“This application isn’t working in Opera!”

“I just keep getting redirected! I’m using Opera.”

“Your site is BROKEN! Please fix it IMMEDIATELY SO I CAN ACCESS MY ACCOUNT!! I’m in Opera!”

Odd, because it *used* to work in Opera. After some investigation, it looks like the latest Opera release contains a change in how iframe cookies are handled. In short – it stopped handling them. The new Opera (10.53 at least) seems to reject all cookies set by a remote server via an iframe.

Why? Who can say. I’ve heard the “security” and “privacy” rationales, and I don’t find them particularly compelling. What I do know, though, is that this change in default behavior is going to negatively impact millions of Opera users and website operators. It’s very bad software release practice when a new release breaks existing functionality. Shame on you, Opera.

Fortunately, I already had mechanisms in place to deal with this annoying browser practice – see, this is the exact same way Safari handles third party iframe cookies. I simply started sending my Opera users down the specialized Safari authentication pathway, and voila, problem solved.

It may not be as easy for other Facebook Application Developers, though. If they haven’t specifically dealt with the newer Safari problem, they’ve got some coding to do.

This is exactly why web-based software developers choose to only support specific browsers, usually IE and increasingly Firefox. You never know when an obscure web browser is going to make a major release faux pas.

Related Posts

• Validating an Email Address with PHP’s filter_var isn’t perfect
• RockMelt takes privacy seriously, but you can’t use it unless you share all of your personal data from Facebook
• Another Facebook Hoax – “Becoming a Father or Mother was the greatest gift of my life”
• Your Phone Number is on Facebook – Who Cares?
• Open Source MyBB has become my forum of choice
• Facebook Rolls Out “Master” Privacy Controls
• How To Block Farm Town on Facebook

A friend of mine has had the domain name uwred.com for a while now, and had been planning to use it to set up a Wisconsin Badgers fan forum. I finally got around to helping him out with that.

If you’ve ever set up a forum before, you’re probably familiar with phpbb. Phpbb is a popular open source forum package. I can’t say for sure, but I’d wager that it’s the most widely used open source forum package. It’s been around forever, and has an active developer community. Still, it’s a pain the butt to set up and use, and a nightmare to modify and maintain. I personally believe that the most recent release, phpbb3, was actually a step backwards in terms of usability.

So before sentencing myself to phpbb3, I thought I’d take a look at how far other free forum software has come. I’d done the same due diligence about a year ago, and in the end, determined that I was stuck with phpbb3. Better the devil you know, right?

This time around, I was thrilled to discover MyBB. Similar to vBulletin, MyBB flat out kills phpbb in terms of user experience and usability.

I won’t get into outlining the features I find attractive, as I think the package speaks for itself. Here’s an excerpt from the Wikipedia page, though, to give you an idea:

MyBB includes many features not included in other free forum software. Most notably, it includes a reputation system, multi-quote, and the ability to create custom BBCode (called MyCodes) out of the box. Additionally, MyBB includes support for multiple calendars with ranged and repeating events, a scheduled mass mail and newsletter system, and AJAX-based features such as quick reply, quick edit, and inline thread title editing.
For moderators, posts and threads can be managed through inline post and thread moderation, allowing for moderation actions to be applied to multiple posts or threads at the same time. Custom moderator tools allow administrators to combine moderation actions into individual tools to be used in thread and post moderation. MyBB also includes an extensive warning system, which allows for preset and custom warning types and configurable “warning levels,” where actions are automatically performed when a user’s warning level reaches a certain percentage.
Plugins require little or no modification to core files through MyBB’s extensive use of plugin hooks. Plugins are installed on your forum to give your forum enhancements or changes without having to manually edit loads of files.

Anyone who’s worked with phpbb can already see that this is a huge step up. Check out a demo on the MyBB site today, or check the working install at UW Red Wisconsin Fan Forums.

Related Posts

• How to Make phpbb3 Forum Links Automatically rel=”nofollow”
• Opera changes third-party iframe cookie handing in latest release
• How To Delete A File That Is In Use By Another Person Or Program

This behavior is meant to prevent you from hosing things up by deleting files that shouldn’t be deleted. Unfortunately, while the safeguards work most of the time, there are sometimes glitches, particularly with network files and background applications. Sometimes, you are not able to delete a file, even though no other program is actually using it. In other cases, you don’t really care whether another program is using the file, you just want the file gone!

Of course, the first thing you should do is make sure you know what you’re doing. If you are sure that the file you want to nuke is not an important system file, or an important part of some software package, you have a couple of options.

One method of deleting locked files is to reboot your computer. When you restart your computer, you are killing all processes that might be using the file. This usually works. But not always. The downside of this method is that it can be annoying and time consuming to reboot your workstation.

Another method is to kill Windows XP’s “explorer.exe” process, delete the file, then restart explorer. To do this, hit CTRL-ALT-DELETE to bring up Task Manager, then highlight “explorer.exe” and choose “End Process.” However, this method is not recommended: when explorer starts back up, your computer may not be in the exact state in which you left it. (For instance, you may notice that some icons are missing from your system tray.)

Fortunately, there is another way.

Unlocker will remove a file’s access restrictions that prevent your from moving, deleting, or renaming a file. The way it works is this: You install the program, and it runs in your system tray. Whenever you encounter the dreaded File is in use by another person or program message, Unlocker Assistant will pop up and ask you if you want to break the hold that some other application has on your file. You simply highlight the file you want to delete, hit “unlock,” and voila, problem solved.

Related Posts

• How to fix the ialmrnt5 display driver error
• How to turn off the “Recent Documents” display in the Windows XP Start menu
• Windows Desktop Icons Keep Flashing On & Off? In my case, VNC was the cause.
• “Press Ctrl-I to enter configuration utility” Boot Failure Caused by Kindle
• US Daylight Saving Time Ends Nov 7, 2010 – Windows XP Is Wrong
• AcrobatInfo.exe is as bad as a Virus – How to remove it
• How to Fix the clock’s “An Error Occurred While Windows was synchronizing with” Error