Square Grey Boxes In Comments

DrLobotomy

DrLobotomy

Supreme [H]ardness
Joined
May 19, 2016
Messages
6,736
I was wondering if anyone else is getting a random single grey box in the comments sections for the past day. It is not in every post but it is in various threads.

I am using IE 11 in Win 7.
 
Grey boxes.jpg
 
I am as well and it is the Smilies generating those white boxes. On FF 52.0.2 Win 10. Early April fools or just plain fools?
 
I assumed it was a smilie of some sorts but when I go to make a comment and click the smilies they all look ok.
 
I just posted a message with a smilie with tongue sticking out and it showed the grey/white box in the comment although the smilie looked normal from the selection menu.

Test>>> :p:p:p:p:D
 
I'm not experiencing this. Win 10 pro with Chrome Version 56.0.2924.87
 
Chrome Version 57.0.2987.133 (64-bit)
upload_2017-4-1_15-36-29.png

Firefox 52.0.1 (32-bit)
upload_2017-4-1_15-38-19.png

Internet Explorer 11
upload_2017-4-1_15-39-0.png

Looks fine for me though :|.
 
See my earlier post:
[21CW]killerofall said:
I am as well and it is the Smilies generating those white boxes. On FF 52.0.2 Win 10. Early April fools or just plain fools?
Click to expand...
Win 10 Pro 64-bit to be more specific.
EDIT: with Adblock Plus disabled for only hardforum.com as well, just in case that makes a difference.
 
Last edited:
[21CW]killerofall said:
See my earlier post:

Win 10 Pro 64-bit to be more specific.
EDIT: with Adblock Plus disabled for only hardforum.com as well, just in case that makes a difference.
Click to expand...
So turning off adblock fixed your problem?
 
Yea..No adblocker used and the 'Thumbs Up' smilie does show up, but none of the others do. It is fricking weird.

I went back through some old threads and the grey boxes show up there too, so I am pretty sure it is something goofy with the browsers.
 
Just downloaded Chrome Portable and tried it and it works fine. I despise Chrome but I thought I would try it out anyway for the sake of trouble shooting.
 
Since on my main Desktop Windows 10 Pro, all browser displays fine.

I just installed Windows 7 Pro just to replicate this issue.

Internet Explorer 8, displays fine.
Then I updated it to version 11 and still displays fine for me.

VirtualBox_Windows_7_Pro_04_04_2017_22_17_20.png
 
Strange. I don't have the checkbox checked for 'Install new versions automatically' yet my IE version is 11.0.40
 
Updated to latest Nvidia driver and latest Windows updates and no change.

What is strange is that they show up in the selection menu and they show up in the message box as I am typing out the comment, but when I post it is shows as those boxes.

Also RoldanLT's screen capture shows the smilies just fine on my screen.

As a side note.. the (y) works just fine.

O well.
 
same thing here. win 10 ip15063, ie11 no ad block at all.
edit: just checked and edge does it too
 
Heh, the first time I saw these, I thought someone was being a smarty pants because it fit the comment in that they made like a size 7 bold period after their text. After looking through more threads today I hovered over one to see that it is in fact supposed to be a smiley as I can see the text when I hover over it.

So Like others, IE11, FF52 both on Windows 10 x64 and I'm seeing the grey squares. Need to check some other computers because I'm not sure if it's consistent.

So yea, I'd say I have an idea what's going on. If you open this page in chrome, I see all of the icons. If you right click, save as, it is trying to save a file called clear.webp. Webp being some proprietary google bs format. If you open the page in say firefox, right click and save as on the same icon, you'll see clear.png. But on the one icon that's working, it's actually called thumbsup.png or something to that affect. So something with the png files are not displaying from the correct file, and instead all going to the same clear.png instead of the correct file.

