Wikipedia: The Missing Manual

Fixing Problems

If you run into a problem with JavaScript, use this tried-and-true procedure to deal with it. Perform the fixes in the following order, so you’re starting with the simplest fix, and working your way up to the most complex:

• If you’re not sure whether JavaScript is turned on in the browser you’re using, follow the procedures on Setting Up Your Browser to make sure that it is.

• You may need to bypass your browser’s cache (the copy of pages that it keeps, to speed up the process of showing you want you want to see):

  • Internet Explorer. Press Ctrl+F5.

  • Mozilla Firefox. Press the Shift key while clicking the Reload button (or press Ctrl+Shift+R).

  • Opera/Konqueror. Press F5.

  • Safari. Press ⌘-Option-E.

• Sometimes bypassing the cache doesn’t work, but purging it does. As discussed at the Wikipedia:Purge, page, follow this procedure: Click the “edit this page” tab. In your browser’s address bar, at the end of the URL, where you see &action=edit, replace edit with purge, so it reads &action=purge. Then press Enter to tell your browser to go to that revised URL.

• Finally, if you’re using Firefox 2 as your browser, you can use its browser console to track down errors one by one. Go to Tools→Error Console. You’ll probably see a lot of warnings, but you want to see errors, so click the red stop sign icon, the one with Errors next to it.

  The next page lists any scripts with problems. Clicking an entry in the list takes you to the page with the code on it, with the error highlighted. Now recheck ...