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TICKET ARCHIVE -> Os X/ Internet Explorer And Gmail Spell Check
PeterlBowles - Oct 1, 2005 - 1:40 pm
Hello
I have a G5 iMac and used to use safari to access my gmail account, for some strange reason after 7 months it quit on me, so I was advised to use internet explorer instead which I don't like at all. Would you please be able to help me find where the 'spell check' is? It is not either on the Email or in the edit bar.
Thanks
Peter
I have a G5 iMac and used to use safari to access my gmail account, for some strange reason after 7 months it quit on me, so I was advised to use internet explorer instead which I don't like at all. Would you please be able to help me find where the 'spell check' is? It is not either on the Email or in the edit bar.
Thanks
Peter
JFG - Oct 2, 2005 - 11:27 pm
Hello Peter,
As a long-time GMail fan, I will try to assist you.
First of all, it is very strange that Safari has worked properly with GMail for so long and now stops working. Are you sure it was not a temporary problem? I can use GMail with the current Safari 1.3.1 on Panther 10.3.9.
No matter what, you should get rid of Internet Explorer which is totally outdated by now (can be considered "abandonware"). In my experience, GMail performs best with Firefox, available from getfirefox.com. In fact, since I totally replaced my traditional Mail by GMail, I use Firefox as a pure mail reader by setting the home page to GMail, making the window extra wide and hiding all the toolbars. My regular web surfing is stil done in Safari.
Try it and let me know how it goes,
JFG
As a long-time GMail fan, I will try to assist you.
First of all, it is very strange that Safari has worked properly with GMail for so long and now stops working. Are you sure it was not a temporary problem? I can use GMail with the current Safari 1.3.1 on Panther 10.3.9.
No matter what, you should get rid of Internet Explorer which is totally outdated by now (can be considered "abandonware"). In my experience, GMail performs best with Firefox, available from getfirefox.com. In fact, since I totally replaced my traditional Mail by GMail, I use Firefox as a pure mail reader by setting the home page to GMail, making the window extra wide and hiding all the toolbars. My regular web surfing is stil done in Safari.
Try it and let me know how it goes,
JFG
JFG - Oct 4, 2005 - 1:40 pm
Hi again,
Have you tried Firefox with GMail yet?
In the meantime, I found why you can't see GMail's spell checker in Internet Explorer. The Mac version of IE is too old to run the dynamic GMail interface, so when you connect from there, GMail reverts to a "basic HTML" interface, which does not make use of dynamic pages and does not include a spell checker.
Hope this helps,
JFG
Have you tried Firefox with GMail yet?
In the meantime, I found why you can't see GMail's spell checker in Internet Explorer. The Mac version of IE is too old to run the dynamic GMail interface, so when you connect from there, GMail reverts to a "basic HTML" interface, which does not make use of dynamic pages and does not include a spell checker.
Hope this helps,
JFG
PeterlBowles - Oct 4, 2005 - 3:45 pm
Dear Jean-françois,
Thanks for your reply and good advice. I started to use the old and ugly internet explorer to access my Gmail because of the advice of a previous tech from macosx.com!
I still don't know why Gmail still does not work through Safari. It has been like this for over a month and I haven't found out from any source why that is. I do know I have a Safari 1.2 which could be a possible reason. The fact that we are all forced by the computer world to do a continual updating frenzy probably doesn't help.
Sorry I haven't replied earlier, I am not a regular on-liner!
I will try Firefox, but I would prefer to keep simple and still use Safari if possible.
Thanks again for your assistance,
Peter
Thanks for your reply and good advice. I started to use the old and ugly internet explorer to access my Gmail because of the advice of a previous tech from macosx.com!
I still don't know why Gmail still does not work through Safari. It has been like this for over a month and I haven't found out from any source why that is. I do know I have a Safari 1.2 which could be a possible reason. The fact that we are all forced by the computer world to do a continual updating frenzy probably doesn't help.
