Gumtree's search not working in Safari 9.1.3

Mac
#1

Is anyone having issues searching on ‘Gumtree.com.au’ I’m using ‘Safari’ version 9.1.3 (Build 9537.86.7.8) on OS X 10.9.5 ‘Mavericks’ (Build 13F1911) and for the last month or so when I try to enter a search on Gumtree the website literally “blanks out” i.e. I’m just left with a completly blank white screen. When I first bring up the homepage I can still click in and view member’s ads no problem, but without being able to search, Gumtree is quite useless.

I’ve been talking with Gumtree’s support people and they’ve said I’m not the only one who’s experienced problems with Gumtree recently, though whether the same problem I don’t know? They’ve ask the usual i.e. “Try turning off ad blocking software” or “Try a different browser”. I’ve said to them I’ve changed nothing at my end, and yes I disabled my ad blocker which of course made no difference, which I knew it wouldn’t. Searching did work again for a day and I emailed them back to say it appeared to be working normally again, but I spoke too soon as the next week I went to search for an item on Gumtree and of course I was back to the blank screen again.

I’ve now tested Gumtree on a public library computer running ‘Internet Explorer’ on the Window’s operating system. What version of ‘IE’, I’m not sure? but the library computers are running ‘Windows 7 Enterprise’, at least in the ACT. At any rate Gumtree search works fine on a Windows computer so it would seem Gumtree have either run some update or made some change to the search code or functionality that is now causing incompatibilities with Safari, at least under Mavericks. I’ve now also tested Gumtree search on another Mac, this time using ‘Safari’ 11.1.1 running on MacOS 10.13.5 ‘High Sierra’ and no issues.

It could be Gumtree have made a change that’s causing an issue specifically with Safari 9, although remember the search did briefly work again. It could also be a problem has developed with Safari on my computer. For this reason I’d like to know if anyone else using Safari 9 on Mavericks also has the same issue with Gumtree’s search? Also just to be thorough, I’d like to know what the results are using Safari under say ‘Lion’/‘Mountain Lion’ and under ‘Yosemite’, ‘El Capitan’ and ‘Sierra’. Also with other browsers like ‘Chrome’ and ‘Firefox’.

If there is a problem specifically with Safari on my computer that strangely only affects Gumtree, how can I fix it? I’ve already run ‘Repair Disk Permissions’ and that made no difference. What about Safari’s preference files, could one of them have become corrupt? I should mention too that for a short time Safari was displaying a warning message stating Gumtree’s security certificate was “invalid”! Whether this had anything to do with the search issue I don’t know as it didn’t come up before and its not coming up now.

#2

I’m wondering if its time you updated MacOS and Safari. I am having no issues on Sierra with Safari 11.1. No issues with Firefox either.

#3

Does it actually work in a different browser like Firefox? I just use Firefox if a website doesn’t work in Safari.

#4

The only browser I have installed is ‘Safari’, but even if I installed another browser like ‘Chrome’ or ‘Firefox’ and Gumtree’s search works in those browsers it won’t rule out the possibility of there being an issue specific with my installation of ‘Mavericks’ or Safari or even some issue with my computer and really this need to be eliminated first before proceeding to install another browser.

This is why I need someone who is also using Safari 9.1.3 on Mavericks 10.9.5 to verify if Gumtree’s search works for them. If it does it means the issue is specific to my computer or setup (an issue so specific it affects only one website!) and if it doesn’t it means Gumtree have made a recent change to their search code (that’s perhaps not adhering to HTML standards?) that’s causing an issue with Safari 9.1.3 (perhaps it’s less tolerant of non standard code hence it simply blanks the website when a search is entered because it can’t execute the code at that point?)

This is why I need someone also using Safari 9.1.3 on Mavericks 10.9.5 to test if Gumtree’s search works on their setup because only that will prove if I’m right or wrong. My bet at this time is Gumtree have made a change to their search code because ‘Gumtree.com’ (Gumtree UK) works fine!

