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A while ago I visited a web site that is an archive for old
historical documents. It is a data base from where documents can
be downloaded as pdf-files. As a visitor I can login to the
archive as a guest.
When I find a document of interest after search I can right click
on the pdf icon and download the document.
But I can not. No download when I click on the pdf icon. This is
the first time I visit this archive so I do not know exactly how
it works.
It was time to investigate the root cause.
I use Firefox on a Linux machine. I tested several methods to see
if any would solve the issue. I tried by changing settings for
pop-ups. I changed Firefox security settings. I disabled VPN. I
disabled Firefox extensions for blocking trackers.
I tested also the Chromium browser as well as the Epiphany
browser.
All those methods resulted in no difference; nothing
happened.
I was in contact to a friend on Windows and also staff at the
Archive, both telling me that from Windows it worked, including
with Firefox. So now I knew the archive works and that it works on
Firefox.
So I thought, can this somehow be related to Linux?
I asked in a Linux forum if someone on Linux could test to
download.
One person in the forum tested and solved the problem. I would not
define it as a Linux problem, but a site design that affected
Linux users.
The trouble was something I had not thought of: The User
Agent.
When my browser contact a web site, my browser can tell the site
what kind of browser I use, which operating system I use and more.
This information can be used by the site to optimize the
presentation of the content for me.
For to me unknown reason, maybe a mistake, maybe related to some
old design compatibility issue, this site did not accept the
information my user agent provided.
The solution is to tell the web site I am something else.
In the browser has Developer tools. When opening the developer
tools from meny, typically a developer window with tools and
analytics is opened at the bottom part of the web page. One tool
is network. Within network I can simulate how the site looks on
different devices, with different network connections and also
with different User Agents.
The tools are similar in both Firefox and Chromium. The exact list
of standard options differ and Chromium has more options
preloaded.
In this specific case, when I in Developer tools on Firefox change
User Agent to Chrome Desktop, which relates to Chrome on Windows
as I understand, and then reload the web page I can now download
the pdf file from the archive.
When this web site interpret me to be this other type of user,
they can understand each other without any issue.
I have reported back to the site owner and hopefully this specific
site will not need this work around for the browser User Agent in
the future.