Can't Post New Thread
 

I have tried twice now to post a new thread and keep getting an error message.

Umm--don't look now, but you did just post a new thread.

--Lindsey

Guerri, in the future, please write down and post the exact error message. We're all still learning about the software and it will really help.

Yes, one of the ones I tried to post made it upon a second attempt to press "submit". But I had written another message which did not make it.

The error message for both you and Judy was "the document contains no data". Of course in the background I could see the message I'd composed and was trying to send.

I know, I know, but was planning to send a screen capture. I don't know why I thought that would work, when the error was occurring while trying to send a message (sound of palm hitting head...)

A common cause of the "the document contains no data" error is the use of adblocking software. Don't know why. I have seen the suggestion that you can fix this by the following steps:

in address bar, type:

about:config

find the setting called "browser.xul.error_pages.enabled" and set it to true.

As for the other message, have you ever subscribed to a thread here (using the thread options feature)? That may be a message that shows up on subscribed threads.

Hmmm, I don't have a setting with that name (Mozilla 1.7.3). And I'm not using any ad blocking that I'm aware of. But I've been getting "document contains no data" responses from tapcis.com on a number of occasions the last couple of days. The site seemed to be terribly slow responding last night, and it was slow earlier this afternoon; I'm suspecting that may have something to do with that message.

This is the first time I've actually looked at the about:config page. Pretty cool! I love the variable named "browser.show_about_as_stupid_modal_window". :p

Do you happen to know what the "browser.url_history.URL_n" settings are (where "n" is a number)? I'm wondering if those are what determines what displays in the address bar's pull-down list, but what I'm seeing there doesn't seem to correspond to what's actually in the list.

--Lindsey

I have Firefox set to block popups, if that's what you mean by ad blocking software. If popup blocking is the cause, why would I sometimes get the "no data" message and sometimes not?

I have never subscribed to a thread here. I take it that you don't ever see the "you have xx post(s)" message.

The message "you have 1 post(s)..." no longer appears next to "looking real hard..." thread in Non-Tap Technical. Weird.

I have the setting "browser.xul.error_pages.enabled" and it's set to false. But I am reluctant to change it without knowing what it will do as a result.

I agree that the site has been slow sometimes recently. And I have had problems with tapcis.com Email, too.

It has been slow on and off. You probably need to update your Mozilla -- 1.7.3 is pretty old.

That's an old configuration preference carried over, probably, from an earlier Netscape install. One of many reasons why an update is in order, perhaps.

XUL error pages are enabled by setting browser.xul.error_pages.enabled to true.

Right. But there are enough ways to customize this software (many of which we're still learning about) that's it's very likely you have set something on your system that's not set on mine. I'd like to figure out what that is!

Clear as mud. What are "XUL error pages"? Why would I want to enable them? For that matter, what is XUL??? Sorry, but where browsers and the web are concerned, I know next to nothing.

I tend to think it's not something I have set that you don't or vice versa. I say that because if it were a setting (or non-setting) I would expect the appearance to always be the same. I.e. I would always see the "you have x posts in this thread..." caption. But I don't always see it and in fact it is rare.

It's not even consistent when it does appear. For instance, it was attached to the "looking real hard" thread in the Non-Tap Technical forum. But there were other threads in that forum in which I had participated that did not have the caption. The ones that I was sure of were ones I initiated, so maybe the caption only appears in threads someone else initiates that I then reply to.

But if I go to the Non-Tap Technical forum now, I probably won't see the caption even where it was before.

Perhaps I am in a time warp with relation to everyone else? Full moon? Sunspots? Reverse Alzheimer's?

From Mozilla: "Mozilla has configurable, downloadable chrome, meaning that the arrangement and even presence or absence of controls in the main window is not hardwired into the application, but loaded from a separate UI description. In fact, most of Mozilla's windows (and dialogs) will be described using this mechanism. XUL (pronounced "zuul," as if that spelling helped any, and short for "XML User Interface Language") is our name for the language in which these UI descriptions are built."

It means windows like that pop-up you see telling you the document has no data.

I have no idea. And, as I said, I do want to find out, since this is actually something I would like to see!

Will do! The Mozilla page used to nag me when there was a new version out, but it doesn't seem to do that any more.

--Lindsey

I am totally confused now. I got the message that the "document has no data". Suppose I had the setting you mentioned earlier already set to true (it is, and was, false). What would I have seen that is different? Or maybe I should say what would have worked differently (i.e. would the message have been posted without any error message).

To recap, you tell me XUL error pages are enabled by ... I then ask what XUL error pages are. You then seem to be saying that they are windows like the popup about "no data". So if I got the window with the setting turned off (set to false which presumably means disabled) why should I turn the setting on? I may be going in circles here.

Chrome is what used to be on automobile bumpers. Presumably this means something to Firefox, Mozilla, and Netscape developers and users other than me, to whom it is always a source of wonder. Any idea where I can read up on it? I mean in print, not online?

Did you get my Email with the screen capture? Then you could see it. Or did you mean the "you have xx post(s)" is something you would like to have appear when you use the forums? If the latter, I would rather NOT have it as it takes up screen real estate.

Now as to what settings I might have that are different from yours - I don't know where to begin looking at things. Presumably User CP. What would you like me to capture for you?

I will tell you that I am reading the threaded view (I think I should go back and find Lindsey's message about reading new messages linearly but that's another story). I have seen the "you have xx post(s)" a couple of times. Most recently on a thread started by someone else, but which I participated in. If I go to the Non-Tap Technical forum now, though, the caption is not there. Various theories could be: it only appears in threads initiated by someone else; it only appears when there are messages within the thread that I have not yet read. However, neither of those theories makes sense if YOU have not seen the caption because surely you have participated in threads started by others. It may have something to with the way one views the messages, too.

As an experiment, you could post a message in the "looking real hard" thread and tomorrow (if I remember) I could see if the caption comes back.

And as I mentioned above, let me know what settings I should tell you about.