It occured to me to bring up the website (with ad blocker off) and enter a search while I have Safari’s ‘Web Inspector’ open and with ‘Debugger’ selected. While I know nothing about HTML code it should show exactly what’s happening at the code level when I enter a search. I can then post that info here, which is:

Firstly when I first bring up the Gumtree homepage a warning message immediately pops up stating 'Safari can’t identify the identity of the website “cdn.districtm.io”. There are also in excess of 999 errors! (tens of thousands actually!) I won’t post them because it appears they all relate to Gumtree trying to access outside resources (Hint: It’s a six letter word starting with ‘G’ and ending in ‘e’!) in order to display annoying ads! With my ad blocker re-activated no error message pops up and no errors are reported which shows my ad blocker is doing its job and just how necessary an ad blocker is!

Anyway (with ad blocker off) when I enter a search, upon which the website immediately “blanks out”, 2 Console errors and 23 Console warnings are generated:

Console errors:

ReferenceError: Can’t find variable: performance
value — app.9d1f0433c097695c1c92.js:14766
commitLifeCycles — vendor.70805538b006e9144c13.js:6896
_ — vendor.70805538b006e9144c13.js:6302:86
C — vendor.70805538b006e9144c13.js:6233
x — vendor.70805538b006e9144c13.js:6224
b — vendor.70805538b006e9144c13.js:6210
y — vendor.70805538b006e9144c13.js:6178
p — vendor.70805538b006e9144c13.js:6155
t — vendor.70805538b006e9144c13.js:7074
updateContainer — vendor.70805538b006e9144c13.js:7110
render — vendor.70805538b006e9144c13.js:7746
(anonymous function) — vendor.70805538b006e9144c13.js:7982:85
unbatchedUpdates — vendor.70805538b006e9144c13.js:7010
To — vendor.70805538b006e9144c13.js:7981
hydrate — vendor.70805538b006e9144c13.js:8015
(anonymous function) — app.9d1f0433c097695c1c92.js:15528
a — vendor.70805538b006e9144c13.js:1991:112
(anonymous function) — vendor.70805538b006e9144c13.js:1996
c — vendor.70805538b006e9144c13.js:2689
error — app.9d1f0433c097695c1c92.js:11021GTAU:

ReferenceError: Can’t find variable: performance
value — app.9d1f0433c097695c1c92.js:14766
commitLifeCycles — vendor.70805538b006e9144c13.js:6896
_ — vendor.70805538b006e9144c13.js:6302:86
C — vendor.70805538b006e9144c13.js:6233
x — vendor.70805538b006e9144c13.js:6224
b — vendor.70805538b006e9144c13.js:6210
y — vendor.70805538b006e9144c13.js:6178
p — vendor.70805538b006e9144c13.js:6155
t — vendor.70805538b006e9144c13.js:7074
updateContainer — vendor.70805538b006e9144c13.js:7110
render — vendor.70805538b006e9144c13.js:7746
(anonymous function) — vendor.70805538b006e9144c13.js:7982:85
unbatchedUpdates — vendor.70805538b006e9144c13.js:7010
To — vendor.70805538b006e9144c13.js:7981
hydrate — vendor.70805538b006e9144c13.js:8015
(anonymous function) — app.9d1f0433c097695c1c92.js:15528
a — vendor.70805538b006e9144c13.js:1991:112
(anonymous function) — vendor.70805538b006e9144c13.js:1996
c — vendor.70805538b006e9144c13.js:2689

Console warnings:

k0:1:5641Unexpected CSS token: &
k0:1:5647Invalid CSS property declaration at: &
k0:1:5653Invalid CSS property declaration at: ;
k0:1:6997Unexpected CSS token: &
k0:1:7003Invalid CSS property declaration at: &
k0:1:7009Invalid CSS property declaration at: ;
k0:1:13253Unexpected CSS token: &
k0:1:13259Invalid CSS property declaration at: &
k0:1:13265Invalid CSS property declaration at: ;
k0:1:13383Unexpected CSS token: &
k0:1:13389Invalid CSS property declaration at: &
k0:1:13395Invalid CSS property declaration at: ;
k0:1:18489Unexpected CSS token: &
k0:1:18496Invalid CSS property declaration at: &
k0:1:18502Invalid CSS property declaration at: ;
k0:1:30038Unexpected CSS token: &
k0:1:30044Invalid CSS property declaration at: |
k0:1:30051Invalid CSS property declaration at: ;
k0:1:31184Unexpected CSS token: &
k0:1:31190Invalid CSS property declaration at: ,
k0:1:31308Unexpected CSS token: &
k0:1:31314Invalid CSS property declaration at: &
global code — k0:60HUE not yet populating within APP_DATA Object

