Why a Google Maps API site works on Firefox, but not on Windows Explorer?

Question

My site that based on the Google Maps API works on Firefox but not on Windows Internet Explorer (IE8).

The problem is that the checkboxes to the right of the map are not triggering the new map layers in IE8 as they do in Firefox.

I am looking for direction on where to begin fixing my site to make it work properly using IE8.

OS is Windows 7.

I tested it in IE8 and it seems to work, although performance is really slow. This doesn't answer your question, but I would recommend finding a way of clustering the markers together to improve performance. — Daniel T., Jan 11 '11 at 00:13
Please explain which bits are "not working", and which versions of IE you're testing with? — Tim, Jan 11 '11 at 00:17
When I use IE8 none of the checkboxes to the right of the map trigger new map layers, as they do in Firefox, I cant understand why. — b_dev, Jan 11 '11 at 04:56
@Daniel T. hmmm for me none of the checkboxes work...not even slowly...the 4 of 5 checkboxes are supposed to pull KmlLayers from Dropbbox. — b_dev, Jan 11 '11 at 05:00

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Jan 11 '11 at 00:19

1

I don't know if this is the actual problem, but in your HTML, you have:

<body onload="initialize()">

I remember hearing some issues about the onload event firing too early in some browsers, before the DOM is completely ready. Since you're including jQuery as well in the header, I recommend removing the onload event and putting it in Javascript instead (in the <head> tag):

<script type="text/javascript">
    $(function() {
        initialize();
    });
</script>

This will use jQuery to detect when the DOM is ready and call initialize().

answered Jan 11 '11 at 00:19

Daniel T.

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Thanks @Daniel T. The site on IE8 is still doesnt work. I made the change you suggested but I am still having the same problem that none of the checkboxes trigger new map layers, as they do in Firefox. – b_dev Jan 11 '11 at 04:58
Hmm, sorry, but I'm out of ideas. I'd take a closer look at it, but unfortunately I don't time to right now. – Daniel T. Jan 11 '11 at 19:16

score 1 · Answer 2 · edited May 23 '17 at 11:55

This is sort of crazy, but according to this SO question: Do DOM tree elements with ids become global variables?

Elements of the DOM tree can be referenced as global variables in Internet Explorer.

Your problem is with the methods CreateActivity* in data_mapping_tools.js.

Specifically, the for-loop that creates the markers references a bunch of global variables, one of which is "title". This conflicts with the globally created "title" object which you cannot assign to, apparently.

You should really fix your CreateActivity* methods to not refer to global variables by putting "var" before the variable declaration.

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 11 '11 at 21:26

Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) browser is much pickier than Firefox.

So using this Markup Validation Service is a good direction to handle this sort of problem.

The trick is to get your HTML markup completely clean until the service says 'congratulations'.

Why a Google Maps API site works on Firefox, but not on Windows Explorer?

3 Answers3