Tech: Applet Windows

Subject: Tech: Applet Windows
From: CarolC
Date: 18 Jul 02 - 12:17 AM

As I build my website, I find myself encountering a lot of Applet Windows, and they seem to always come with a warning. (Just what, exactly, they're warning me of, they never say.)

Can anyone tell me what Applet Windows are, what is different about them than other types of windows, and why I need to be warned about them? Any illumination that can be provided on this question will be gratefully recieved.

Subject: RE: Tech: Applet Windows
From: MudGuard
Date: 18 Jul 02 - 03:39 AM

Can you give the URL of the page?
It is hard to decide what is going on without seeing the things...

Subject: RE: Tech: Applet Windows
From: CarolC
Date: 18 Jul 02 - 04:37 AM

The URL is:

http://www.geocities.com/squeezemusette/index.html

That probably won't help much, though, because I mostly only see them when I'm in the Page Builder program while building the site rather than looking at the on-line version of the site. But I have seen these windows in other places and didn't think very much about them until I started to see so many of them while working on the site.

Subject: RE: Tech: Applet Windows
From: MudGuard
Date: 18 Jul 02 - 05:00 AM

The only error windows I get come from the stuff that is added by the server, where some nonexistent objects are accessed.

I did not see a single Applet warning window, I also did not see any Applets.
Ok, I did not look at all pages (btw, some nice pictures!), but they seemed all quite similar to me (not the content, but the structure).

Applets are small programs written in Java (not to be confused with Javascript). If these small applets open new windows, some browser put "Warning: Applet window" somewhere on the window.
This is because applets can (under certain restrictions) access your system (but only if they are signed, and you have to confirm that you allow a signed applet to run).

My guess is that there is a bug in your Page Builder program...

Subject: RE: Tech: Applet Windows
From: Rich_and_Dee
Date: 18 Jul 02 - 11:07 AM

Hi,

Is there a chance geocities is adding the applets automatically?

I have a web page listed with them and they automatically insert these midly annoying pop-up windows with ads, usually appearing in the upper right-hand corner of each page.

Try opening a page on the geocities server in HTML view to see if there's an applet tag in there.

Does that sound too vague?

Rich

Subject: RE: Tech: Applet Windows
From: Bill D
Date: 18 Jul 02 - 11:34 AM

Carol...Geocities is infamous for putting pop-up ads and such on all sites they host...and they have some of the cleverest script writers in the universe, so it is almost impossible for those of us who heartily dislike pop-up windows to disable them at Geocities...( I have several tricks left to try)

I suppose they feel they MUST in order to stay viable when others are dying, but I don't see why they must be quite so invasive...*shrug*

Subject: RE: Tech: Applet Windows
From: CarolC
Date: 18 Jul 02 - 03:53 PM

Thanks guys.

The particular Applet Windows I'm talking about are all a part of the page building process. Important things happen in these windows. For instance, one of them is the window I'm in while I'm building a page. Another is the window I'm using when I access my hard drive or a floppy in order to upload pictures to my site.

So I think Mudguard has probably answered at least part of my question when he said that Applets can access my system. And maybe that's why they come with a warning.

Subject: RE: Tech: Applet Windows
From: Mark Clark
Date: 18 Jul 02 - 04:20 PM

Are you building your site on your own system and then uploading the entire site or are you building the site directly on Geocities one page at a time?

Applet windows are the result of JavaScript routines that you have written or that Geocities has included in your pages when they are served to a client browser. If you aren't using any JavaScript widgets in your site then they come from Geocities.

I see that the active links in your home page (./index.html) includes fully qualified URLs. This means that you are hitting the Geocities site while you are testing. You might want to consider using relative links (e.g. http:/squeezemusette/ArtworkSelect.html) so that as you are testing on your own system, you aren't hitting the Geocities site. Relative links should also work fine when you upload your pages, assuming all the targets have been uploaded first.

I'm guessing that the browser you are using during development has been set to warn you about any applets, a good strategy for avoiding problems.

      - Mark

Subject: RE: Tech: Applet Windows
From: Mark Clark
Date: 18 Jul 02 - 04:33 PM

Carol,

I just flipped through your site and caught a runtime error in the page hesperisPlays.html. I pulled up the debugger and discovered that the error is not in your code—at least I don't think it's yours—but rather in a JavaScsript trailer that Yahoo appends at the end of your page.

I haven't really gone deep enough to solve the problem but perhaps this observation will help you solve it.

      - Mark

Subject: RE: Tech: Applet Windows
From: CarolC
Date: 18 Jul 02 - 08:50 PM

Thanks Mark. I'm building the site directly on Geocities one page at a time. I'll give your tips a try if they're not too advanced for me and if I can figure them out. There's still a lot more I don't know about this stuff than what I do know.

And thanks also, for the heads up about the hesperisPlays.html page. I'll check it out.