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A Google Web Search Help forum thread has searchers using an older version of Firefox complaining that Google Image Search is not functioning properly in that browser version.
The issue is in Firefox 3.6, a browser version many Firefox loyalists refuse to upgrade from. It was released on January 21, 2010, over two years ago but the stable release was on March 13, 2012, about 9 months ago. Users don't want to upgrade to the latest version, version 18.
What are the issues with Google Image Search on Firefox 3.6.x? One user wrote:
Recently, when I'm using Google Image Search, it yielded only a few results and half of the page is blank....Zooming also wont work and it seems that the search is not that comprehensive/accurate like before. Also, the "WALLPAPER SIZE OPTION" is also missing...Can anyone help me? I did not update my Firefox so I cant think of any reason why I'm experiencing this on Google...
A few other Firefox users confirmed the issue.
While Google is looking into the issue, Googler Kousha is asking users to upgrade:
Hi everyone, we'll be looking into it. In the meantime, I would suggest upgrading your browser to the most recent version of Firefox (18.0).
Forum discussion at Google Web Search Help.
Comments:
RankWatch
01/15/2013 05:49 am
Different browsers and their versions have different compatibility issues with site's content. Nowadays more and more sites are using advanced features of CSS and XML in site building and they might not be configured to work easily with the older browser versions. So it's better to switch to the newer versions time to time.
nottaj
02/07/2013 07:12 am
Bullshit. I'm getting hangs on 16.0.2
$2626130
03/05/2013 09:20 pm
Load of bull. This just started happening to me with Firefox Version 19.0. If I search using Google or Yahoo (which is really Bing), for "roses Wikipedia", half the images will be empty gray boxes. If I do the same thing with Internet Explorer, the images all appear.
Shmoogle
05/03/2013 05:27 pm
This just started happening to me, after updating to 20.0 version of Firefox (currently the newest version for Mac users), so upgrading to the newest version doesn't help at all. I don't remember the version I updated from but, I doubt it was such an earlier version. At least 2 versions prior, though, the function on Google Images, which enlarged the image when you roll over it, seemed to have mysteriously disappeared.
Andrew
10/11/2013 01:18 am
They intentionally make it not work for older browsers, for no other reason than to promote Chrome as an upgrade. I changed my user agent string in about:config to "Firefox 2000" and it worked perfectly.