The lengths to go to, to get a site fixed!
There is this site, which had some very archaic code, which blocked Opera. Incidentally, that site is very big in India, and consequently, was India's most reported site compatibility problem regarding Opera. We quickly figured out what was wrong in the JavaScript code, and now it was only a matter of letting them know what's wrong so that they fix it and unblock Opera.
They had contact information on their site. First I tried their online contact form. No response. A few days later, I tried another contact form, again no response. Hmmm....
Then I found out a few email addresses. I wrote to them, including their webmaster address. Still no response. Then I thought, I might as well give them a call. On the phone, the person asked me to write to a different email address, so I did that. Still days later no response
Called again, and finally got the number of the project manager of the site, and discussed the solution with him. He seemed supportive, and gave his personal email address, and requested me to email him with the solution again. Did that. Still no cigar!
A few more calls were made, with promises that the site would get fixed. Nothing happened. My only last hope was to meet them face to face.
I was going to that city in the near future for some conferences, and I thought I'll stop by their office as well. Well, the site in question belongs to a large financial entity, and had a LOT of security at their headquarters. They scanned me, my wallet, my bag, my laptop, made a note of which laptop i was carrying, verified with the people I was going to meet that I indeed was scheduled to meet them, and gave me a slip which I had to sign from the people and hand it out to the security when I walked out the building as proof that I indeed met them. All in all, I think I had to go through around 5 layers of security, of various types. No, I'm not joking.
Anyway, I got to the meeting room on the first floor and realized I had the edited source code with me in Opera (I had edited it to see whether the solution works). To show them the problem, I needed to refresh the page so that the original source code was available, and change it once again in front of them to show how to fix it. However, wi-fi wasn't available, and no ethernet cord was there in the meeting room as well. So they did the next best thing.
They printed out the source code of the pages in question and gave it to me. So now I have their site source code on a bunch of paper, and a pen which they graciously offered me, and had to explain what was on wrong in their own source code and how to fix it by marking it with pen and paper. Great!
Finally I did that, and I was glad that they finally got the solution. They were quite pleased to know that Opera pays so much attention to site compatibility and that we have a dedicated team for it. A few days later I got the news that they had fixed the issue, and the site no longer has the code which blocks opera.
The lengths to go to, to get a site fixed!
They had contact information on their site. First I tried their online contact form. No response. A few days later, I tried another contact form, again no response. Hmmm....
Then I found out a few email addresses. I wrote to them, including their webmaster address. Still no response. Then I thought, I might as well give them a call. On the phone, the person asked me to write to a different email address, so I did that. Still days later no response
Called again, and finally got the number of the project manager of the site, and discussed the solution with him. He seemed supportive, and gave his personal email address, and requested me to email him with the solution again. Did that. Still no cigar!A few more calls were made, with promises that the site would get fixed. Nothing happened. My only last hope was to meet them face to face.
I was going to that city in the near future for some conferences, and I thought I'll stop by their office as well. Well, the site in question belongs to a large financial entity, and had a LOT of security at their headquarters. They scanned me, my wallet, my bag, my laptop, made a note of which laptop i was carrying, verified with the people I was going to meet that I indeed was scheduled to meet them, and gave me a slip which I had to sign from the people and hand it out to the security when I walked out the building as proof that I indeed met them. All in all, I think I had to go through around 5 layers of security, of various types. No, I'm not joking.
Anyway, I got to the meeting room on the first floor and realized I had the edited source code with me in Opera (I had edited it to see whether the solution works). To show them the problem, I needed to refresh the page so that the original source code was available, and change it once again in front of them to show how to fix it. However, wi-fi wasn't available, and no ethernet cord was there in the meeting room as well. So they did the next best thing.
They printed out the source code of the pages in question and gave it to me. So now I have their site source code on a bunch of paper, and a pen which they graciously offered me, and had to explain what was on wrong in their own source code and how to fix it by marking it with pen and paper. Great!
