Cannot view lists and edit logs in Internet Explorer

[+frisbee'r]

This only applies to Internet Explorer and not Firefox and Chrome.   I've had texts from cachers who use Internet Explorer as their primary web browser.    I use it for various Geocaching functions like downloading cache pages to my GPS.  I can confirm that the list function no longer works.  The Geocaching website goes blank and stalls.   Refreshing the screen doesn't fix the problem.   All three browsers need to work properly in order to support individual Geocaching operations.  

[Keystone]

Internet Explorer has been discontinued and is no longer updated.  It's been replaced by Microsoft Edge.  You and the cachers you're texting with should upgrade to a modern browser.

 

Geocaching.com is no longer designed to be compatible with Internet Explorer.  The website works best with Chrome or Firefox.  It should also work with Edge, but lately Edge has been buggy.  The developers are working to fix the Edge compatibility issues.

[+barefootjeff]

8 minutes ago, Keystone said:

Geocaching.com is no longer designed to be compatible with Internet Explorer.  The website works best with Chrome or Firefox.  It should also work with Edge, but lately Edge has been buggy.  The developers are working to fix the Edge compatibility issues.

 

Perhaps the Help Centre needs updating too:

 

Quote

Upgrade to the latest version of a supported web browser to help avoid negative impact or feature limitations. Supported browsers are:

• Microsoft Internet Explorer
• Mozilla Firefox
• Google Chrome
• Opera
• Safari
• Microsoft Edge

 

[+Skyfitter]

I have got the same problem with the edit function in logs and to show next or other page in gallery. It's only possible to see the 1 page. My browser is the newest version of Microsoft Edge 44.18362.449.0 and Microsoft EdgeHTML 18.18363 (Windows 10).

[+cerberus1]

13 hours ago, Keystone said:

Internet Explorer has been discontinued and is no longer updated.  It's been replaced by Microsoft Edge.  You and the cachers you're texting with should upgrade to a modern browser.

 

Geocaching.com is no longer designed to be compatible with Internet Explorer.  The website works best with Chrome or Firefox.  It should also work with Edge, but lately Edge has been buggy.  The developers are working to fix the Edge compatibility issues.

 

That's odd, with the other 2/3rds away, I "upgraded" to windows 10, and a team member said that because of issues with Edge, IE11 is supported until the end of Windows 10, which is on October 14, 2025.  

So I "should" be good another five years.    

[+kunarion]

1 hour ago, cerberus1 said:

 

That's odd, with the other 2/3rds away, I "upgraded" to windows 10, and a team member said that because of issues with Edge, IE11 is supported until the end of Windows 10, which is on October 14, 2025.  

So I "should" be good another five years.    

 

I'm still pretty sure that The IT Team is preparing a fix for this. It can't be much longer, right?

 

The site is especially broken for IE11, for submission forms, or paging, even a bunch of site icons. Edge pops up by default if I click a link (such as a cache page in an email) and it's about half as broken as IE. I'd hate to change default Windows settings just to accommodate one web site when I'm still pretty sure there's an imminent fix.

 

But I have “Brave” all set up, and it's my current go-to browser for ordinary browsing because of this Geocaching.com site thing. Brave is like Firefox, but for preppers. Or people who like “DuckDuckGo” because of DuckDuckGo's mission statement. But Brave also, on purpose, won't play any “DRM” media by default, some of which are ordinary embedded videos on some web page. And there important reasons to not play that. So that's a real eye-opener.

 

Anyway, I don't want to be reading technical reports and changing stuff and fiddling with settings and then changing everything again, just to go browse the Interwebs. So I'm not sayin, I'm just sayin. To anyone to whom it may apply, if you get around to it, fix your web site.

 

 

 

 

Edited January 26, 2020 by kunarion

[+frisbee'r]

Thanks much to those that responded. 

[+The A-Team]

On ‎1‎/‎25‎/‎2020 at 9:28 PM, Keystone said:

Geocaching.com is no longer designed to be compatible with Internet Explorer.

