[Zope] [ANSWER] 500 error with IE on login

dman dman@dman.ddts.net
Tue, 7 May 2002 12:43:14 -0500


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On Tue, May 07, 2002 at 12:41:56PM -0400, Gregory Dudek wrote:
|   Re. my patch to zope to eliminate the default 500 error code:

| Also, while removing all
| possibilities for a default 500 error from zope seems bad, note that
| in all those other (hypothetical) cases MSIE would also prevent you
| from seeing the potentially informative error page that zope might
| generate.
|   In short, based on MSIE behaviour I think it's better if zope
| never generates a 500 error if it might also generate an informative
| error-message page.

I strongly oppose modifying a properly functionng, RFC-conforming
product to coddle a non-informative and non-RFC-conforming product.
Fix the broken product, not the working one.

Here's an example of how broken MSIE is :

    My school has a section of their web site called Student
    Information System (SIS).  It is where students can register for
    classes, see their grades and financial information, etc.  It is
    (or was, they may have changed it) open only during certain hours
    and closed at night.  One time my brother (using MSIE) tried to
    check on classes or something and got the "page can't be
    displayed" page from MSIE.  Having no information from IE to
    determine what was wrong I then tried myself using galeon
    (mozilla).  It displayed the informative error page the server
    gave back which explained the hours of operation of the site.=20

    The site was working perfectly and giving back useful error
    messages.  IE didn't care, ignored the data from the server, and
    instead displayed a "you must be an idiot, try again" message.

Recently I've even tried turning off that option in IE ("Show friendly
HTTP errors" in the Advanced tab), but it didn't pay any attention and
continued to give no useful information.

Conintue to develop correct software and inform all users that it is
MSIE that does not work with the rest of the world and we can build up
a critical mass and coerce some sort of corrective action.  (which
will more likely be a transition to functioning software rather than
fixes from MS)

-D


PS.  I don't know which HTTP response code the SIS system returned,
     and I think it is implemented in PHP.  It's just the first
     detailed example that comes to mind.

--=20

Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.
Rather be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
        Matthew 10:28
=20
GnuPG key : http://dman.ddts.net/~dman/public_key.gpg


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