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..revisiting 'FoxBox for Gmail' failures..

• Edit

in a small town

27 Sep, 2017 06:01 PM

Hello:

FoxBox for Gmail has given me fits in the past day: The logout button no
longer allows that function; instead I get forced into Google+ Discovery
loading a huge page, that offers no way back to Gmail or to logout.
A force-quit of the Box via Finder menubar is the best & only easy exit.

I was able to get further still with TenFourFox browser; also with last PPC
version of SeaMonkey w/ Gmail. Just that a full browser in either runs up
the CPU usage to near 70-90% often, in small one core G4 1.5GHz PPC.
Given limits on chip RAM by design, hand-off to HDD as VM; so this
also working against the G4 1.5GHz Mac mini (Late 2005 last build).

Because I hadn't a reference web address in my iPhone when replying
I used one found in the gmail account referenced there. And had hoped
the terse reply would've included your main discussion page.

{Thank you for your patience. Between helping a disabled elder as care
giver, fielding robo-calls to nobody we know, upgrading a newer Mac to
a later system, and using older ones due to their character, I'm also busy.}

And I haven't an account here...
Too much going on in real life to keep track.

Good luck & happy trails! :)

1. Support Staff 1 Posted by Cameron Kaiser on 28 Sep, 2017 02:56 AM

   

   I'm not able to reproduce the "70-90%" CPU usage issue you report with Gmail, even on a little 1GHz iMac G4. It spikes the CPU periodically, but not constantly, and returns to a couple percentage load when idle. If this is not what you're seeing, I'd make sure it's really TenFourFoxBox that's actually soaking up the CPU time (Activity Monitor can show you).

   I can reproduce what you mentioned with the foxbox. This appears to be because Google's code update sniffs the foxbox user agent wrong. There is a way around this. If you like, start up TenFourFoxBox.app (not the Gmail app) and recreate a new Gmail foxbox, making sure to select "Prevent this web site from detecting it's not in a normal browser" (run the foxbox TenFourFoxBox User's Guide.app for a self-contained manual). This seems to repair the logout issue for me when I regenerate it. I will include that in the next version, though this is not enough of a change right now for me to generate a new release just for that.

   For what it's worth, though, if you don't want to wait for the next version and you don't want to recreate the Gmail foxbox, you actually don't need to log out of Gmail unless you have to switch accounts. Simply quitting the foxbox is sufficient; nothing will leak from the foxbox into the main browser.

   • Edit

2. 2 Posted by in a small town on 28 Sep, 2017 08:16 AM

   

   Part of the communication error was my posting via the only web address
   available at the time; to see some of my discussion dismissed later on.

   "I was able to get further still with the full browser; also with the last
   PPC version of SeaMonkey w/ Gmail. Just the full browser in either runs up
   the CPU usage to near 70-90% often."

   This is to say, that in the course of browsing with full browser(s) TenFourFox
   and SeaMonkey 2.26 certain symptoms appeared in both; of course outdated
   SeaMonkey still rendered pages correctly & had seen some tweaks according
   to the build information; in the past few months. Both full browsers, no single
   purpose browser-ette was involved in that comparison.

   Because even the FoxBox hands off into a second window content opened
   in Gmail when so purposed, the contents of which are not unlike regular web
   browsing; the CPU (according to Activity Monitor, the reference in use) shows.

   A second reference of CPU activity is an iStat Pro 4.92 widget that I still use.
   However widgets as such are not readily visible due to their nature. There still
   is a mirror download site for this original iStat Pro 4.9 widget online that is clean.
   And I'd posted it a few years ago in Apple Support Discussions for 10.5.8 users.
   Early this year, it still worked; I have a copy of the installer in offline archive due
   to my several older Macs here, and others I know with an interest in using theirs.

   I've been force-quit exiting the FoxBox, and in order to return to the original
   login page had to remove content from their Library folder; so I'd not get the
   later saved Google+ Discovery content the FoxBox last saved instead of login.
   A button or menu option would be nice in the FoxBox to deal with this issue;
   however that may be too much additional work. There is no internal quit button
   nor does the content purge upon force-quit in Finder.

