Reading notes

In his Monday ComputerWorld column, Frank Hayes addresses one of my longstanding aggravations in the corporate workplace: website designs that are platform- and browser-specific.

This time, in the aftermath of Katrina, the consequences of lazy site design went beyond aggravating perfectionist geeks and telegraphing poor workmanship — in this case a platform-independent, browser-independent design might have saved lives.

I suppose it’s really just a little thing, a footnote in the context of the massive, horrific devastation of Hurricane Katrina. … You have to get far, far down on the list of horrors to come to this one: The Federal Emergency Management Agency [FEMA] has set up a Web site for survivors of the disaster to apply for aid, but it works only if they’re using Internet Explorer 6.

But trivial as that sounds, it matters right now — a lot. …

[The World Wide Web is] designed to handle an endless stream of users and handle them efficiently and in large numbers. And it works with old PCs, Macs, Linux machines, handheld computers, cell phones, even video games. It should be a godsend for people struggling to recover from the catastrophe.

So for those who have survived the destruction and are stranded in a community shelter or in the home of a relative, friend or generous stranger, there’s got to be something especially bitter in going to http://disasteraid.fema.gov and reading this message: “In order to use this site, you must have JavaScript Enabled and Internet Explorer Version 6. Download it from Microsoft or call 1-800-621-FEMA (3362) to register.” …

Ever think that cutting a corner that simplifies development but limits who can use your systems is no big deal? Maybe that’s true if you’re working in a corporate IT shop on a retail Web site or a business-to-business e-commerce application. Then the worst results of your corner-cutting might just be aggravated customers, lost revenue and a reputation for cluelessness.

But for hurricane survivors, the corner-cutting at FEMA is a kick in the throat while they’re down. …

See also earlier ComputerWorld article, To apply for FEMA aid online, Katrina survivors will need IE 6.

I wonder how many in-use computers can even run IE 6? It’s not just Mac and Linux users that are being shut out, it’s people using older PCs running older versions of Windows, too. [And, as Frank hints, handheld computer- and cell phone users were out of luck, too.]