As you say, the follow up comments have been useful for all concerned so it’s just as well it did become a discussion.
Once again, if it had been made clear at the outset that this was intended only for the desktop version then I would have done as you suggest.
And again, the real solution is to fix the product.
The error is exactly the same as the error in the desktop version. Trying to use geolocation results in a message indicating that SketchUp thinks there isn’t a functioning internet connection. Although obviously this cannot be true since the user is accessing the application via a functioning internet connection. I suspect the same broken check that is built into the desktop version has been built into the web version.
So now it’s a known issue. Of course it would have been a known issue to SketchUp already at the point that it happened, because no doubt you have intelligent error monitoring and reporting running for your web application. And it’s entirely impossible that I was the only user to experience the error, and vanishingly unlikely that I was the first.
The web version is able to continue working while you are offline, but features such as add location of course need Internet. That’s the reason why there is a test to see if you are online, when using that feature. If that test itself is failing, when add location might actually work, then that is something that should be fixed. Rather than test for Internet and fail, the feature could test for Internet, and if it fails, still try to do add location.
@bradaskins is a developer on that team, he may know an answer, or he can ask others on the team for suggestions.
Web applications like Google docs have a (very irritating) notification when it ‘senses’ you’re offline.
Saving the alterations to the cloud won’t work then, of course, and then you get prompted to ‘Work offline’.
All websites use cached memory to load pages to display and a user won’t notice that they might be offline until they refresh or click a button that links to another page or uses another server.
With the possibility to stop ‘autosave’ you do get notified in the web app of SketchUp, but it is very subliminal, I guess (watch the ‘Save’ notification on the top left)
No doubt that a fluent user experience prevails over a correct error handling message, but a more specific indicator when using offline would be nice?