Hi Jcardinal, I searched ancestry.com and found this page about problems with Firefox and their Enhanced Image Viewer plug-in:

http://ancestry.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/ancestry.cfg/php/enduser/sab_answer.php?p_faqid=3809&p_created=1214337302&p_sid=rPjMfGpk&p_accessibility=0&p_redirect=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9zb3J0X2J5PSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX3Jvd19jbnQ9MjUsMjUmcF9wcm9kcz0wJnBfY2F0cz0mcF9wdj0mcF9jdj0mcF9zZWFyY2hfdHlwZT1hbnN3ZXJzLnNlYXJjaF9ubCZwX3BhZ2U9MSZwX3NlYXJjaF90ZXh0PWZpcmVmb3g*&p_topview=1

It looks like their plug-in is only supporting Firefox 3 and has not yet been updated to work with Firefox 4. Your best bet may be to contact Ancestry.com and ask if they can update their plug-in.

If using that plug-in is very important to you, you could consider going back to Firefox 3 using one of the links on this page:

http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/all-older.html

Hope that helps, --Jono Xia, Mozilla

Jono_X,

Thanks for your help.

When I followed the link you provided, that page was about trouble using the Enhanced Image Viewer in Firefox 3.X. It had instructions for manually installing the plugin, and even though they were for Firefox 3.X and I was having trouble with Firefox 4, I decided to try a manual install anyway. (I've got FF4 on a test PC so I don't have to worry if something bad happens.)

There was one small glitch in the process; the Program Files folder for FF4 doesn't have a plugins folder by default. I read elsewhere that FF4 will use it if one is provided, so I created it.

After restarting Firefox 4, Ancestry's Enhanced Image Viewer _sort of_ worked; the mousewheel won't scroll the image, and the magnify feature won't turn off after you turn it on.

There was one really unexpected change in the behavior of the plugin: right clicking doesn't open the context menu. I have"Disable or replace context menus" UNchecked in Tools > Options > Content > Advanced Javascript, and in FF3, that allows me to use the right-click menu even though Ancestry (evidently) disables it for the plugin.

I don't know if Ancestry.com plans to update their plugin. I've been using Chrome a lot lately and the plugin is not available there, and the Javascript based image viewer is pretty good. In some ways, it's better. I'll probably just disable the plugin and get on with my life...

JC

OK this is how to solve the problem. remove firefox 4 but leave your personal settings intact (saves a lot of time) now download firefox 3.0.13 from oldversions.com or else where you will be told that some of your addons are not comparable just make a note of these. restart firefox and log onto ancestry navigate to the image you were tiring to view previously in ff4 follow the set up instructions for the enhanced viewer when prompted make sure you can see the image shut ancestry down now download firefox 4 and instal open ancestry again and navigate to the image you originally had a problem with and you should be able view. reinstall the other addons which you lost when you added ff3 there remains a problem with saving the image from the image screen but you can save on the record step prior to looking at the image instead. at least you will be able to see the image untill the viewer plugin is updated by ancestry its worked for me so i hope it works for you i chose 3.0.13 because i knew there were no issues with installing the viewer with this version

I am not using FF4 on my main PC yet, and so perhaps when I upgrade that PC from FF3 to FF4 the image viewer will work as a result of being installed prior to the upgrade. On the test PC I was using, FF had no addons.

I may not install the Ancestry enhanced viewer. I do most of my Ancestry surfing under Google Chrome and that browser is limited to the Javascript based viewer. (I do a lot of web development and I prefer Firefox over Chrome for that.) The Javascript viewer works pretty well, and there are some things about it that I like better than the enhanced viewer.

Firefox users have been jerked around with the Ancestry. com Image Viewer plugin for the last three years or so, it last installed properly with Firefox 3.0 versions. There are dozens of threads about issues with that plugin with Firefox 3.5 and 3.6 versions, here and in the MozillaZine Firefox support fora.

That said, a Firefox user can still install that plugin manually using these instructions. In Firefox 4.0, you need to manually create the \plugins\ folder, as it was deleted because plugin developers have had more than enough time to fix their plugins for the new way plugins are supposed to be installed for Firefox 3.6plus versions!
http://ancestry.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/ancestry.cfg/php/enduser/sab_answer.php?p_faqid=3809&p_sid=lxn4zZWj
Forget the first two paragraphs, use the info under:
How to install the Enhanced Imager Viewer manually in Firefox 3.X

That DLL you need is in this Zip file.
http://c.ancestry.com/Affiliate/Knowledgebase/Images/Ancestry/npImgCtl.zip

Those of you who are paying for access the Ancestry.com really need to get on their case about fixing their Firefox plugin, once and for all.

ed-meister,

I reported the original issue to Ancestry and they have promised to look at it, but I doubt there will be a fix anytime soon.

I have already installed the plugin manually and while that _mostly_ worked, it didn't _completely_ work. My recommendation to Ancestry users is to use the Javascript-based image viewer.

What I have found is this (using Firefox 3.6.18):

1. When I go to an image on Ancestry.com that is using the enhanced viewer, I DO NOT have right-click options to save the image etc.  So, I go to the "options" tab in Ancestry and click on the option to uncheck the enhanced image viewer.  It then goes back to the old image viewer and I can right click and scroll the image using the scroll bars. 

2. While in the enhanced viewer, you have to move the image by clicking and dragging the image; the scroll bars don't work. 3. If in the regular view, I can use the scroll bars and right-click to save an image. If I want the enhanced view again, I click on the little "Options" tab above the image, and click on the option to "use the enhanced viewer." It then goes to a page as if it was to install it. However, since I already have it installed, it bounces back and brings up the image in the enhanced viewer. Just have to wait for it to cycle through that step. 4. I just downloaded Firefox 5 and I could not get the image viewer to work the same way. It was in enhanced view and I could not get the option up on the "option" tab to change it so had to go back to Firefox 3 to change it. That's quite a pain to do when I have lots of tabs open, so will stick with FF 3 for a while until more of my Add-ins work in Firefox 5.