Finally I did that, and I was glad that they finally got the solution. They were quite pleased to know that Opera pays so much attention to site compatibility and that we have a dedicated team for it. A few days later I got the news that they had fixed the issue, and the site no longer has the code which blocks opera.
The lengths to go to, to get a site fixed!
Readers' comments 31
Left under the original article, as archived.
About this article
| Published in | ODIN blog |
|---|---|
| Date | November 5, 2009 |
| Author | Shwetank Dixit |
| Tags | open the web, site compatibility |
| Original | Internet Archive |
thobiFriday, November 6, 2009 8:18:03 AM
nice story
ouzowtfFriday, November 6, 2009 9:03:03 AM
Originally posted by thobi:
!!!
Thanks for that insight!
setFriday, November 6, 2009 9:05:49 AM
tomassplatchFriday, November 6, 2009 10:15:43 AM
PhaniFriday, November 6, 2009 12:54:32 PM
Daniel HendrycksFriday, November 6, 2009 1:12:53 PM
Charles SchlossFriday, November 6, 2009 1:26:10 PM
Unregistered userFriday, November 6, 2009 1:27:14 PM
Daniel HendrycksFriday, November 6, 2009 1:30:03 PM
Right Click>Edit site preferences>Network>Identify as IE
What I am suggesting is somewhat similar to what you suggested.
lucideerFriday, November 6, 2009 1:57:50 PM
This is incredible.
Originally posted by anonymous:
It already does this (the fuzzy mode is called "Quirks Mode" btw). But even then sites are so badly written and so complex and multi-faceted they still manage to block Opera.
Rafael LuikFriday, November 6, 2009 3:34:52 PM
ΩJr.Friday, November 6, 2009 3:48:44 PM
Unregistered userFriday, November 6, 2009 4:00:30 PM
Unregistered userFriday, November 6, 2009 4:14:33 PM
Unregistered userFriday, November 6, 2009 4:32:43 PM
FataLFriday, November 6, 2009 4:35:35 PM
Be aware though that someone can come to Opera's headquarters and ask to fix some annoying bugs too. Be prepared to print out some C++ code.
ouzowtfFriday, November 6, 2009 5:09:42 PM
Originally posted by FataL:
http://files.myopera.com/Tamil/Smilies/Applause.gif -
Daniel HendrycksFriday, November 6, 2009 10:29:31 PM
Originally posted by FataL:
RijkFriday, November 6, 2009 11:12:50 PM
ouzowtfFriday, November 6, 2009 11:32:36 PM
FataLFriday, November 6, 2009 11:39:19 PM
Originally posted by Rijk:
Yeah, I remember something (it was something similar to what I wrote), but you can refresh my memories by giving a link to a IIXII story.Originally posted by ouzoWTF:
I'm not C++ programmer unfortunately, but I ensure you I can add damn line numbers to source viewer.ouzowtfSaturday, November 7, 2009 12:31:22 AM
Originally posted by FataL:
You do not have to code C++. As long as you nag the Opera developers from person to person again and again with fundamental questions about bugs until they are fixed, everything is fine for me
Daniel HendrycksSaturday, November 7, 2009 12:52:44 AM
Originally posted by FataL:
I don't know that story, do share.
RijkSaturday, November 7, 2009 12:53:27 AM
Daniel HendrycksSaturday, November 7, 2009 1:02:23 AM
ouzowtfSaturday, November 7, 2009 1:13:35 AM
FataLSaturday, November 7, 2009 1:49:50 AM
Originally posted by ouzoWTF:
This is looks like a project manager position. Probably I should accept!Yeni SetiawanSaturday, November 7, 2009 1:04:32 PM
What a great effort, and I cheer for you and Opera
GouravSunday, November 8, 2009 12:17:36 PM
Can you do something similar to make another big site in India, a social networking site, work properly in opera. You know which site I'm talking about, right? I suppose this would need more effort, although it might not involve meeting them face to face!
Charles SchlossSunday, November 8, 2009 7:21:42 PM
TamilThursday, November 12, 2009 12:39:56 AM