Mac Lab Report

Negative Synergy: Godaddy Redirect Problematic with Safari

Low End Mac Reader Specials

Download Typestyler, still the Ultimate Styling Tool for Internet, Print and Video Graphics. Works great in Classic with a Native OS X Version on the way. Free Tryout: www.typestyler.com

LA Computer Company: LA Computer Company: Specials on AppleCare, Apple Displays, MacBooks, iMac's, MacBook Pros, Laptop and iPod accessories and more. Apple A/C Adapters for laptops starting at $25.00 Call 1-800-941-7654 or Click Here.

OWC: OWC Mercury On-The-Go FW400/800/USB2/eSATA Portables High Performance A/V Rated, **Bus Powered** **Up to 500GB in the Palm of your Hand** Macworld Editor's Choice, CNET 'Very Good' - from $75.99!

Mac users can finally play Party Poker for Mac. Not only that, they can also learn how to play PokerStars for Mac.

Laptop Hardware Provided by TechRestore - Overnight Mac & iPod Repairs.

Compare products like desktop computers, laptops, and LCD TVs side by side! All the information and reviews to make the best purchasing decision for a new cell phone GPS products or MP3 players. The Ciao network makes searching products easy for you.

MacPro Memory 667Mhz With Apple Spec Heat Sink 2GB $90 / 4GB $134 / 8GB $264. Click to Maximize your Macs...

- 2005.12.09

I've had a problem with Godaddy.com for a couple of weeks now, and a couple of links I read yesterday have shown me I'm not the only one.

Apparently the hosting service Godaddy.com has changed something about how it redirects pages when you buy a domain (such as AstronomyTeacher.com) and use their forwarding service to point to another (in this case, http://homepage.mac.com/astronomyteacher).

All you get is a blank page with no source code.

Let me summarize the situation, based on the posts I've read.

Around November 28, people began noticing that redirects from Godaddy that used to work no longer did, as described above. Through a series of experiments, it was determined that:

  • This is not due to an Apple Java update in that same time period as it happens to people who have updated (like me) and those who have not.
  • Other browsers on the Mac such as IE and Firefox do not exhibit this problem.
  • No browser on the PC exhibits this problem.
  • Sometimes if you load the page in Firefox first, Safari recognizes the redirect from that point on. Not always. (Not for me.)

Godaddy responds with a series of "did you set up redirect right" support emails and then concludes that the problem belongs to Apple - specifically Safari. Despite going to the end of the tech support chain twice with Godaddy, I have yet to get anyone there to verify that they actually own a Mac and are running Safari so they can reproduce the error.

All they say is, "We don't see this on our internal and external networks."

Bug reports to Apple have gone unnoticed so far, and as far as I could tell Apple has no official response (no surprise there).

Not every copy of Safari exhibits the problem. For some users the redirect works fine. This would seem to indicate a problem with the current version of Safari or the Java engine. (Editor's note: It works on my Mac with OS X 10.4.3 and Safari 2.0.2.)

GoDaddy claims that Java isn't the problem as the redirect uses frames to hide the original domain and display the masked domain. Whether or not the domain is masked (the original URL hidden) seems to make no difference.

I have a suggestion. Someone in middle management at Apple have someone call middle management at Godaddy, assign a couple of engineers to the problem, and fix it.

If anyone has a solution, please let me know. For once I'm thankful Safari is only the #3 browser and less than 5% of the world will see this problem. LEM

Update: The flaw described in the article has been fixed. I didn't do a Safari update or a Java update, so the fix must have come from the GoDaddy side. To whomever fixed it, I say thanks. We appreciate the effort.

Jeff Adkins is a science teacher who isn't afraid to state his preferences in computing platforms. In his classroom he has everything from a beige All-in-One to a a G4 XServe, and they all work together nicely. He calls himself the "poster child for technology integration" in the classroom. He was the 2006 Outstanding Educator of the Year for the California Computer Using Educators (CUE) organization. He also maintains a site for astronomy teachers at www.AstronomyTeacher.com.

Recent Mac Lab Reports

Recent Content on Low End Mac

About LEM | Support | Usage | Privacy | Contacts

Mac Lab Report copyright © 2000-08 by Jeff Adkins. Entire Low End Mac website copyright ©1997-2008 by Cobweb Publishing, Inc., unless otherwise noted. All rights reserved. Advice presented in good faith, but what works for one may not work for all. Please report errors to .
  LINKS: We allow and encourage links to any public page as long as the linked page does not appear within a frame that prevents bookmarking it.
  Access our RSS news feed at http://lowendmac.com/feed.xml.
  Email may be published at our discretion; email addresses will not be published without permission, and we will encrypt them in hopes of avoiding spammers. If you prefer your message not be published, mark it "not for publication." Letters may be edited for length, context, and to match house style.
  PRIVACY: We don't collect personal information unless you explicitly provide it. For more details, see our Terms of Use.
  Low End Mac is an independent publication and has not been authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved by Apple Inc. Apple, the Apple logo, Macintosh, iBook, iMac, eMac, iPod, PowerBook, MacBook, Mac Pro, Apple TV, and AirPort are registered trademarks of Apple Inc. Additional company and product names may be trademarks or registered trademarks and are hereby acknowledged.


Have a question?
Ask an expert!

Low End Living

Amazon.com

Navigation

Used Mac Dealers
Apple History
Best Used Macs
Video Cards
Email Lists
InfoMac's Low
End Mac Forum

Favorite Sites

MacSurfer
MacMinute
MacInTouch
MyAppleMenu
InfoMac
Macs Only!
The Mac Observer
Accelerate Your Mac
RetroMacCast
PB Central
MacWindows
The Vintage Mac
   Museum
DealMac
DealsOnTheWeb
Mac2Sell
ramseeker
Mac Driver Museum
JAG's House
System 6 Heaven
System 7 Today
the pickle's Low-End
   Mac FAQ
Abandonware
   Petition
Mac vs. PC Info

Affiliates

The Apple Store
Mac Connection
MacMall
TechRestore
MacResQ
ExperCom
Crucial Memory
batteries.com

Advertise

All of our advertising is handled by BackBeat Media. For price quotes and advertising information, please contact at BackBeat Media (646-546-5194). This number is for advertising only.

Open Link

Problems viewing this page with Internet Explorer 5.5 or 6? It works fine in other browsers, including IE 7. We recommend Firefox for those using Windows, as it is standards based and more secure than IE 6 (and earlier). More LEM visitors use Firefox than any other browser.