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Finally I’m able to report back on this one. Apart from being long out-of-date, the user’s Safari browser, as Nigel predicted, was corrupted. After numerous problems trying to update /replace her Safari, her Mac guru has installed Firefox for her and suggested she use that in future. All now works as it should. Not a very satisfactory explanation for Safari users – although there seems to be a clear message that if you don’t keep up to date with Safari releases – especially on older Mac hardware – you can get into quite deep trouble!

Ron in France Website: https://clan-davies.kiwitrees.net/ kiwitrees 3.3.11; PHP 8.0.14

Thanks for the update Ron.

a clear message that if you don’t keep up to date with Safari releases – especially on older Mac hardware – you can get into quite deep trouble!

Actually I would extend that to ANY web software. Aside from problems such as the one reported here, updates are essential for continued / ongoing security.

Nigel
My personal kiwitrees site is www.our-families.info

Ron in France,

Safari is included with the MacOS so one cannot be updated without the other. I too run an older version of Safari as my OS isn’t the most current. However, Apple still supports my version (El Capitan). She may have a Mac that is too old to upgrade to that version.

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That’s true, but that just means it’s important to keep the OS updated. Each OS itself will have a number of updates before a completely new version is released, and even that usually has some degree of backwards-compatibility.

The same principle applies regardless. An outdated browser and / or OS (whether Apple, Android, Microsoft or whatever) should not be connected to the internet if you value your security.

That’s a sad thing to have to say, but important to accept in today’s environment. The cost of being hacked is far greater than the cost of a even a new MAC.

Nigel
My personal kiwitrees site is www.our-families.info

Coincidentally I had a similar report to this one yesterday. This time from a user with a Windows PC. So it’s not just a Mac thing. It’s any browser that has JavaScript disabled, missing, or broken.

Once can be ignored (“user issue”) but twice needs some action, so I’ve added a warning message explaining the problem, which only users suffering this issue will ever see. It is a translatable comment (so should be in all the key languages at the next release), links to a really good site explaining how to enable JS in all the major browsers, and can be dismissed if someone actually prefers a broken site to one using JS. Here’s an example:

Nigel
My personal kiwitrees site is www.our-families.info