 

If this is the case, then I would expect to see a banner on every page warning of this. That's what was done when support for earlier versions of IE was dropped, and it's the most efficient way of notifying a user that their browser isn't supported by the site anymore. Silently dropping support for a browser that is still supported by its manufacturer just leads to confusion, as evidenced by the many reports here in the forums (and likely to HQ Support too).

 

Don't get me wrong. IE has always been a dog's breakfast* as far as web standards go, so I don't have a problem with a site dropping support for it in order to make development easier. I'd expect them to let a user know that they've done this, though, especially since the browser is still officially supported by its manufacturer and users would rightfully expect it to still be supported by the site unless told otherwise.

 

*No offense to those reviewers for whom this is their standard meal

[+Yateley Zookeepers]

Fixing this for Microsoft Edge is well overdue. This has been a problem for the best part of a month now !!

[+hzoi]

17 hours ago, The A-Team said:

On 1/26/2020 at 6:28 AM, Keystone said:

Geocaching.com is no longer designed to be compatible with Internet Explorer.

 

If this is the case, then I would expect to see a banner on every page warning of this. That's what was done when support for earlier versions of IE was dropped, and it's the most efficient way of notifying a user that their browser isn't supported by the site anymore. Silently dropping support for a browser that is still supported by its manufacturer just leads to confusion, as evidenced by the many reports here in the forums (and likely to HQ Support too).

 

I imagine I'd have a lot of trouble getting the website to work in Netscape Navigator, too.

 

Since Microsoft itself made it public in 2016 that they don't really support Internet Explorer anymore (and no, I would not describe the sporadic patching to IE11 as "support" so much as sustaining its vegetative state), why would any website need to disclaim the fact that they're not going to remain backwards compatible with it?

[+thebruce0]

1 hour ago, hzoi said:

Since Microsoft itself made it public in 2016 that they don't really support Internet Explorer anymore (and no, I would not describe the sporadic patching to IE11 as "support" so much as sustaining its vegetative state), why would any website need to disclaim the fact that they're not going to remain backwards compatible with it?

 

They know their browser demographic. If there's a significant enough segment of the userbase who are IE, then they should be notified, regardless of how unsupported it is. Of course if there isn't a significant enough portion, then they could just turn a blind eye because the development effort isn't worth it in their eyes. But really... a site-wide banner displaying base on useragent is not a big development hurdle. And it can remain as long as necessary without concern. Heck if there was concern then someone can write a script that checks the IE user percentage and if it falls below some arbitrary threshold notify a dev team to kill off the banner code.

 

I wouldn't expect a big IE userbase for anything prior to IE11 - but I would think there'd be a decent sized group of active users who are still on IE11. Especially if a banner is the only thing needed to greatly reduce confusion and encourage people to upgrade.

At the very least, a newsletter entry.

[+frisbee'r]

I am still on a Windows 7 platform so Microsoft Edge is not an option.   I will soon be upgrading to Windows 10 and then have access to Geocaching functionality only IE and Edge can perform easily.   I use FIrefox about 90% of the time.   It seems as though Geocaching problems surfaced for IE 11 around Jan. 14 when Microsoft support for Windows 7 ended.   IE 11 is still resident on the Windows 10  task bar so there is no clear sign from Groundspeak that it is no longer keeping the old browser supported.  

[+The A-Team]

6 hours ago, hzoi said:

Since Microsoft itself made it public in 2016 that they don't really support Internet Explorer anymore (and no, I would not describe the sporadic patching to IE11 as "support" so much as sustaining its vegetative state), why would any website need to disclaim the fact that they're not going to remain backwards compatible with it?

 

In Microsoft's own words, they still support IE11 until the end of Windows 10. Sure, they aren't making any feature changes, but if they say it's still supported, then it's still supported.