Sorry I haven't replied earlier, I am not a regular on-liner!
I will try Firefox, but I would prefer to keep simple and still use Safari if possible.
Thanks again for your assistance,
Peter
JFG - Oct 4, 2005 - 4:19 pm
Good evening Peter,
Although I'm in the software business, I fully agree with you about the ridiculous updating frenzy being force upon us. Believe me, it's as tedious for pros as for simple users! At least, we should have figured how to let computers sort out the details of whether Program P will work with Service S and stop pestering us humans about it.
Coming back to your problem, it may well be that GMail recently added some features which broke compatibility with your version of Safari. Their current help page say they support Safari from version 1.2.1, but I can't test it as all my machines run 1.3.1. If you have Panther, you should run Apple's Software Update to get OS X 10.3.9 and Safari 1.3.1.
In the meantime, you can try switching to GMail's "basic HTML" mode (there's a tiny link doing that at the bottom of GMail's main screen). This will work even on the oldest browsers, but you won't have their dynamic spell checker. However, it may enable Apple's own spell checker... Well, can't you just spell fluently? ;-)
Regards,
JFG
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Service note: Please reply to this message even if your problem is solved, so that we can consider the matter closed. Thank you!
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Although I'm in the software business, I fully agree with you about the ridiculous updating frenzy being force upon us. Believe me, it's as tedious for pros as for simple users! At least, we should have figured how to let computers sort out the details of whether Program P will work with Service S and stop pestering us humans about it.
Coming back to your problem, it may well be that GMail recently added some features which broke compatibility with your version of Safari. Their current help page say they support Safari from version 1.2.1, but I can't test it as all my machines run 1.3.1. If you have Panther, you should run Apple's Software Update to get OS X 10.3.9 and Safari 1.3.1.
In the meantime, you can try switching to GMail's "basic HTML" mode (there's a tiny link doing that at the bottom of GMail's main screen). This will work even on the oldest browsers, but you won't have their dynamic spell checker. However, it may enable Apple's own spell checker... Well, can't you just spell fluently? ;-)
Regards,
JFG
--------
Service note: Please reply to this message even if your problem is solved, so that we can consider the matter closed. Thank you!
--------
PeterlBowles - Oct 4, 2005 - 5:56 pm
Jean-françois,
I have updated my Safari to 1.3.1 and still the same thing happens. I can find google home page, then to gmail, however the problem starts when I click on gmail and it tries to load and then crashes Safari. I don't mind which spell check I use but it seems so much work to find a basic thing! I'll try the Firefox thing too.
Good afternoon from Los Angeles!
Peter
I have updated my Safari to 1.3.1 and still the same thing happens. I can find google home page, then to gmail, however the problem starts when I click on gmail and it tries to load and then crashes Safari. I don't mind which spell check I use but it seems so much work to find a basic thing! I'll try the Firefox thing too.
Good afternoon from Los Angeles!
Peter
JFG - Oct 4, 2005 - 7:14 pm
Hi again Peter,
Well, it seems you need to call Ghostbusters to take care of this spooky problem...
You say Safari crashes while loading the GMail interface. Could you perhaps send me the crash report so I can get a feeling of what's utterly wrong? The gory details are stored in Library/Logs/CrashReporter/Safari.crash.log under your home. Send me this file at jfgroff@gmail.com and I'll see what I can do.
Regards,
JFG
--------
Service note: Please reply to this message even if your problem is solved, so that we can consider the matter closed. Thank you!
--------
Well, it seems you need to call Ghostbusters to take care of this spooky problem...
You say Safari crashes while loading the GMail interface. Could you perhaps send me the crash report so I can get a feeling of what's utterly wrong? The gory details are stored in Library/Logs/CrashReporter/Safari.crash.log under your home. Send me this file at jfgroff@gmail.com and I'll see what I can do.
Regards,
JFG
--------
Service note: Please reply to this message even if your problem is solved, so that we can consider the matter closed. Thank you!
--------
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