AJAX in Opera...

[GT500]

I'm sure that this thread will not be looked upon kindly, as most people seem to dislike the Opera Web Browser. But I feel that it needs mentioned that the first example in the AJAX tutorial (http://www.w3schools.com/ajax/ajax_example.asp) works fine in Opera 9.This was brought to my attention after I posted on my blog that Opera didn't fully support AJAX, and posted a link to that example. I was quickly greeted by a friendly comment that if set up Opera 9's per-site preferences to mask as Mozilla at w3schoole.com that the example worked without error.When I tried this myself, I found that it was true. The example works fine in Opera 9. The only thing preventing it from working is the fact that the script that is served up for Opera is made to pop up a dialog saying it doesn't work, instead of actually trying to do it.At the very least, could the example be modified to serve up the same code for Opera 9 that it does for Mozilla?I would really like to learn and make use of AJAX. Unfortunetely, I despise using another browser, and the examples are made so that they won't even try to work in Opera.

[snowboard01]

We are web developers we love opera! It's standard compliant!! Check your facts before saying we don't like opera I mean look at my signature!

[justsomeguy]

I would really like to learn and make use of AJAX. Unfortunetely, I despise using another browser, and the examples are made so that they won't even try to work in Opera.

That's a common problem on the web. There are plenty of websites I go to in Opera where I get a message saying my browser is not supported and that I should 'upgrade' to IE6 (gag). But then I just hit F12, set Opera to identify itself as IE, and everything works perfectly. It seems that the site developers would rather ignore everything else out there instead of actually test it to see if it works already.

[GT500]

That's a common problem on the web.  There are plenty of websites I go to in Opera where I get a message saying my browser is not supported and that I should 'upgrade' to IE6 (gag).  But then I just hit F12, set Opera to identify itself as IE, and everything works perfectly.  It seems that the site developers would rather ignore everything else out there instead of actually test it to see if it works already.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It would make for a much more usable website if possible compatibility issues were mentioned in a side note, instead of serving up broken code that tells you "This doesn't work", and then won't even let your browser attempt it.As an Opera 9 user, I have the ability to not only 'identify as' IE/Mozilla, but to fully mask as them (which can be done in Opera 8 by modifying the ua.ini file). That means that Opera gives the exact user-agent string of the browser it's pretending to be. The major problem with that is that the web server is no longer counting a hit from Opera. That means that there could be hundreds of Opera users on a website, but because of broken code, users are setting Opera to mask as something else. A webmaster would then have no idea that they had a large base of Opera users.

[scott100]

The major problem with that is that the web server is no longer counting a hit from Opera. That means that there could be hundreds of Opera users on a website, but because of broken code, users are setting Opera to mask as something else. A webmaster would then have no idea that they had a large base of Opera users.

Surely that then puts Browser Statistics into question, how much of that information can we actually believe if a browser can identify itself as another?

[justsomeguy]

Web statistics are always very general, they aren't exact by any standard. Another problem with web statistics is that they only apply to a single site or domain. So the w3schools statistics say that only 50% of people are using IE, but that doesn't hold true across the web.Opera used to identify itself as IE by default, unless you changed it yourself. It still includes "Opera" in the user agent string, but for javascripts that check for something like "MSIE" or "Mozilla" in the user agent string, they will think they are dealing with IE.I always have it identify as Opera though, I've got to get the word out for anyone checking their logs!

[GT500]

Web statistics are always very general, they aren't exact by any standard.  Another problem with web statistics is that they only apply to a single site or domain.  So the w3schools statistics say that only 50% of people are using IE, but that doesn't hold true across the web.Opera used to identify itself as IE by default, unless you changed it yourself.  It still includes "Opera" in the user agent string, but for javascripts that check for something like "MSIE" or "Mozilla" in the user agent string, they will think they are dealing with IE.I always have it identify as Opera though, I've got to get the word out for anyone checking their logs!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

It's very true that web stats are not a reliable way to determine browser usage.It's also very true that web stats are specific to the domain. Just check out the stats from my site. My users tend to lean towards Opera and Linux...

[GT500]

Well, after messing around, and looking at the JavaScript that is handling everything, I saw that they account for 3 browser types. Opera, IE, and Mozilla (or Mozilla compatible). For Opera, you get a popup saying it doesn't work, for IE you get some ActiveX stuff, and for Mozilla you get standards compliant code.I've been messing with the UserJS in Opera 9, trying to get it to override the JavaScript file with one I modified to actually work. So far I have had no luck. I seem to have very little idea what I'm doing.Anyway, if someone from W3Schools actually sees this, all they have to do to fix the issue is replace the JS code for Opera with the code for Mozilla. They can both handle the same code.