 

It should also be noted that, as barefootjeff posted above, the Geocaching.com documentation still lists IE11 as being a recommended browser. If they don't want to officially support a browser anymore that they used to support, then this needs to be communicated to the members in some fashion. Currently, other than Keystone's post and a few Lackey posts suggesting that you should try a different browser, every indication from HQ points toward there being no change with respect to IE11 support.

[Keystone]

When I said that Internet Explorer is "no longer designed to be compatible" with Geocaching.com, I was merely stating a fact: the site doesn't work well, or completely, in that browser.  I made that statement in an effort to help frisbee'r, who seemed to appreciate the guidance.  I was not making an official statement on behalf of Geocaching HQ about "support" for that browser, or taking on responsibility for the absence of a disclaimer banner, the possible need to update help center articles, or anything else.  As a volunteer I do not speak in an official capacity.

 

I would like to help people and answer questions without all the resultant nitpicking and complaining.  Threads like this are a disincentive to posting.  Ever notice that 95% of site volunteers don't post here?  Perhaps they are the smart ones.

 

Many moderators are dogs.

[+Harry Dolphin]

1 hour ago, frisbee'r said:

I am still on a Windows 7 platform so Microsoft Edge is not an option.   I will soon be upgrading to Windows 10 and then have access to Geocaching functionality only IE and Edge can perform easily.   I use FIrefox about 90% of the time.   It seems as though Geocaching problems surfaced for IE 11 around Jan. 14 when Microsoft support for Windows 7 ended.   IE 11 is still resident on the Windows 10  task bar so there is no clear sign from Groundspeak that it is no longer keeping the old browser supported.  

 

I can use Edge on Windows7.

[+The A-Team]

1 hour ago, Keystone said:

As a volunteer I do not speak in an official capacity.

 

I understand that, and I apologize for the wording of my last post where it implies that you're part of HQ. Your original statement seemed definitive (reviewers are often privy to more information than we are), so I thought it reflected an official HQ position. I'll stop discussing the matter of IE11 support here.

 

Quote

I would like to help people and answer questions without all the resultant nitpicking and complaining.  Threads like this are a disincentive to posting.  Ever notice that 95% of site volunteers don't post here?  Perhaps they are the smart ones.

 

You may see it as nitpicking, but everything I post is ultimately intended to help in some way. Whether that's correcting a faulty statement or identifying a flaw, the goal is to ensure information is being discussed accurately and issues get resolved.

 

I whole-heartedly encourage other volunteers to post more often. Engaging with the community is the best way to build a healthy relationship. It won't always be sunshine and rainbows, but that's the way most relationships are.

[+barefootjeff]

7 hours ago, Keystone said:

I would like to help people and answer questions without all the resultant nitpicking and complaining.  Threads like this are a disincentive to posting.  Ever notice that 95% of site volunteers don't post here?  Perhaps they are the smart ones.

 

Sorry, but you did say "Geocaching.com is no longer designed to be compatible with Internet Explorer" which I took to be a statement of fact and therefore wanted to draw attention to the inconsistency with the Help Centre in case a lackey might see this and do something about it. If that's nitpicking and complaining I apologise.

 

Not only is IE in the list of supported browsers, it's at the top of that list which could be seen as implying it's the preferred browser to use. I'd have thought that's problematic for anyone trying to use the Help Centre to figure out issues they're having with the website on their favourite browser, but I guess that's just me putting my engineer's hat on and wanting documentation to be correct. Silly me, I should know by now the real world doesn't work that way anymore.

[+kunarion]

17 hours ago, frisbee'r said:

IE 11 is still resident on the Windows 10  task bar so there is no clear sign from Groundspeak that it is no longer keeping the old browser supported.  

 

It certainly is not! At least not by default.  "Edge" is in the Task Bar.  A clean Windows 10 installation has "Internet Explorer" at best in the Start Menu sub folder "Windows Accessories" where they keep the Character Map. A user may pin it to the Task Bar.  I did.  

Edited January 30, 2020 by kunarion

[+hzoi]

16 hours ago, The A-Team said:

In Microsoft's own words, they still support IE11 until the end of Windows 10. Sure, they aren't making any feature changes, but if they say it's still supported, then it's still supported.