Does this mean I’m right, that the fault lays with Gumtree’s HTML code and that while perhaps later versions of Safari (not sure about prior versions?) and other browsers either ignore the problematic code or can execute it, Safari 9.1.3 clearly has an issue with it?

#5

So let me get this straight - because you don’t want to spend 5 minutes downloading and installing a different browser to get around your issue, you’d rather us spend hours debugging Safari? You actually spent more time writing the above message than just simply installing firefox or chrome and trying them out…

2 Likes
#6

Sometimes websites just don’t play nicely with Safari. I wouldn’t waste more time trying to debug such an obscure issue instead of just installing something like Firefox that takes 5 minutes.

1 Like
#7

You clearly didn’t understand the first part of what I stated - that I first need to eliminate the posibility of there being an issue specific with my setup. Also just to counter what you say it would equally take less time for someone here also using Safari 9.3.1 on Mavericks 10.9.5 to test if Gumtree’s search works for them than it would’ve taken for you to post your reply! So what’s your point?

#8

You say sometimes websites just don’t play nice with Safari, well in this case we don’t know that yet. All we know at this point is that its not working with my setup, but this doesn’t mean it won’t play nice on another Mac also running Safari 9.1.3 on Mavericks 10.9.5. That’s what I need to determine - Is there an issue with Safari 9.1.3 and Gumtree on everyone’s Mac or just on my Mac? Haveing another user also running Safari 9.1.3 on Mavericks 10.9.5 will answer this.

#9

Simply installing another browser will tell you that. If it doesn’t work in the alternative browser then by all means start delving deeper.

#10

Before this topic gets any more out of hand than it is:

@DarkAvenger I applaud your efforts, but think you’re expecting a little too much from AppleTalk. While we have a few Mac users around, having someone who has kept a five-year old OS on their Mac and a specific version of Safari seems like a long shot at best.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s great that you’ve done a bunch of investigation by yourself, including testing on a Windows PC, a Mac running a more up-to-date version of macOS, and even going as far as to dig out error logs in an attempt to find the issue, but can I ask why? Why go to all the trouble when the issue may be fixable by using a different browser?

The way I see it, there are two possible outcomes.

  1. If you find someone else who has the same problem, then you’ll be one step closer to confirming there’s an issue with the Australian Gumtree website when used with that specific browser/OS combo. Which is great, except I can’t imagine that’s useful information to many people who care; if you report that issue to Gumtree, they might take a look at their logs and decide that the percentage of users using that specific browser/OS combo isn’t worth spending the resources and fixing the problem, especially if it’s something that can easily be fixed by updating or using a different browser.

If, by some miracle, you manage to gather enough data and find out that it’s only a problem with that specific version of Safari and Mavericks, unfixable by any configuration change you can make, then that’s even better, you’ve found a bug in Safari. But if you report it to Apple or the developers, they’ll probably tell you to update, either because that specific bug has been fixed in a newer version, or because the version you’re using is no longer supported.

  1. The second outcome is that you find someone running your specific browser/OS combo where Australian Gumtree works, which means, as you’ve already said, the likelihood increases that it’s some configuration issue specific to your setup. Blow away your preferences and try again. Try in a different user profile. Reinstall the latest combo update and try again. What’s even better is that you can do all of this right now, there’s nothing stopping you from continuing down the troubleshooting rabbit hole.

Or, you can do what two-thirds of the people that have bothered to respond to your topic have suggested and spend a few minutes installing a different browser, and trying that. I like to think I’m a relatively rational person, but even I’m wondering why you’d go to all that effort trying to track down an issue when you could have just installed a different browser and tried that?