In chrome the thumbsup file is actually called thumbsup.webp and not clear.webp like all of the other icons. So long story short, there is some bs google magic that is working with the icons in chrome to detect different smilies even though it's calling almost all of them clear.webp files. If you fix the naming to go back to the actual names like the thumbsup one the rest will probably start working again.


As a side note F chrome and web developers in general.... Everyone complained so bad back in the day when IE was king about other browsers not working properly, and yet here we are 10 years later in the same damn boat. /old man rant


EDIT2:

Here we go, so in the code on the page, all of the icons are being referenced as "clear.png". When chrome picks it up, it reads a file called https://hardforum.com/styles/default/xenforo/xenforo-smilies-sprite.png which has all of those icons in a sprite file. But the actual code on the page all links to: https://hardforum.com/styles/default/xenforo/clear.png So in chrome, it picks up the block of code and swaps out the clear.png for the correct part of the sprite file, where other browsers may or may not being doing this. (I wonder if people have some type of plugin that is making this happen for them)

Code: 
     Test <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie20" alt=":D" title="Big Grin    :D" /><img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie20" alt=":D" title="Big Grin    :D" /><img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie20" alt=":D" title="Big Grin    :D" /><img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie19" alt=":p" title="Stick Out Tongue    :p" /><img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie17" alt=":confused:" title="Confused    :confused:" /><img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie15" alt=":(" title="Frown    :(" /><img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie14" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)" /><img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie13" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)" /><img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie13" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)" /><img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie66" alt=":playful:" title="Playful    :playful:" /><img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie119" alt=":phantom:" title="Phantom of the Opera    :phantom:" /><img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie120" alt=":shame:" title="Shamefully Embarrassed    :shame:" /><img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie67" alt=":sorry:" title="Sorry    :sorry:" /><img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie68" alt=":blackalien:" title="Black Alien    :blackalien:" /><img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie121" alt=":kiss:" title="Kiss    :kiss:" /><img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie128" alt=":turtle:" title="Turtle    :turtle:" /><img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie75" alt=":brb:" title="BRB    :brb:" /><img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie77" alt=":woot:" title="Woot    :woot:" /><img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie130" alt=":astronaut:" title="Astronaut    :astronaut:" /><img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie131" alt=":punch:" title="Punch    :punch:" /><img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie140" alt=":yawn:" title="Yawn    :yawn:" />
     <div class="messageTextEndMarker">&nbsp;</div>
    </blockquote>
 
Last edited:
DrLobotomy said:
I was wondering if anyone else is getting a random single grey box in the comments sections for the past day. It is not in every post but it is in various threads.

I am using IE 11 in Win 7.
Click to expand...

[21CW]killerofall said:
I am as well and it is the Smilies generating those white boxes. On FF 52.0.2 Win 10. Early April fools or just plain fools?
Click to expand...

Welsper said:
am also experiencing this, FX53, win10 x64
Click to expand...

wra18th said:
Update:

This is with FF 52.0.2
View attachment 20936

With Chrome

View attachment 20937
Click to expand...

pendragon1 said:
same thing here. win 10 ip15063, ie11 no ad block at all.
edit: just checked and edge does it too
Click to expand...

bman212121 said:
Heh, the first time I saw these, I thought someone was being a smarty pants because it fit the comment in that they made like a size 7 bold period after their text. After looking through more threads today I hovered over one to see that it is in fact supposed to be a smiley as I can see the text when I hover over it.

So Like others, IE11, FF52 both on Windows 10 x64 and I'm seeing the grey squares. Need to check some other computers because I'm not sure if it's consistent.

So yea, I'd say I have an idea what's going on. If you open this page in chrome, I see all of the icons. If you right click, save as, it is trying to save a file called clear.webp. Webp being some proprietary google bs format. If you open the page in say firefox, right click and save as on the same icon, you'll see clear.png. But on the one icon that's working, it's actually called thumbsup.png or something to that affect. So something with the png files are not displaying from the correct file, and instead all going to the same clear.png instead of the correct file.