   Seems to me the FoxBox I'd last used had the suggested preference set while
   making the single-purpose browser. Before I ran or used this FoxBox, I had
   downloaded the instructions nearly a year ahead of my first use. I may try again
   to get that to function, in a new preferenced FoxBox; in case it was corrupted.

   I'm using SeaMonkey 2.26 for non-essential browsing where my personal info
   isn't being added; it does render and go to sites the later Safari won't. Too bad
   the OmniWeb 5.x browser series saw no further traction; and iCab not much either.

   Thank you for getting back to me on this matter.

   The convenience of using one FoxBox to access two gmail addresses is a real
   plus; with only having to login to either one. When working, a log out returns
   the user to the dual-user login page. Kinda like the iOS version of gmail in my
   iPad Mini (iOS9.3.5) or the gmail app in iPhone5C (iOS10.3.3).

   I'm not supplying screenshots here, I've got a few from other times when I
   had several full browser windows open to perform tasks, and rationed the
   limited resources with help of Activity Monitor usage views. Been using Mac
   OS since about 1984, however have owned only 400+ since 1994 and have
   some repair and restore troubleshooting experience; then donated results.

   Thanks again.
   Best regards!
   .-.-.-.-.-.

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3. 3 Posted by in a small town on 28 Sep, 2017 07:25 PM

   

   Hi again...
   Not sure if you received my later reply to yours here, as of
   yesterday because I don't see one and didn't get an email.

   {As I covered old ground with reintroduction of discussion
   content from earlier post to now-closed older topic area.}

   The foxbox retains the Google+ Discovery link and so it
   tries to go there; unless and until one goes into User
   Library> Application (? content) to clear saved details in
   the FoxBox/Gmail applet, that is all you get if you click on
   a saved link or foxbox in the Dock.
   No returns to login area or the inbox.

   I've built a few foxboxes and did as you suggest; the new
   one with the same info checked and that doesn't stop this
   effect. For an interim fix, instead, and just for TenFourFox
   FoxBox, I've chosen to use Gmail login with Basic HTML
   page URL. This gives me actionable control over access
   with click on buttons for most everything.

   And with this work-around, I can add several user accounts
   to the start window and still choose from there which one(s)
   to log into and access. It is a bit crude, but no force-quit is
   necessary to otherwise get out of the untidy pile of mess.

   Thought you should know. There also be some way to be able
   to incorporate some of the steps to access a new FoxBox from
   the basic HTML build contents. Haven't bothered with that.
   However what my workaround does, is leave all other Gmail
   logins unchanged. By setting up Basic HTML as default, only
   sets the one browser to gain access via a different URL.

   So my iOS Devices, and all other three Macs of various OS X,
   aren't affected by use default basic HTML in a FoxBoxed site.

   Thank you.
   Best regards from Alaska...!
   .-.-.-.-.-.

   • Edit

4. 4 Posted by in a small town on 28 Sep, 2017 09:31 PM

   

   Here's back at you... after trying this awhile, found the changes
   at Google that takes me to Google+ Discovery without a logout
   button in the FoxBox for Gmail minimalist browser, can be changed
   in other browsers (as I've been complaining to Google) now. So
   I don't need Basic HTML except for the FoxBox, only.

   And so this means I'm going to dedicate a second full browser to
   my Gmail accounts; as I've done for nearly twenty years of Gmail.
   This worked OK, especially after they did away with GMail Notifier.

   iOS Devices with Google Mail apps do OK and will not render the
   defaults as Basic HTML. However once set and exercised in full
   browsers, these other Mac systems do start using Basic HTML
   in Gmail. While that's OK because all the controls are visible, the
   overall affect isn't so good. One can also reduce Google security
   in your own account to gain some access in older apps & OS X.
   That isn't really an answer.

   So while HTML basic setting in Gmail solves the absence of working
   log out button, the need now (two days on) may not be necessary in
   the later Mac OS with Firefox or SeaMonkey, etc browsers. I've seen
   an ability to click on the user picture in Gmail menu bar with log-out
   return in several instances where those browsers had gone to Google+
   Discovery site, and lock out any return to gmail or log-out. A one way
   trip off a short pier into a morass of time wastage, this has been.

   Sorry for a waste of your time. I will find another solution, in part because
   the TenFourFox/Box page at floodgap does Not work today. So using it
   for instructions presently is not an option.

   Thanks again! :)

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