Comments on: FEMA to Katrina Survivors: Use IE or Tough Luck http://www.theinternetpatrol.com/fema-to-katrina-survivors-use-ie-or-tough-luck/ Internet Safety, Windows Updates, Internet News, and More Sat, 21 Nov 2009 23:10:43 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 By: Travis Seitler http://www.theinternetpatrol.com/fema-to-katrina-survivors-use-ie-or-tough-luck/#comment-2531 Travis Seitler Mon, 19 Sep 2005 16:59:00 +0000 /?p=1047#comment-2531 I agree with Spencer -- this is a direct violation of Section 508. Also... I used a Firefox extension (User Agent Switcher, http://chrispederick.com/work/firefox/useragentswitcher/) to make it appear that my Firefox browser was IE... and it seemed to work just fine. Bad FEMA, bad. I agree with Spencer — this is a direct violation of Section 508.

Also… I used a Firefox extension (User Agent Switcher, http://chrispederick.com/work/firefox/useragentswitcher/) to make it appear that my Firefox browser was IE… and it seemed to work just fine. Bad FEMA, bad.

]]> By: Spencer http://www.theinternetpatrol.com/fema-to-katrina-survivors-use-ie-or-tough-luck/#comment-2505 Spencer Mon, 12 Sep 2005 18:27:26 +0000 /?p=1047#comment-2505 I notice that most people write that a website "supports" a particular browser. Even though this is commonly used language, it hides the simple fact that websites do not "support" some browsers and not others--websites like FEMA's are accessible to all browsers unless they purposefully block other browsers. To use language like "supports" a browser makes it seem that the site must be rewritten over and over again (at great timne and expense, of course) in order to "support" other commonly used browsers. All browsers will display properly written web pages. What FEMA did was to make a decision to purposefully block browsers other than IE. Someone at FEMA made the decision to prevent all other browsers other than IE from accessing the page, and then went to the extra trouble to add a browser sniffer to the page. And they did it in clear and arrogant violation of federal law, which requires all federal government web sites to be Section 508 compliant--accessible to all browsers, operating systems, and internet connections. I notice that most people write that a website “supports” a particular browser. Even though this is commonly used language, it hides the simple fact that websites do not “support” some browsers and not others–websites like FEMA’s are accessible to all browsers unless they purposefully block other browsers. To use language like “supports” a browser makes it seem that the site must be rewritten over and over again (at great timne and expense, of course) in order to “support” other commonly used browsers. All browsers will display properly written web pages.

What FEMA did was to make a decision to purposefully block browsers other than IE. Someone at FEMA made the decision to prevent all other browsers other than IE from accessing the page, and then went to the extra trouble to add a browser sniffer to the page.

And they did it in clear and arrogant violation of federal law, which requires all federal government web sites to be Section 508 compliant–accessible to all browsers, operating systems, and internet connections.

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