In chrome the thumbsup file is actually called thumbsup.webp and not clear.webp like all of the other icons. So long story short, there is some bs google magic that is working with the icons in chrome to detect different smilies even though it's calling almost all of them clear.webp files. If you fix the naming to go back to the actual names like the thumbsup one the rest will probably start working again.


As a side note F chrome and web developers in general.... Everyone complained so bad back in the day when IE was king about other browsers not working properly, and yet here we are 10 years later in the same damn boat. /old man rant


EDIT2:

Here we go, so in the code on the page, all of the icons are being referenced as "clear.png". When chrome picks it up, it reads a file called https://hardforum.com/styles/default/xenforo/xenforo-smilies-sprite.png which has all of those icons in a sprite file. But the actual code on the page all links to: https://hardforum.com/styles/default/xenforo/clear.png So in chrome, it picks up the block of code and swaps out the clear.png for the correct part of the sprite file, where other browsers may or may not being doing this. (I wonder if people have some type of plugin that is making this happen for them)

Code: 
     Test <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie20" alt=":D" title="Big Grin    :D" /><img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie20" alt=":D" title="Big Grin    :D" /><img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie20" alt=":D" title="Big Grin    :D" /><img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie19" alt=":p" title="Stick Out Tongue    :p" /><img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie17" alt=":confused:" title="Confused    :confused:" /><img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie15" alt=":(" title="Frown    :(" /><img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie14" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)" /><img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie13" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)" /><img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie13" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)" /><img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie66" alt=":playful:" title="Playful    :playful:" /><img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie119" alt=":phantom:" title="Phantom of the Opera    :phantom:" /><img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie120" alt=":shame:" title="Shamefully Embarrassed    :shame:" /><img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie67" alt=":sorry:" title="Sorry    :sorry:" /><img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie68" alt=":blackalien:" title="Black Alien    :blackalien:" /><img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie121" alt=":kiss:" title="Kiss    :kiss:" /><img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie128" alt=":turtle:" title="Turtle    :turtle:" /><img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie75" alt=":brb:" title="BRB    :brb:" /><img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie77" alt=":woot:" title="Woot    :woot:" /><img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie130" alt=":astronaut:" title="Astronaut    :astronaut:" /><img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie131" alt=":punch:" title="Punch    :punch:" /><img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie140" alt=":yawn:" title="Yawn    :yawn:" />
     <div class="messageTextEndMarker">&nbsp;</div>
    </blockquote>
Click to expand...


Quote to make sure it would draw your attention. How about now? Might need to clear your browser cache!!!
 
Yes, that did it for me in both IE and FF in new windows after I cleared the cache. I need to close this window and reopen to verify that it is going to still work again.

EDIT: Yes, it's working now in the original window after I closed it out.
 
Last edited:
I never had the problem with Chrome. Clearing the cache on FF did the trick but I rarely use it. I used it to see if the problem was the browser or the end user.
 
Welsper said:
Looks fixed, what was the issue?
Click to expand...
We have been using WebP for months now. It is a compression software to save bandwidth. We do this with mobile users in mind, not that bandwidth is expensive anymore. Once I read the bman212121 post it dawned on me that was the issue. Not sure why it just showed up though. We have been using WebP for quite a while. You can read about it here.

https://developers.google.com/speed/webp/
 
Welsper said:
Aha, okay, yeah, that makes sense, afaik, firefox doesn't really support it.
Click to expand...
Well, the way it is set up is that your browser should ignore WebP if it does not support it. So some things changed with the last browser updates.
 
[21CW]killerofall said:
I was trying to make a joke about how a owner of a tech forum is giving the simple answers that work in a forum feedback thread. Kind of like going to a doctor and getting sound medical advice. Apparently my extreme sarcasm didn't work. Yes clearing the cashe fixed it.
Click to expand...
I was being sarcastic. LOL

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top