What do the globe and triangle with exclamation point mean on the URL bar and why do they sometimes change while surfing a page?

Question

I have always about this, as I've seen these more than once along multiple versions of Firefox. I'm well aware that the lock means the site is 'verified' though I don't know exactly what that entails. More recently, I've noticed that many websites either have the lock or else the globe with the markings on it which says that the connection to the site in question is 'unencrypted', but I don't know what that means. Sometimes this will change between pages on the same website. What I find stranger is that sometimes a a single page on one site will go from the lock to the triangle with the exclamation point in it. Now from what I can tell, it means something similar to the globe, as they seem to both state the same basic thing, that the website doesn't supply identity information and the connection isn't encrypted. What I want to know is how and why this happens, and sometimes even while still on the same page. I've encountered this on three different versions of firefox. The 24 esr, 28.0, and version 34. (Not all on one computer, mind. Though I believe it's possible to have multiple instances of Firefox on the same machine as I know someone mentioned being able to do that on another thread and I'd love to know how that's done if anyone can answer it.) These versions of firefox were on 8.1, and two distinct versions of XP from two different machines. Is this an odd glitch, or is something else going on there and if so, how does one fix it? So far it's happened to me twice on my own computer, once on a fiction website, and as of tonight, once on youtube. On the former, the switch happened on a single page, while on Youtube it changed from one page on the search bar to the actual channel of something in question and back again. Closing out the tab and doing a quick clearing of history seemed to work fine on youtube. The fiction website, not so much, though I haven't seen the triangle thing come back again, as everything there seems to be the globe. So far anyway. However it has come up before on various computers in the past that I've used with various firefox versions, as I've said. Can anyone explain what this is and how to fix it if it is indeed a problem?

Answer 1

''jscher2000 [[#answer-707094|said]]''
<blockquote>
The green padlock means your connection is HTTPS (encrypted) and the certificate identifies a particular site operator. Certificate issuers demand special verification for the Extended Validation (EVSSL) certificate that generates a green padlock.
The gray padlock means your connection is HTTPS (encrypted) but the certificate cannot establish the operator of the site one way or another. No special identification is required to get this certificate.
The exclamation point triangle symbols may indicate that the connection is partially encrypted -- some content is the page was sent over an open connection -- or recently it may indicate that the site uses such easily cracked encryption that you should treat it as providing no protection.
And the point of all this is?! Simply this: if your web traffic is ''not encrypted'', it can be read by others. That's why login pages and sites dealing in your personal or sensitive information should always show a padlock in the address bar. If it's not there, be concerned.
If a normally secure site suddenly shows a mixed content icon, try reloading the page (Ctrl+r or to re-request fresh copies of cached files use Ctrl+Shift+r).
</blockquote>
As it happens, I have tried the refresh thing. It doesn't always work on sites where this sudden changeover occurs. The weird thing is that, again, this happens at random and I've seen it occur over multiple versions of firefox, past and present, so it's not just relegated to just the three main ones I have most recently seen it on.
Now what makes this even stranger is that I have seen a few pages on the fiction website (www.fimfiction.net to be specific) where the grey padlock at the very least shows up on a page, but then suddenly will go to the triangle. Not all of these pages have mixed content or even any content at all beyond simple text. A few have pictures or clickable links, but I usually avoid clicking on the links if I don't know and trust the website. More recently though, the near-entirety of the site has gone to the globe, when before it was the grey padlock. I think the one thing that remains padlocked is its login section. Is it just that the website needs to update its certificates? If so, I can probably just send the site runner a message about that.
I dunno what to do with youtube when it shows up though other than just closing out the tab it's on, clearing my browser history, and reopening the site. It happens rarely with youtube, but it's not unheard of, and it follows along every page on the site once it pops up in one page at all until I shut down that tab. And this is a multiple version thing. These are the two sites where I encounter the issue the most as it's one of only a handful of websites I go to aside from an image gallery which is typically very good about safety. Or as much as it can be, at any rate. The only other site I frequent, www.fanfiction.net (probably the oldest fiction website still active today, and not to be confused with fimfiction) has the grey padlock at all times, aside from when I log into the site. I've used the https: prefix most times when going to a site the first time, and firefox has typically then used that prefix anytime I just enter the general website address in the URL bar, but sometimes it doesn't. Is that partially responsible for why I have seen the padlock switch to the triangle sometimes? I know the link that cor-el posted says that by default from version 16 up, mixed content is blocked by default and I don't think I've ever touched that in the options section of the tools, so what exactly do I do here? Just ignore it, or just keep hitting refresh or what? It doesn't happen all the time, after all, but it does still get annoying.