After some tweaking on my blog theme, I re-added the Google Analytics code, an absolute div tag generated by the GA javascript code created an overlay on top of my page, everything underneath was unclickable and this was only in Firefox.
Code below:
<div style=”position: absolute; left: 0px; top: 0px; width: 100%; height: 1000px; background-color: rgb(238, 238, 238); opacity: 0.5; z-index: 100000; display: block;” id=”ga_shade”></div>
Page works on IE and div code is not visible on source code. Simple solution though is just delete the cookies on Firefox.
Makes me wonder how many site owners who uses Google Analytics have visitors that have been unable to use their site because of this issue. Hmm.
July 25th, 2008 at 9:50 am
[...] fix for thi is simple — clear your browser cookies and reload the page. Thanks to Paulo Orquillo for the [...]
July 29th, 2008 at 7:22 pm
The effect is only seen for the developer not for general users as the cooking in question is a result of using the GA overlay feature. The ga_shade is something that temporarily drops down over pages when you are browsing with the GA overlay. Watch your screen closely as you move from URL to URL watching people’s click paths. The good thing is that the end users of your site don’t see the problem.
July 29th, 2008 at 8:07 pm
tnx hiker, nice info to know!
October 31st, 2008 at 5:18 pm
Nice tip guys. The shade is not visible to end users, Hiker is right.
November 12th, 2008 at 2:16 am
The ga_shade is visible only when logged in analytics/gmail with the account linked to analytics one.
Theoretically the ga_shade layer should show clicks on various links in the page and other side infos.
November 16th, 2008 at 12:57 am
[...] Link: http://blog.lopau.com/the-ga_shade-div-tag-on-google-analytics-on-firefox/ [...]
January 28th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
Thank you for posting this blog. I totally freaked out for about 5 minutes and thought my site was hosed. I cleared my cookies and and checked a couple other computers. This is definitely a developer bug only.
April 15th, 2009 at 2:11 am
Thanks for the info…I was stuck this morning and your solution popped up as the first google result! which is great.
May 27th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
tx Lopau,
have posted some more fix info here, if that’s handy…
http://www.guvnr.com/web/web-dev/ga_shade-site-overlay-bug/
June 25th, 2009 at 6:42 pm
Thanks for this post! Clearing the GASO (Google Analytics Site Overlay) cookie resolved the problem.
July 2nd, 2009 at 10:00 am
I had the same problem. The simple solution is to go into analytics, select the site overlay link, and then at the top click “Hide Overlay”. Clears it right up
July 2nd, 2009 at 11:08 am
@brad that’s a new solution i’ve heard regarding the overlay problem, tnx for the tip.
August 17th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
I had this problem.. I googleed “ga_shade”.. click the first link.. solution and explanation perfectly provided! Thanks!
This type of internetty goodness makes all our lives easier!
October 15th, 2009 at 10:56 am
Many thanks for the info. I almost freaked out, thinking someone had hacked my wordpress and created the overlay to sabotage. Search through all the theme’s php codes for ga_shade but found nothing. Thanks again.