For some time now, when we access the VAT Online Login and Main Menu pages, they appear as unformatted text without the usual graphics. It reverts to normal when we get through to the client list for filing VAT returns. We use Firefox rather than IE.
Does anyone else have the same problem? Is it just Firefox? Why do just a few pages not work?
Euan MacLennan
Replies (9)
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Yes - HMRC have got it wrong ....
Assuming you are referring to:
https://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/SecurityWebApp/?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=httpss...
IE & FireFox render the site completely differently - sloppy testing. In fact because the problem is so glaringly obvious the page was probably was not tested at all before going live
So much for standards & controlled release procedures etc
Firefox
Been thinking of switching to firefox. Can you recommend it?
Is it a problem switching from one to another if I don't like it?
Firefox is brilliant.
No trouble switching between the two. My internet bank only works in IE so I use IE for that and Firefox for everything else.
Download Firefox Now!!
:)
VAT Pages
http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageVAT_Home
This is the main VAT page and it doesn't work in Firefox either. I have tested it in IE7, IE6 and IE5.5 and they work fine in all of them. They also work fine in Opera 9 but not in Netscape 8 - which tells me it's something to do with the Gecko rendering engine that both Firefox and Netscape are using.
Other pages are not working either: Excise and others and Import and Export.
The reason they do not work is that they seem to be generated from a different template than the pages that do work. This has been going on for at least 4 months - I use Firefox mainly as well.
knuckles, you can run both IE and Firefox on your computer - so you can switch back and forth if you wan without any problem.
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Leo Ludwig
Websites for accountants
IE vs Firefox
I have Firefox as my main browser and IE as a "last resort" alternative also installed - so Firefox works with competently written websites no problem. Those few websites having incompetent IT skills and IT advisors can be viewed in IE if needbe.
The only disadvantage I've encountered with Firefox is how I organise the favorites menu. In IE I can access the favorites folder and have set up 26 folders within it letterred "A" "B" "C" etc throught to "Y" "Z" and have allocated all my favorites (shortcuts) to an individual alphabetic folder - so Budget Reports is in folder B, VAT updates isd in folder V, etc. I've not figured out how to do this in Firefox, although I do know how to organise the shortcuts themselves alphabetically. The Firefox help files do not give an answer as to how to set up sub folders within favorites, so maybe it's not possible with Firefox.
Viewing IE web pages
There is an extension called IEVIEW that allows you to view IE only pages directly from Firefox. It adds an extra option to the View menu.
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/35
Hope this helps
Firefox becomeing bloated and slow
I love Firefox and would, formerly, have heartily recommended it.
However, the latest versions seem to have become very bloated and slow. It takes 2 to 3 times as long as IE to load up the first time it is used and seems to use much more memory resource than IE. On a resource constrained laptop this can be a problem.
With IE 7 having introduced proper tabbed browsing I'm almost considering changing back.
Regards
Paul Taylor
Slow and Resource Hungry Firefox
Hi Paul,
Check out this thread about speeding up Firefox:
http://www.velocityreviews.com/forums/t217603-firefox-takes-a-long-time-to-load.html
Also do you have any particular toolbars installed along with it? Go in Tools and Add-ons if you are unsure. Maybe one of these is slowing things down.
Hope this helps.
Regards
Leo
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Websites for Accountants