Re: FEMA aid site is Windows-only

In article <dfnv9n$k45$2@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, jimhill@xxxxxxxx (Jim Hill)
wrote:

> Steve Hix wrote:
> >In article <1126087619.191232.157390@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
> > msryter@xxxxxxx wrote:
> >
> >> ARGH! Yet another reason for frustration with FEMA: its aid site for
> >> Katrina victims won't work for Mac-users, requiring IE 6 only.
> >>
> >> See article here:
> >>
> >> http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9231271/
> >
> >Some people have reported success in using other browsers set to report
> >as IE 6 on Windows. This includes Mac OS X and Linux users.
>
> This is even more unforgiveable if true, since it implies that the
> asscheek in charge of the website is permitting or rejecting browsers
> based on nothing but a reported User-Agent string, without even being
> aware of the featuresets and standards support of those browsers.

Pretty much on the order of:

"Hey Boss, we can save money and time by not testing on anything but
Windows running IE 6. It'll work for most people; we can ignore the few
for which it won't."

> Folks: write to the got-damn standards and stop worrying about
> User-Agents.

But that would take more work; and might not work right in IE 6!

> If you're working for the government, your number one
> responsibility is a website accessible by all, not a gee-whiz coolio
> site that works on only one browser because it's written around the
> broken behavior of that particular browser.

In practice, saving the department a few bucks is more likely to get you
promoted.

> Oh, and the best way to
> write a truly compliant website is to reject utterly the use of site
> development tools produced by the same company that produces the broken
> browser.

"But...but...but...we already have those tools!!"
.

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