The issue was obviously Internet Explorer blocking content, something we initially assumed was down to over-the-top security or privacy settings on the user’s browser. However, with the aid of a detailed user report provided by one of our clients (The Dogs Doodahs), we found that customers were seeing the content filter logo (a small blue ‘no-entry’) symbol in their Address bar within IE this provided us with a good cause for the issue.
What is Internet Explorer’s Content Filter?
The content filter is a feature integrated in newer versions of internet explorer which aims to block certain elements on a website. Its aim is to block potentially harmful content and is commonly used to filter ActiveX controls on websites, but it also ties in to the tracking protection system IE offers.
What is Internet Explorers Tracking Protection?
- Does this page load anything from an external source?
- Has this source been loaded on any other sites this user has visited?
- Has it been loaded more than x times? (where x is 3-30 - a browser setting)
- If yes, assume this file is tracking the user and block this content
This feature isn’t enabled by default, and doesn’t get enabled during the default installation of Internet explorer. However, with all the recent nonsense over the top “security concerns”, and legislations that have come in regarding cookies; a lot of users have taken to increasing their browser security levels - well beyond what is actually necessary in most cases. The idea of this feature is simply to stop certain 3rd party tools, like Google Analytics, from tracking users and improving their privacy.
Why is Tracking Protection stopping a site or feature from functioning?
What is a CDN?
Why is internet explorer blocking a site’s content?
- Google Maps
- Google Fonts
- Externally sourced images or other content
- Libraries
- Or other shared content, etc…
How can I stop Internet Explorer blocking my site and its content
Instead of linking to files hosted on a CDN, like the jQuery library in some instances, we now host the files on our own servers, against the website it’s used on. This means we avoid the blocking criteria of Tracking Protection and the files can be loaded.
Talk to us about your issues with web design & development
Dan Peacey