Diagnosing the problem with the Page45 shopping site

Conversation started Apr 25, 2012 at 20:29.

ChrisF

Apr 25, 2012 20:29

I've a really odd problem. Links from one site and one site only are being corrupted somehow.

I'm using Chrome and when logged in to Twitter it mangles links of the form: http://www.page45.com/cgi-bin/ss000001.pl?PR=-1&TB=A&page=search&SS=lunney into t.co links which are Twitter short links.

Is this a problem with the browser, Twitter or something else?

If I try the links in Firefox (where I'm not logged into to Twitter) nothing untoward happens

If I try the links in Firefox when logged into Twitter it seems OK too.

Therefore it appears to be a Chrome issue.

Indeed - using a incognito window also demonstrates the same problem. So why is Chrome mangling the links?

Oliver Salzburg

Apr 25, 2012 20:48

@ChrisF How are they mangled? Like, how are you observing this?

Are the links transformed in the HTML source already and that's what you're seeing? Are the links shown when you hover over the link?

ChrisF

@OliverSalzburg The first symptom is that the page doesn't load properly. Then when I click the link I get a Twitter error message.

If I view the source in Chrome the links are mangled and it looks to be just HTML.

The source in Firefox has script tags

I think Chrome is screwing up the script somehow

Oliver Salzburg

Is there any way for me to check this out myself?

ChrisF

You could try this link - page45.com/cgi-bin/…

It's also not consistent. Sometimes it's like this, but if I restart Chrome it's OK

Oliver Salzburg

wtf

ChrisF

You getting it too?

Oliver Salzburg

Apr 25, 2012 20:52

For me, all the links point to chat.stackexchange.com

ChrisF

WTF!

It's like they point at the last tab opened then.

Oliver Salzburg

@ChrisF Something like that, yeah.

ChrisF

I get Twitter because it's where I first opened the link from.

I bet they're relative links and Chrome's using the wrong root.

Oliver Salzburg

The problem is the <base> tag

The links are relative, but Chrome (properly) appends the base

The base equals the HTTP referrer.

Which must have been set up server-side (I assume).

ChrisF

Ah - so it is something I should direct at the site owners then?

Oliver Salzburg

Apr 25, 2012 20:55

It's most likely a hack they implemented to get something working :D I dunno

I guess the site is to be embedded somehow.

Because all <img> are broken as well by this.

ChrisF

Yeah I think it's normally embedded in their main site (this bit being the shopping cart stuff).

At least it's not me :)

Oliver Salzburg

Ah, that makes more sense.

I didn't even realize it's a real size. Without CSS, images, ...

ChrisF

Thanks for your time. All this new fangled web stuff - not my forte :)

Oliver Salzburg

My pleasure :)

That was a new one :D

nhinkle

What's up over here in SU land?

ChrisF

Apr 25, 2012 21:00

I'm fairly friendly with the guys that run the shop, but I don't know enough web stuff to be able to tell them what's wrong :(

Oliver Salzburg

I'm not even sure if the links are supposed to be used directly.

ChrisF

It works in Firefox :)

Oliver Salzburg

@nhinkle Hi :)

@ChrisF How did you verify that? Paste the link in Firefox?

Because then it has no referrer.

ChrisF

@OliverSalzburg Hang on - just checking

Oliver Salzburg

Wow. I just shut down Chrome, pasted the URL in Notepad, and copied it back to the clipboard from there. Then started Chrome again, opened a new tab, pasted the URL. And the <base> still points to chat.stackexchange.com

What is going on :D

ChrisF

Apr 25, 2012 21:05

Clicking the link in Firefox works - but it does flash "t.co" in the tab header briefly

Massive update: we have new @Lizzlizz comics in stock, some of them sketched in for FREE (AT THE CAVES, DEPRESSED CAT): http://bit.ly/Kb9ZHf

Tweeted by PageFortyFive on April 25, 2012 at 8:23 PM

Oliver Salzburg

Must be my cache...

ChrisF

This is the tweet.

Oliver Salzburg

It's the same in Firefox

ChrisF

Oliver Salzburg

I just joined this chat from Firefox, clicked the link you pasted earlier and the site is broken.

ChrisF

Apr 25, 2012 21:07

Interesting

If I view the source in Firefox I see <BASE HREF="http://page45.com/store/"> which is why it's working there.

Oliver Salzburg

ChrisF

Most bizzare

Oliver Salzburg

And now I pasted it in IE directly (so it will have no referrer).

ChrisF

Which is what you should be seeing

Oliver Salzburg

Yeah, I assumed so.

It's a problem with their site.

ChrisF

Apr 25, 2012 21:14

The normal referrer will be their site of course.

So something in the code that generates the html is setting the base from the referrer rather than it being a static configuration element of some kind?

If I can explain it, I can drop them an e-mail :)

Oliver Salzburg

@ChrisF Pretty much to the point.

ChrisF

Ah cool.

Oliver Salzburg

It should be easy to verify. Maybe include a link to this conversation.

If they click the link in your email, the site should work. If they click the link in this conversation, it shouldn't.

Conversation ended Apr 25, 2012 at 21:23.

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Diagnosing the problem with the Page45 shopping site

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