Pale Moon forum

Hello,

Not a very clear title but that is what is happening.

Scenario:

I open PM and navigate to (for example) my bank's on-line service.
Log-in fine
I go to the 'statements' page.
The statements are in pdf format.
The page takes forever to load i.e. PM appears to freeze.

This also happens on other sites where acquiring the 'home' page is fine but selecting a page containing reports or whatever in pdf format gives the same result.

Eventually PM times out on Linux Mint 19.2 or gets the option to 'Force Quit as not responding' on Elementary OS 5.

Not seen this anywhere else so maybe a set-up issue here? I have tried to replicate this issue on other web browsers happily without success.

Anyway - can anyone advise what logs I should be looking at/collecting so that I can give you some information which is of more use?

NOTE: I am 'thick' when it comes to hacking around so plain and precise instructions please.

Thank you.

Do you mean it freezes when you open a PDF in a new tab using some PDF viewer extension, as opposed to downloading it and opening it with the associated application? The PDF viewer extensions for PM can be buggy at times, better to save it locally and then open it instead of viewing it in the browser.
I use PDF Viewer and it works without any problems.

Hello moonbat,

The answer is 'no' as I do not get to the stage where the 'save/download' option displays.

The page 'freezes' and remains blank.

Now and again the status bar will show 'Done' but on the odd occasion that occurs the page is still blank.

I forgot to say I have tried this in 'Safe mode' with the same results.

I have also tried today with the latest version.

Re pdf viewer I use Evince.

Woe is me - what with Boris Johnson and this little problem - life is becoming unbearable.

At age 71 will Australia have me?

Spudozo wrote: ↑

2019-08-30, 09:21

Scenario:

I open PM and navigate to (for example) my bank's on-line service.
Log-in fine
I go to the 'statements' page.
The statements are in pdf format.
The page takes forever to load i.e. PM appears to freeze.

Sounds like the bank site is configured to open the PDF in a window (under the assumption you have a PDF viewing plugin or something installed). I'm assuming you aren't shown a simple link that can be rightclick->downloaded.

Spudozo wrote: ↑

2019-08-31, 11:18

The answer is 'no' as I do not get to the stage where the 'save/download' option displays.
The page 'freezes' and remains blank.

From this it isn't clear whether the freeze happens when you load the page containing a link to the PDF or as you said earlier, whether it happens on clicking whatever it does to either launch the PDF in a new window/tab or trigger a download.
Is the bank the only site you're facing this or elsewhere as well? Would be easier to test other sites than a banking site. I use Mint 19.2 as well, and no problems with PDFs either as links or embedded (PDF Viewer for Firefox does it for me).

Spudozo wrote: ↑

2019-08-31, 11:18

Woe is me - what with Boris Johnson and this little problem - life is becoming unbearable.
At age 71 will Australia have me?

Sounds like the bank site is configured to open the PDF in a window (under the assumption you have a PDF viewing plugin or something installed). I'm assuming you aren't shown a simple link that can be rightclick->downloaded.

Correct, the statement (pdf) should display but page remains blank. You assume correctly too download is not an option as that only exists once the statement itself is displayed.

From this it isn't clear whether the freeze happens when you load the page containing a link to the PDF or as you said earlier, whether it happens on clicking whatever it does to either launch the PDF in a new window/tab or trigger a download.
Is the bank the only site you're facing this or elsewhere as well? Would be easier to test other sites than a banking site.

I load the statement page - select the one I want (the link) - and what follows is what has been described.
Happens on other sites too.

Perhaps I should take PM out altogether and re-install. I have done this before but it could sort it out if I clear absolutely everything(?)

Spudozo wrote: ↑

2019-09-01, 09:56

Perhaps I should take PM out altogether and re-install. I have done this before but it could sort it out if I clear absolutely everything(?)

If you don't currently use any extension for viewing PDFs in the browser, can you try installing PDF Viewer and see if it makes a difference?

Please understand that Pale Moon by default does not have an internal PDF viewer (any such functionality will have to be installed as an extension or plugin or the PDF has to be linked to an external viewer). If the webpage assumes visiting users' browsers have internal PDF viewers, some (non-standard) ways of coding the display of PDF will simply not work; only a viewer extension might be a solution then.

Moonchild wrote: ↑

2019-09-01, 10:39

Please understand that Pale Moon by default does not have an internal PDF viewer (any such functionality will have to be installed as an extension or plugin or the PDF has to be linked to an external viewer). If the webpage assumes visiting users' browsers have internal PDF viewers, some (non-standard) ways of coding the display of PDF will simply not work; only a viewer extension might be a solution then.