You’re absolutely right in saying that we don’t know if it’s an issue with Safari 9.1.3 on Mavericks 10.9.5 on just your Mac or on everyone’s Mac, but you haven’t even told us if this issue is limited to Safari, let alone other Macs running Mavericks. Instead, we’ve gotten some speculation about what the issues could possibly be, a bunch of extraneous information, as well as all the good investigative work you’ve done. If you can’t or won’t spend a few extra minutes trying a different browser, how can you expect someone to spend a few minutes checking what version of Mavericks they have, what version of Safari, then testing the Gumtree website to see if search works?

I’m very sorry your first topic on AppleTalk has gone this way, and hope that it doesn’t affect your overall opinion of the site too adversely.

1 Like
#11

I wasn’t tying to be snarky, just the most simple solution, and the one I would try first is to install a different browser. If it happens in that browser too then you can start looking at your system and it’s settings, if it doesn’t then it’s an issue with Safari.

#12

And I’m going to throw a bit of a spanner in this but I’ll also be agreeing with others.

Because I keep fresh up-to-date installs of every single macOS since Snow Leopard running the latest version for each release in a virtual machine I can confirm the OP’s issue.

Exactly that.

Now @DarkAvenger, You most likely don’t want to hear this but I’m going to give it to you anyway.

:grin: It’s done, Mavericks has been shot in the chest multiple times at close range and is bleeding out on the ground and it’s not going to make it. :grin:

Let’s start with a lot of large websites have been warning for at least a year and a half now that they’re going to no longer be supporting browsers and operating system is this old any more.

Normally presented as an in-line pop in on the page about important information about your browser.

:grin: And now let’s shoot Mavericks in the head and put it out of it’s misery. :grin:

As you know Safari is dead you’re running the last version that operating system will ever run Google has dropped support for Chrome on this operating system as well.

Firefox will most likely do this this year or next year and the only way you’ll be able to get continued support with Firefox is to switch to the Firefox Extended Support Release (ESR).

Some Resources

The support document that shows the support has ended for older versions not yet Mavericks.

As I mentioned above they will be dropping off older versions to OS X 10.11 El Capitan this year or next year. El Capitan is going to become the new Snow Leopard.

Here is the relevant support page for “Switch to Firefox Extended Support Release (ESR) for personal use” and here’s a link to the Firefox ESR Page.

#13

I did a little bit more investigating. The Console warnings are not really that important, its the two Console errors that are and are almost certainly what’s causing Safari 9.1.3 to blank the website when a search is entered.

They both have something to do with javascript as that’s what the ‘js’ is in the two errors. In fact if I turn javascript off and re-enter a search, the screen no longer “blanks out” and the search results come up - well sort of as the images don’t appear and the formatting is all messed up and some functionality is lost, but that’s an improvement on a completely blank screen. So I’m convinced this is a javascript issue.

I’ve just emailed Gumtree back with the full details of the two errors to pass on to their technical team and I’ve already told them I’ve tested the search with ‘Internet Explorer’ and Safari 11.1.1. and I’ll see what they come back with.

I’m convinced though there is no issue with either my install of Safari 9.1.3 or anyone else’s due to the fact Gumtree’s search worked perfectly fine before. Its only in the last few months this issue has developed. Indeed were there an issue with Safari 9.1.3 I’d expect to have problems with a great many websites besides Gumtree. Plus you throw in the fact the search works fine on Gumtree UK. No it’s something Gumtree’s technical team have done, but like I said I’ll wait for them to get back to me.

By the way would it be safe to delete all of Safari’s files and folders (except for ‘Bookmarks.plist’) from Users/Library/Safari? If I then reset my computer would this cause Safari to re-build them from scratch - effectively ‘resetting’ Safari or would that probably just stuff it up?

#14

I’m starting to notice that some sites aren’t working correctly in Safari 10.1.2 on Yosemite now either. Unfortunately there isn’t much that can be done, and I’ll have to start moving the work machines to Sierra when I find the time.