display problems would be virtually eliminated.

3) Internet Explorer has been effectively discontinued. (See explanation below, under the "Internet Explorer 7/8" heading.)

Other Browser Options
K-Meleon and Firefox:

   Other browser options include:

• Firefox
• K-Meleon
• Opera

See the Browser Tips page for more in-depth information about browser options.
Internet Explorer 7 and 8
   If you are not familiar with webpage design it is difficult to explain the unique problems caused by Internet Explorer. It might be easiest to use an analogy:

   Imagine that the battle of DVD formats was still going on, so that when you bought a DVD player you had to choose between two different players -- format A and format B. Now imagine that the company that makes the format B machine keeps changing it. So movie releases have to be published in formats A, B, B2 and B3 to accomodate all DVD players on the market.

   Further imagine that Hollywood studios could release movies in only A and B formats. B2 and B3 players could play a B-format DVD. The viewer just wouldn't get the benefit of any improvements or new features in the B2 and B3 formats. Of course, there wouldn't be much sense in people "upgrading" to B2 or B3 players if movies still play exactly as they did in a B-format player.

   On top of all that, imagine that the B2- and B3-format DVD players are not generally available. Only some people can buy them. For the sake of analogy, let's say that the B2 and B3 players only work with late-model Sony TVs.

   Format B, B2 and B3 are Internet Explorer 6, 7 and 8. Format A is all other browsers. JSWare is like one of the studios that is publishing only in A and B format. As for the limited availability of B2 and B3 players in the analogy: Microsoft have actually discontinued IE except as an upgrade to Windows XP SP3 and Vista/7. Internet Explorer 7/8 will not run on Windows 95, NT4, 98, ME, 2000, on Apple's Mac, or on Linux. It is only partially supported on Windows XP.

   JSWare is forced to provide a specially-designed webpage for IE, but we are not going to provide 3 or 4 versions of webpages for IE, especially given that IE 7/8 cannot even be used by many people. No matter what version of IE you have, webpages at JSWare will be displayed as they are in IE 6, which was out of date when it was released in 2001.

   For full functionality and script-free browsing at JSWare.net, use any browser except Internet Explorer.

• Click here for the JSWare home page.