How to make your website work with Microsoft® Windows XP with Service Pack 2?
This article covers the following topics:
Does your website use Microsoft ActiveX® controls?
Microsoft Internet Explorer will block ActiveX controls in the follow cases:
- A website navigated to a page that attempted to instantiate an ActiveX control.
- The navigation would have resulted in an ActiveX installation prompt.
- A qualified previous version of the ActiveX control is not already installed on the system. An existing ActiveX control is considered qualified if the following points are true:
- The globally unique identifier (GUID) of the updated control is the same as the GUID of the existing control.
- Both the updated control and the installed control are Microsoft Authenticode® signed, with a certificate provided by the same issuer and issued to the same subject.
Q: Are the signatures for your website's controls up to date and are both the dynamic link library (DLL) and the cabinet file (CAB) signed?
A: Make sure that all controls distributed through your website are signed and have up-to-date signatures. These signatures must be on the .cab files as well as the .dll files. If these are not signed with valid signatures, Internet Explorer will block them from installing.
Q: Does your website automatically redirect a page based on whether an ActiveX control was instantiated?
A: The recommended solution is to place a span within object tgs detailing that the page could not load. If your site does not do this, the user will be moved to the new page after the Information Bar blocks your control,and will not be given a chance to install the control.
Q: Does your website have images of the Authenticode dialog?
A: Update these images to reflect the new Authenticode user interface (UI) to prevent user confusion.
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General ActiveX Don'ts
Don't tell users to lower their security settings when ActiveX controls are not instantiated.
Does your website allow users to download files?
Q: Does your website start downloads that are not initiated by the user?
A: File downloads are blocked in the following cases:
- a website attempted to navigate to a resource
- the navigation would have resulted in a file download dialog box being displayed
- the user did not initiate navigation with a mouse click or key press To correct this, make all downloads the result of a user-initiated action.
Q: Does your website contain files with file types that do not match their Content-Type and/or file extension?
A: You should correct all of these mismatches. Both the Content-Type and the file extension must match the type of the file for a download prompt to appear. Be sure this is true for your Web pages as well. If the Content-Type is plain/text then they will not render as HTML.
Q: Does your website have images of the Download dialog on your site and/or of where to click to accept the control?
A: Update these images to reflect the new Download dialog UI to prevent user confusion.
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Does your site use pop-up windows?
Q: Does your site use the window.createPopup() method?
A: This method has been restricted to allow only one pop-up window per page.
Q: What does Internet Explorer consider a pop-up window?
Internet Explorer will attempt to block any window opened automatically from:
- a script, with the exception of createPopup()
- modal and modeless dialogs
- DHTML elements overlapping content on the page.
A pop-up window that opens as a direct result of a user action (e.g., clicking a page element) will not be blocked.
Q: How can I tell if my pop-up window has been blocked by Internet Explorer?
Function calls that return a window object will return null if the window is blocked. Always check the value of window.open to avoid script errors when pop-ups are blocked.
Q: Does your website launch pop-up windows through other objects (e.g., Macromedia® Flash™ movies)?
A: These pop-up windows will be blocked by the pop-up blocker.There is no workaround
General Pop-up Recommendations
- Don't redirect on pop-up window failure.
- Don't use the setTimeOut() method within a click event because the pop-up window will not be launched.
- Don't close pop-up windows automatically if a pop-up window, download, or ActiveX control gets blocked. If you do, the user will not be able to click on the Information Bar and accept the pop-up window, download, or ActiveX control.
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Does your website depend on the Microsoft Java Virtual Machine (MSJVM)?
See "Transitioning from the Microsoft Java Virtual Machine" on the Microsoft website at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=21850.
Window Restrictions
Q: Does your website position windows so that the title bar or address bar is above the visible top of the display or the status bar is below the visible bottom of the display?
A: Review your code to ensure you understand the restrictions now in place for script-initiated windows using the window.open() or window.createPopup() methods. The script will call the same methods for the creation of an Internet Explorer window with chrome (using the window.open() method) or an Internet Explorer chromeless pop-up window (using the window.createPopup() method). However, the design might need to be reviewed to ensure that pop-up windows are appropriately visible to the user and that the status bar contains accurate information.The following are guidelines for working with script-initiated window calls in a process running the Windows Restrictions Security feature.
For windows opened using window.open:
- Expect the status bar to be present, and code for it. The status bar will be on by default and is 20-25 pixels in height.
- Adjust your window's size and content so it will fit well visually with the window's overall size. The window will not cover the taskbar, so it may lose 40 pixels if the status bar is on and the taskbar is not accounted for. Vertically size the window no more than 30 pixels outside the taskbar.
- Do not open windows off-screen they will be moved by the smallest offset of x- and y-coordinates that allows the window to fully display on-screen. There are alternatives to opening a window off-screen or in full-screen mode that work with these restrictions and still provide the desired user experience. These options differ based on the processing that is taking place, and must be explored on a case-by-case basis.
- As before, the display of the window will be affected by the display theme, font size, and resolution, so you may also need to account for these UI influences when you are designing your windows.
For windows opened using window.createPopup:
- Adjust the window's size and content so it will look fit well visually with the window's overall size. With this new feature, the window will not cover its parent window's title bar or status bar, so it may lose 40 pixels if the title and status bars are not accounted for. Vertically size the window no larger than the parent's WebOC.
- Do not open windows off-screen they will be moved by the smallest offset of x- and y-coordinates that allows the window to fully display on-screen. There are alternatives to opening a window off-screen or in full-screen mode that work with these restrictions and still provide the desired user experience. These options differ based on the processing that is taking place, and must be explored on a case-by-case basis.
- As before, the display of the window will be affected by the display theme, font size, and resolution, so you may also need to account for these UI influences when you are designing your windows.
A window opened with the window.open() method as a direct result of a user action (e.g., clicking a page element) and not automatically through a script can still be configured to run in full-screen mode or without a status bar.
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Does your website use HTML dialogs?
Q: Do HTML dialogs on your website instantiate ActiveX controls, initiate downloads through script or navigation, or launch pop-up windows through script?
A: This is not recommended behavior; the Information Bar will not be shown when these are blocked and the user will have no way to allow them.The suggested workaround is to initiate these behaviors from an Internet Explorer window.
General Tips
Make sure your website's Content-Type matches the file extension.
Exception: This change does not affect cases where a "content-disposition=attachment" header is sent. In those cases, the file name or extension suggested by the server is considered final and is not changed based on Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) sniffing.
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