Angel – Issues with Firefox 23 and IE 10

28 08 2013

One of our faculty members (thank you!) gave us a heads up about some issues that come up if you’re using Firefox 23 or IE 10 to work in Angel. Here’s a Penn State post about the issue:

Recent updates in Firefox 23 and Internet Explorer 10 now block mixed content by default, resulting in some content in ANGEL appearing as a broken link or not appearing at all. Many users do not notice this default setting change at the time of the update and this can result in possible confusion during their ANGEL experience. More information about this, along with a description for mixed content, can be found at https://wiki.mozilla.org/Security/Features/Mixed_Content_Blocker.

This issue is not specific to ANGEL and is browser-based. Currently, there are reports on the Mozilla bug tracking site (https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/buglist.cgi?quicksearch=mixed+content) for the New York Times, ESPN, and Flickr, just to name a few websites.

Internet Explorer 10 blocks non-secure content and is set to prompt a user by default. This option allows the user to permit that content providing that he/she knows and trusts the source. For details, see http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2625928.

As a work-around in ANGEL, instructors and instructional designers can edit “link” content item titles to include HTML, which will launch the links in a separate browser window outside of ANGEL. For more details and step-by-step instructions, see http://kb.its.psu.edu/cms/article/562.

Eugeniu and Brian over in CTLE did some troubleshooting (thank you!) and verified the PSU reports – here’s their summary and recommendation for Scranton faculty (emphasis mine):

We have verified that version 23 is indeed the problem. Firefox 23 provides no warning or prompt for the user to be able to open the mixed content.  We have also verified that this effects links to external sites in ANGEL content items. However, these links work perfectly well in Google Chrome, IE versions prior to 10 and FF versions prior to 23.
This is not an ANGEL problem.
…
We will advise faculty who call here, for the time being, to use Google Chrome.

Please spread the word!


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Categories : Angel and Desire2Learn, Announcements

Firefox Upgrades Now Available through IT Services

31 10 2012

Jim Franceschelli gives us the following update from IT Services:

In the effort to support users and provide them with a modern and secure web-browsing platform, IT services is now installing and supporting up-to-date versions of Firefox.  

Historically, browsers updates have been limited only to those which are fully supported by the ERP / Banner system.  IT services will be lifting this restriction on Firefox, but keeping IE updates restricted to only those versions which are fully supported.  This will means that all IT services computers will contain (and IT services will support) one browser that is guaranteed to be fully compatible with ERP / Banner (Internet Explorer 8.0) and one which has modern features and security (Firefox).

The Information Technology Service (ITS) department will be pushing the newest version of Firefox to University owned computers in offices on campus via KBOX beginning on November 2, 2012. 

Once you install this update and open Firefox, you may be prompted with a series of screens on which you need to make choices.

  • Select Your Add-ons
    • Click the Add-ons you want to use
    • Click Next
  • Select your Add-ons (2nd screen)
    • Displays which Add-ons are disabled but will be enabled as soon as they are compatible and which ones will be updated.
    • Click Next
  • Your default home page (most likely my.scranton.edu)
  • Default Browser pop-up box
    • Asks if you want to make Firefox your default browser
    • We recommend you uncheck “Always perform this check when starting Firefox”.
    • Click Yes  –  if you want Firefox to be your default browser
    • Click No  –  if you generally use a different browser such as IE

 If you have questions about this upgrade, please contact the Technology Support Center at (570) 941-4357 or techsupport@scranton.edu.

 


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Android mobile access to my.scranton

25 10 2010

I’ve heard from several students lately about not being able to access my.scranton from their Android phones.  When they try to log in, they get an error message that looks like this:

uPortal Error

Sorry, but uPortal encountered an error that is preventing it from rendering.  The error must be corrected by system administrators.  Try again later.

I asked Tim from Network Infrastructure about this, and he said that the problem isn’t the Android OS but Chrome — so if Android users download Firefox as their mobile browser instead, they should be able to get into my.scranton just fine.  Spread the word, Droid owners!


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Categories : Mobile