Interface Blunders I // Feb 5, 02:30 AM
(or About a Browser Just Old Enough)
National Fuel, our (mine and my roommates’) natural gas provider, takes gas meter readings in the neighborhood every other month. For months in which the reading is not taken, gas consumption is estimated (using some kind of average value I suppose). While our apartment uses natural gas for cooking and hot water, we heat up the place not on gas, but using electric appliances which significantly reduce our gas bill (and, of course, increase the electric bill). The result is that our estimated gas bill always turns out to be ridiculously high (relative to our actual consumption), while the bill based on the actual reading ends up being ridiculously low (to counterbalance the overshoot of the estimated one).
In attempt to normalize the situation, I recently attempted taking the gas meter reading myself and submitting it to National Fuel via their online account services, something their customers are encouraged to do.
Cut to the login screen, authentication, and a nifty JavaScript widget shows up which allows you to turn the arms of their software-reader on the screen the same way you see them on the actual device. Looks very easy to use until you start clicking in attempts to move the arms to any position.
National Fuel’s online account service informs me that my “current browser is either too old or too modern,” which it considers to be an error. Apparently, National Fuel would like me to use a browser that is just old enough! Ummm… which one would that be?
If that wasn’t bad enough (I was using Firefox 2.0 on a Mac), the error message was displayed at the very bottom of the page, out of my current view (pay attention to the browser’s status bar in the image). The poor value contrast between the red of the text and the blue of the background pales as a problem in comparison to the first two blunders.
So, who in their sane mind finds writing about web interface blunders worthwhile, let alone compelling? Well, for one thing it can be pretty amusing. I, for instance, also find that pointing out problems with public services such as this one is a noble pursuit, especially when it involves monopolies like it does here. Needles to say, my criticism’s only motivation is betterment.
Did I mention that Cidamon specializes in standards-compliant and cross-browser compatible web development and that we’re also available for hire? ;)
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