When they serve a PDF as an embedded object, does it get interpreted by the browser differently as compared to application/pdf mime type if it had been a plain download (in the absence of a plugin handler or extension)? What would they be doing for it to crash instead of prompting the user to download it?

Embedded objects are always treated differently than document navigation/downloads. That is by standard. Different rules apply.

Without examination of the page source, I can't tell what they are doing.

Hello,

Thanks to both.

I have disabled the 'Evince' browser plug-in and installed 'PDF Viewer' (thanks for the link). Restarted PM.

Hooray the statement popped up although I did have to reload the page because it still took 20/30 seconds doing nothing.
So it appears that 'Evince' not quite working as it should? I don't know perhaps the site/s as well?

Thanks for the input much appreciated.

One last question why no Pale Moon pdf viewer I see this one is for Sea Monkey? (NOT a complaint!!).

Spudozo wrote: ↑

2019-09-01, 11:40

One last question why no Pale Moon pdf viewer I see this one is for Sea Monkey? (NOT a complaint!!).

PDF.js was originally part of Mozilla (I think), but later dropped due to security vulnerabilities. PM also hasn't had it since then, and anyway it isn't a core browser feature and is easily handled by a plugin or extension. PM is primarily targeted at Windows, and people there would have Acrobat anyway.

I'm afraid you're incorrect on several accounts, moonbat.

pdf.js is still part of Firefox. It's what they use for PDF display.
It was never dropped by them for security reasons.
Pale Moon dropped it a long while ago because of security concerns of the version we had back then, and more importantly because of the very limited feature set pdfjs has.
Pale Moon might have its roots in Windows and that might be MY personal focus in the project, but it's not "primarily targeted at Windows" with little to no regard for requirements on Linux, which you're implying here.

Moonchild wrote: ↑

2019-09-01, 14:19

I'm afraid you're incorrect on several accounts, moonbat.

pdf.js is still part of Firefox. It's what they use for PDF display.
It was never dropped by them for security reasons.
Pale Moon dropped it a long while ago because of security concerns of the version we had back then, and more importantly because of the very limited feature set pdfjs has.

Thanks for clarifying

Moonchild wrote: ↑

2019-09-01, 14:19

Pale Moon might have its roots in Windows and that might be MY personal focus in the project, but it's not "primarily targeted at Windows" with little to no regard for requirements on Linux, which you're implying here.

Ah, wasn't implying that Linux was getting stepchild treatment, it was a combination of your focus and that Windows users are more in general. I should've worded it differently.

I am a Windows user as well.. I do my work on Windows. I watch stuff on Windows. I play stuff on Windows. AND YET.. I do a lot of Linux stuffs or didn't you notice who built the latest release for the Linux

moonbat wrote: ↑

2019-09-01, 12:33

PM is primarily targeted at Windows

adesh wrote: ↑

2019-09-01, 18:50

Off-topic:
Not trying to beat the dead horse, but it can be argued that Linux users are better match as a user base for a software like Pale Moon. Using Pale Moon is a conscious decision as is using Linux.

I myself am a 4 year Windows PM user who's switched to it on Linux now after moving countries, having had to leave behind my monster desktop and stuck with a laptop incapable of running Windows 10 properly.

New Tobin Paradigm wrote: ↑

2019-09-01, 16:45

I am a Windows user as well.. I do my work on Windows. I watch stuff on Windows. I play stuff on Windows. AND YET.. I do a lot of Linux stuffs or didn't you notice who built the latest release for the Linux

I know, I know - was looking to see where I somehow internalized that statement and found it on the technical roadmap page -

Platform (operating system) support
Pale Moon is originally a Microsoft Windows product.
On the roadmap are the following specific platforms to support in addition to Windows:

• Linux (x86 and x64) -- Completed and actively maintained.
• Mac OS X -- Currently in development. We hope to have official releases on Mac later this year.
• Android ARM -- Discontinued. There are no plans to make a UXP-based Android browser available.
• *BSD: Due to resistance from the BSD community to adhere to normal free software development practices, we currently have no plans to have official Pale Moon releases of any kind on the range of BSD operating systems.

I last read this page ages ago, and somehow I must have over time internalized it as something specially meant for Windows

moonbat wrote: ↑

2019-09-02, 02:46

Pale Moon is originally a Microsoft Windows product.

That statement only indicates HISTORICAL RELEVANCE, not priority.

Moonchild wrote: ↑

2019-09-02, 07:58

That statement only indicates HISTORICAL RELEVANCE, not priority.

I get it, I was saying that got embedded in my mind as Windows having more priority or something.

Yeah that was true in 2012. Not so much now