Molly speaks up…#4
…how -95 can they get..?
I'm almost speachless…
Yes, I know most of you probably can't read what's written in Norwegian on that “pop-up” below,
but you'll probably be able to make out “Internet Explorer 4.0 (or newer)”. They simply
demand that we use such an obsolete browser, and then ask us if we want to download it now…
Nuts - miaoo-o-o oh no!
What year do they think we're in?
Who's those nuts..? Oh, it's just the company most Norwegian dairy-farmers deliver their produce to – a company called "Tine". And farmers are excluded from using their site in a secure manner, while others have been warning their users about the dangers of using old IE for years.
Update [24.jan.2009]: They still recommend that we do not update to
and use IE7, because their web isn't properly tested against this “new”
version.
Will it ever be?
Nuts miaoo… nuts!!!
Update [08.apr.2009]: You know, they may finally have heard the many complaints
from me and other farm cats, or maybe they've noticed that times are changing. Whatever the reason: as of
31.mar.2009 farmers can use other browsers than IE6 for data-registration on Tine.
Still some minor compatibility problems left to deal with for us non-IE6 users, but they'll probably
fix those before too long. At least we're not deliberately shut out anymore.
Norwegian dairy farmers daily dose…
Here's how it goes (or rather how it has been going on for years) :
- first: we have to use a browser that is declared dangerous on the world wide web.
- second: they shut out everyone who use a proper browser, from using the site.
- third: they try to give us tips on how to downgrade a perfectly good setting that works well all over the web in the year of 2009 and beyond, to become something more like a 1995 setting, because Tine can't be bothered to upgrade, or even test, anything themselves.
On top of that they keep telling farmers – who actually are owners of that company – how Tine is pushing Information Technology to improve everything.
Looks like they're trying to push it all down the drain, if you ask me.
Once again: nuts miaoo… nuts!!!
even worse…
If you are unable to read what's written in the tinyest fonts, then you are only expected to use a limited part of what even Internet Explorer can provide. Tine can't even be bothered to test in “their own choice of browser”.
The image above shows how the site breaks apart in Internet Explorer 6 on an 800×600 screen. Doesn't look any better in Internet Explorer 7 (but we're of course not supposed to use such a “new” version anyway, so there).
Nice job those “web designers“ have done, and been paid for with the farmers money too. I'd like to scratch those stupid creatures really hard.
those stupid farmers…
Tine acts as if all farmers are almost as stupid as Tine's own IT staff.
I know farmers, and they are mostly bright and hardworking people. Those of them who surf the web as I do, know very well that there are rules for how a good web-site should work. Doesn't seem to be much knowledge in the IT-staff in Tine on such “minor issues” though.
I'm only a little farm-cat, but I'm pretty sure that “those stupid farmers” (who are not stupid at all) will have to pay for it when the EU-laws on official and commercial web sites starts to become effective.
forget it…
Opera and I know how to get around all that garbage Tine has put in our way, so this farmer can do what she wants. The site doesn't look bad once Opera have had a say on how it should be displayed, and zoomed it up a bit on a 1280×1024 screen. Really quite nice, I think, so why won't Tine let us use their site that way?
Alright, when Tine don't want us in there, they may
as well keep it all to themselves – tables, proprietary scripting and all.
By the way: the DTD: <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> they
have put on top of their documents leaves all browsers in “quirks mode” anyway, so they might as well have
left it out completely.
I have checked up on Tine from time to time for
well over 4 years now, and over that period I have not seen even the tinyest signs of improvement
– rather the opposite.
I'm not surprised, but I am disappointed.
My farmer has gone back to snail-mail, and is sending all reports to Tine on paper, and it looks like she'll have to keep on serving papers
to them for the forseeable future. So much for “Information Technology in Norwegian dairy-farming”
in the year 2004 – 2005 – 2006 – 2007 – 2008 – 2009, and
so on.
For the last time: Nuts!
To finish it off in accordance with the latest update: since Tine have finally opened up all their services to us with better browsers, I guess my farmer will tell me not to call those nuts “nuts” anymore. That's ok with me of course – providing they continue to make sure their site and services work to perfection in my browser.
Now my farm-assistant can get in and update the official farm data and correct all the errors their staff has left in there. I'll be watching, and I still am not happy with the quality of their site design- and accessibility-wise – regardless of browser. They have a long way to go…
sincerely 
Hageland 08.des.2004
24.jan.2009 - added note on present "IE6-only" state.
08.apr.2009 - added an "all browsers allowed as of 31.mar.2009" note, and a new finish.
last rev: 08.apr.2009
Molly speaks up…
