IE8 tab crashes with res://ieframe.dll/acr_error.htm
I worked on a client project recently and I encountered during finalizing the project that the website kept crashing constantly in IE 8 under Windows XP. Since I develop under OSX it took me quite a while to nail down the problem, it turned out that the browser crashes only when 3 certain criteria are met:
- the jQuery library v.1.6.2 is used
- a facebook like button is used (e.g. <fb:like layout=”button_count” … >) and the xmlns namespace is set
- a background-image is set on the <body> element via CSS
If all these 3 things are happening at once, and the page is viewed in Internet Explorer 8 under Windows XP in ‘IE8 Standards Mode’ (not Quirks Mode!), the browser tab crashes constantly on reload.
Some users at stackoverflow (here and here) suggested to force IE compatibility mode for IEs < 9 with
<meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=EmulateIE7">
so I tried to do this with conditional comments (I did not want to force IE9, too) but that did not help.
Probably the easiest solution is to use a newer version of jQuery.
I created a demo-set, it might help others to track down and avoid this (very rare, but very annoying) issue. Make sure you use IE8 and Windows XP to see your browser tabs crashing :)
Some useful tools and links for OSX
I know I have really neglected my bog recently (ha – there hasn’t been an update for almost a year now!) but life has been busy; started my own small web company (will blog more about that soon), moved to another part of Upper Austria, …
I want to share some useful links that I stumbled upon recently that might be useful for other mac users out there that search for a similar solution:
Moving existing Time Machine backups to Time Capsule
I really like the fact that Time Machine keeps track of your files back in history, that means if you accidently delete ore overwrite something in the past and your backup is newer that that date, you can still go back in time and restore the file. I recently bought a Time Capsule so I would not have to manually attach the backup drive all the time, but there is no official way to move all your existing backups into the Time Capsule, you would have to start backing up from scratch. “But there is an app for that” Superduper for the rescue: http://www.unlikelywords.com/2009/01/05/moving-a-time-machine-backup-to-a-time-capsule/
Getting more out of your Magic Mouse / Touchpad
Since I have an (early) 2008 Macbook Pro I could not use/customize certain guestures on my touchpad; neither could I set up some gestured on the Magic Mouse (which is not a big deal, but it sucked anyways). I found a small (but powerful) tool to do exactly that AND get the window snapping behaviour the Windows 7 Users are so happy about: BetterTouch Tool is free and satiesfies all your nerd gesture needs :)
Lower the number of TimeMachine Backups
Time Machine backups your mac automatically, so far so good. The last 24 hours are backed up hourly, daily backups are saved for the past month and weekly backups are kept as long as you don’t run out of space. If you save several macs on your Time Machine Drive / Time Capsule, it might run out of space soon. I prefer having fewer backups but lasting back longer. TimeMachineScheduler is a system preference pane that lets you set the backup interval and even set time slots (e.g. over night) to skip backups at all. Exactly what I needed.
Something completely different: Facebook Neue
Not something you _must_ have, but certainly useful if you are a Safari user: Facebook Neue is a Safari extension that removes ads and tries to provide a clean, uncluttered interface for the popular social network website.
