Do I need Adobe Reader & alternative browsers?

Question

Level 1

36 points

Do I need Adobe Reader & alternative browsers?

Hello!

I'm relatively new to the world of Mac and am delighted so far.

However, I've tried downloading a bill from an energy supplier's site (Powergen) and it opens a window then says "we could not access your bill." I've tried on various occasions - same result. It may be the site is having problems; maybe it doesn't recognise Safari (although other areas of 'online account management' seem OK). Also, I tried downloading a document from the British Gas site and it told me I need Adobe Reader. On other sites (so far) PDF-style docs load into Safari's reader with no probs.

Basically, do I need Adobe Reader? Should I try Debug? (where Safari 'pretends' to be IE), and/or should I try different browsers? In my Windows days I used Firefox, although I gather Camino is more 'purpose built' for the Mac. Is this the case?

Many thanks for any advice offered.

Posted on Oct 10, 2005 1:19 PM

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Answer 1

Oct 10, 2005 3:50 PM in response to Mark JF

Hello, Mark.
Please try to be more specific. Let me help you here.

1. This Powergen bill, is this a public access area? If so, can you provide a link to the form?

2. We will also need the link to the document in question from the British Gas site.

Chances are you don't need Adobe Reader. You can download PDFs directly do your downloads folder (Desktop, by default) and open them in Preview by double-clicking them. You can also save them from Safari after they're fully loaded.

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Answer 2

Wade Peeler

Level 6

10,906 points

Oct 10, 2005 3:53 PM in response to Ast A. Moore

I need to use Reader every now and then when I want to be able to fill out pdf forms, like from the IRS. They don't work in Preview (they're not editable), but they work in Reader.

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Answer 3

Oct 11, 2005 12:00 AM in response to Mark JF

Hello Mark:

Adobe reader is free and, yes, you should have it on your system.

If you are having a problem with a particular web site in Safari, I suggest you contact the web site's technical support. A few web programmers do not write to standards or, worse yet, use Microsoft specific code. I have had good success in getting web sites to 'fix' their code. I only use one browser (Safari). Some people here are using Firefox as an alternate or even primary browser.

IE is dead on Macs. Microsoft stopped supporting it after 5.2.3.

I have never used the 'debug' feature since I am not a web developer and have absolutely no interest in going to that technical level. I address specific web site issues with the technical support people at those sites.

Barry

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Answer 4

Mark JF Author

Level 1

36 points

Oct 11, 2005 4:52 PM in response to Ast A. Moore

Hello Ast. A. Moore, thanks for replying.

I can't provide a link to the Powergen bill page exactly as that is part of the 'security log-in' section.

The British Gas page, however, appears below. I'm sorry about the length of the url but I haven't yet figured out how to make a proper clickable link here.

If you paste the below into your browser and go to this page on their site, then click on the sentence 'British and Scottish Gas Prices' in blue down the page hopefully it will then try to get you their price list. It was at this point I got the 'Acrobat Reader required' message in a new window.

link

I hope the above is useful; and thanks for your help.

[ Edited by Apple Discussions Moderator; href URL ]

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Answer 5

Wade Peeler

Level 6

10,906 points

Oct 11, 2005 4:55 PM in response to Mark JF

Like this

My visible text

Without the spaces around the < and >.

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Answer 6

Mark JF Author

Level 1

36 points

Oct 11, 2005 5:07 PM in response to Barry Hemphill

Thanks Barry and Wade Peeler for you advice.

Also, thanks Wade for the lesson in posting links!

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Answer 7

Oct 12, 2005 1:32 PM in response to Barry Hemphill

another cool option if you're having trouble with some websites is omniweb (www.omnigroup.com). you can set it to "impersonate" mozilla (win or mac), ie (win or mac), or safari, on a per-site basis.
it doesn't load as fast as firefox, and does cost $, but i've yet to really run into any real trouble with it, and the security features, and configurable options are pretty rockin' (as in, equal to or more so than firefox). i can't seem to want to use anything else anymore (i've removed safari from my system altogether). it will also sync bookmarks with .mac, etc. pretty spiffy.
insofar as the pdf thing...i haven't had issue with pdf's opening without reader, but i don't think i've tried to fill one out online before...

kell

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Answer 8

Mark JF Author

Level 1

36 points

Oct 15, 2005 10:26 AM in response to kelldammit

Thanks for your comments and advice. As it happens, the Powergen site finally coughed up the bill I was trying to view - must have been a website issue after all. I still can't download a price list from the British Gas site (still tells me I need Adobe Reader); but never mind.

It just struck me as odd that, so far, this site is the only one that tells me to use Reader whereas other PDF docs. from other sites have shown up OK in Safari.

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