Can someone tell me why Javascript is not working on any browser?

Question

Level 1

29 points

Can someone tell me why Javascript is not working on any browser?

I am trying to learn Javascript from a tutorial. I'm using Text edit to create a simple .html file that calls a .js file using the script command. The .html file opens normally in the default browser and can print a message to a simple page. It looks like a window tries to open the .js file but it vanishes before opening. This happens in three browsers: Firefox, Safari, Chrome. I have checked that Javascript is enabled in all three browsers. Opening Firefox in Safe mode does not fix the problem.

This problem happens on three Macs, all running Mavericks 10.9.2. When I try this on a Windows PC the .js file executes as expected.

I've tried everything I can think of including turning off the Firewall in Security Settings. It seems like it has to be something system-wide since it happens in all three browsers. Has Apple implemented some type of blocking of Javascript in Mavericks? Any suggestions for why this is not working on my Macs and what I can do to fix it would be greatly appreciated!

Posted on Mar 30, 2014 9:24 AM

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Answer 1

andyBall_uk

Level 7

20,516 points

Mar 31, 2014 6:38 AM in response to GeneLand

It may be that you've used “ ” quotes instead of " ", or that could be just what was posted here.

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Answer 2

Mar 30, 2014 8:37 PM in response to GeneLand

Try troubleshooting extensions and third party plug-ins.

From the Safari menu bar click Safari > Preferences then select the Extensions tab. Turn that OFF, quit and relaunch Safari to test. If that helped, turn one extension on then quit and relaunch Safari to test until you find the incompatible extension then click uninstall.

If it's not an extensions issue, try troubleshooting third party plug-ins.

Back to Safari > Preferences. This time select the Security tab. Deselect: Allow plug-ins. Quit and relaunch Safari to test.

If that made a difference, instructions for troubleshooting plugins here.

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Answer 3

GeneLand Author

Level 1

29 points

Mar 30, 2014 8:00 PM in response to GeneLand

Here is the container.html file:

<html>

<head>

<title>Simple Page</title>

</head>

<body>

<p>This is a simple page</p>

</body>

</html>

And here is the script.js file:

alert(“Hello world”);

var name = prompt(“What is your name?”);

alert(“Hello, “ + name);

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Answer 4

GeneLand Author

Level 1

29 points

Mar 30, 2014 8:57 PM in response to Carolyn Samit

Carolyn: Thank you for the suggestions. Turning off the extensions in Safari did not help. Deselecting "allow plug-ins" in Safari also did not correct the problem. Thank you for the suggestions. Please let me know if you have any further advice.

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Answer 5

GeneLand Author

Level 1

29 points

Mar 31, 2014 5:51 AM in response to Carolyn Samit

Carolyn: I did not have the Develop menu enabled but I finally found where to enable it in Preferences>Advanced. Disable Javascript was not selected and toggling it on and off did not fix the problem.

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Answer 6

GeneLand Author

Level 1

29 points

Mar 31, 2014 7:23 PM in response to andyBall_uk

andyBall_uk: Thank you so much! That was the problem. I was using Textedit to write the scripts and it substituted smart quotes for " ". Everything is working fine now. I really appreciate your pointing this out. Hope others will benefit from this experience as well. Turn off smart quotes in Textedit on Mac OS 10.9.2.

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Answer 7

andyBall_uk

Level 7

20,516 points

Apr 1, 2014 4:23 AM in response to GeneLand

Thank you for pointing out that is was smart quotes... I've long since switched that off & didn't think of it. You'll find that a number of websites & pdf books on programming have the same problem, so that simple copy/paste doesn't work.

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Answer 8

Mar 31, 2014 12:17 AM in response to GeneLand

By chance do you have the Develop menu enabled in the Safari menu bar?

Make sure Disable JavaScript is not selected from the Develop drop down menu.

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