I have always advocate the importance of building web sites with standards in mind and the ability to support multiple browsers at heart since the early days of Internet. If there are any things that can cause the site to not work on any browser, my recommendation has always been to not use it.
Stakeholders of web sites providing public service eg. CPF, IRAS, MINDEF, NS.SG etc., should never ever allow their IT vendors, IT departments and anyone involved fall into the trap of developing and testing only on one browser.
To a private company, not able to support multiple browser could mean a lost sale. But, what would be the impact of a public service?
Let me share with you an example. Would it benefit the consumer if we can only use Nokia phones on our mobile network?
Do you want your car to use only Michelin tyres and not the option to use alternatives?
Consumers want choices.
Here’s what causing me to post this.
Our NS Portal, the one site that governs all national servicemen (active, reservist and what not) was migrated from the previous ‘miw.com.sg’ recently.
With the change, the new site requires that we change our password the first time we logon to the site.
Sounds great! …. Not until you found out that they have failed to test and ensure that the site works across multiple browsers.
For Firefox users, you will have problems changing the password. And I have not throw in people using Macs. Take a look at the screen capture I have to understand what I mean.
Saw the red dot pointing to the ‘New Password’ field.
That’s right. Firefox users will not be able to key in anything into the fields.
So, if we can’t change the password, we can’t access the site and we can’t get the information we need.
With the Singapore government pushing more and more services to the Internet, it is a shame that such things happen. And in this case, a portal which is serving all national servicemen.
We don’t build roads that only allow certain makes of cars to be driven on. Why should we build sites that only certain browsers can access?