 

 

In serendipitous news, I received word today that IE11 has a rather large security flaw that was just discovered.  As Microsoft doesn't indicate that it's going to be fixed for the next two weeks, our IT folks are going to block IE11 from connecting to any websites.  Other than .gov or .mil websites, many of which are sadly not maintained as well as geocaching.com.

 

I suppose one could call that support from Microsoft, but it looks like the coma patient that is IE11 has now come down with something awful, again.

[+kunarion]

8 hours ago, barefootjeff said:

 

Sorry, but you did say "Geocaching.com is no longer designed to be compatible with Internet Explorer" which I took to be a statement of fact and therefore wanted to draw attention to the inconsistency with the Help Centre in case a lackey might see this and do something about it. If that's nitpicking and complaining I apologise.

 

Not only is IE in the list of supported browsers, it's at the top of that list which could be seen as implying it's the preferred browser to use. I'd have thought that's problematic for anyone trying to use the Help Centre to figure out issues they're having with the website on their favourite browser, but I guess that's just me putting my engineer's hat on and wanting documentation to be correct. Silly me, I should know by now the real world doesn't work that way anymore.

 

Keystone is correct that IE is no longer supported. The Help Center has many outdated, incomplete, or wrong stuff in it, and if it were up-to-date, it would have information about which things work in which “supported” browsers (for example, Edge currently cannot page Lists).

 

IE is on the precipice, it's old and not updated and gone. Yet still there and usable. But not in Facebook, where you've seen the big “Unsupported” banner when you use IE there, where the only detectable "'problem" is that banner. It's not OK and it is. It's BOTH! Yes, I miss IE, too. Can't we all just get along! Big Hug... get over here people, biiig huggg. There, there... there, there.

 

But here's the deal: Edge, a modern fully supported browser, also does not work 110% around here. Such as paging through one's TB lists (but not limited to just that). I'm thinking that whatever affects edge also affect's Edge's cranky old grandmother “IE11”. This effect with Edge and IE is not seen on other web sites. AND Groundspeak tends to roll out a fix for this kind of thing. Let's say IE is “not supported”. OK, but Edge is supported. When the site gets fixed for Edge, IE will start working again.  I necessarily dump IE just because this site broke it, if the site then fixes Edge which fixes IE.

 

At least I hope that's what happens... I still use IE all the time.

 

Anyway, the advice is correct, it's time to consider different browsers.  I'm warming up to "Brave" (being a FF port, I expect FF is also an option).  And I'm trying a new one on iPhone that might just wean me off "Chrome"!  So that's cool. 

 

 

Edited January 30, 2020 by kunarion

[+thebruce0]

1 hour ago, kunarion said:

But here's the deal: Edge, a modern fully supported browser, also does not work 110% around here. Such as paging through one's TB lists (but not limited to just that). I'm thinking that whatever affects edge also affect's Edge's cranky old grandmother “IE11”.

 

This is the fun part of development - is it really the browser's fault? Or is it a design choice by developers? For something as simple as paged content, I would side with the view that developers have chosen consciously to use front end scripting techniques that are not compatible and/or broken in Edge. The question developers have to ask is if it's worth the effort to use 'new and shiny' or 'I like doing it this way' despite interface functionality being almost entirely standard, and thus not working properly?  It's the mentality that led to the "browser compatibility" era, because browsers used to have custom functionality that others didn't, so developers chose to use the native functions, which then broke in other browsers, leading to "this website is optimized for [browser'] disclaimers -- even for fairly basic websites!

It got to a breaking point and that's when standards really started making a comeback. But there are still "new" ways to do simple tasks that aren't fully supported in some browsers, while they work to keep up with standards. But do you really need to use the "new way" to do relatively simple tasks, knowing they're not fully supported?

That is the question every developer/team needs to decide.

 

IMO, there's no reason why viewing simple paged data should not be Edge/IE friendly.