This has been a what does it not display issue that has happened with firefox. It's best to use chrome or IE so that you will see things that are missing.

What I don't understand is that until a few days ago it worked fine in Firefox and now it doesn't. I would like to find a way to get it back to working in Firefox.

jellysan said

Instead I get a page with a load of meaningless text from which I can go nowhere.

Hello jellysan,

Is this the page you are referring to :

https://www.ebay.co.uk/pages/help/sell/sell-getstarted.html  ?

Hi McCoy Thanks for your reply. No it isn't the page I mean. Its the page that should come up when I click on "sell" at the top of the Ebay page when I'm in my Ebay account. I'd add a link like you have but I'm afraid thats way beyond me. I think Ebay refer to it as the create draft page.

jellysan said

I'd add a link like you have but I'm afraid thats way beyond me. I think Ebay refer to it as the create draft page.

When you're on that page : put your cursor on the URL (the page's address, that shows in the address bar), then click on it and it will turn blue. Then, on your keyboard, press Ctrl + C (and the Url will be copied). To paste it here : put your cursor at the beginning of a new line and press Ctrl + V and the link (URL) will appear .....

jellysan said

I get a page with a load of meaningless text from which I can go nowhere.

Does it literally look like gibberish, or is it sensible text that should be styled very differently, for example a list of things that should be in a menu, and when you scroll way down, you can recognize parts of the page that just don't look right?

If a site is generally known to work in Firefox, these are standard suggestions to try when it stops working normally. You might have tried some of these already, but just in case.

Double-check content blockers: Firefox's Tracking Protection feature and extensions that counter ads and tracking may break websites that weren't built to operate normally without the blocked components.

Do you see a shield icon toward the left end of the address bar, near the lock icon? More info on managing the Tracking Protection feature in this article: What happened to Tracking Protection?.

Extensions such as Adblock Plus, Blur, Disconnect, Ghostery, NoScript, Privacy Badger, uBlock Origin or uMatrix should provide toolbar buttons to manage blocked content in a page. There may or may not be a number on the icon indicating the number of blocked items; you may need to click the button to see what's going on and test whether you need to make an exception for this site.

Cache and Cookies: When you have a problem with one particular site, a good "first thing to try" is clearing your Firefox cache and deleting your saved cookies for the site.

(1) Clear Firefox's Cache

See: How to clear the Firefox cache

If you have a large hard drive, this might take a few minutes.

(2) Remove the site's cookies (save any pending work first). While viewing a page on the site, try either:

• right-click (on Mac Ctrl+click) a blank area of the page and choose View Page Info > Security > "Clear Cookies and Site Data"
• (menu bar) Tools > Page Info > Security > "Clear Cookies and Site Data"
• click the padlock or "i" icon in the address bar, then the ">" button, then More Information, and finally the "Clear Cookies and Site Data" button

In the dialog that opens, you will see one or more matches to the current address so you can remove the site's cookies individually without affecting other sites.

Then try reloading the page. Does that help?

Testing in Firefox's Safe Mode: In its Safe Mode, Firefox temporarily deactivates extensions, hardware acceleration, and some other advanced features to help you assess whether these are causing the problem.

If Firefox is not running: Hold down the Shift key when starting Firefox. (On Mac, hold down the option/alt key instead of the Shift key.)

If Firefox is running: You can restart Firefox in Safe Mode using either:

• "3-bar" menu button > "?" Help > Restart with Add-ons Disabled
• (menu bar) Help menu > Restart with Add-ons Disabled

and OK the restart.

Both scenarios: A small dialog should appear. Click "Start in Safe Mode" (not Refresh).

Any improvement?

Hi McCoy and jscher2000

Many thanks for taking the time out to help me. There is quite a lot for me to try in your replies, so this may take some time. Like I said in the beginning I'm not very experienced with computers, don't use them much and don't have a smart phone. If you don't hear anything from me, its not because I'm ignoring your advice, just that it may take me some time, plus help from my wife. I wish you a happy new year

Take all the time you need  !

Wishing you and your wife a very happy new year  !