Gov web site doesn't like W's !!!

[Andrew Mawson]

Sign of my age I know, but was trying to get a pension statement request logged onto the appropriate gov web site for which you have to register with the gov gateway:

When I try and type in my name (Andrew) it won't take the w unless I type the entire name in capitals. OK I work round, capitalise my name, also my password, and the only way to enter my email address is to cut and paste it into the box - so I'm now registered, but I pop off a note to their help desk reporting the issue and get this response:

Dear Sir

Thank you for contacting the eService Helpdesk.

The problem you have described is consistent with some users using the Safari or Google Chrome browser.

If this is the case, we would suggest you try another browser, for example Internet Explorer or Firefox.

Kind Regards

eService Helpdesk

Now surely a government web site entry mechanism should be all inclusive and cope with all common browsers - or am I being unreasonable?

AWEM

[Nick Odell]

Would this be the .gov website that won this year's design award?

Nick

[Andy Burns]

[Eric]

Perhaps they're not happy with the security of those browsers.

Can't say I blame them.

[Tim Streater]

No, you are not being unreasonable. They are just being tossers and shitheads for not coding their stuff to support all mainstream browsers. You'll note that commercial sites don't do this (well, they used to try and get away with it, but a lot less these days)

[Nightjar]

I don't think you understand how government works, if you think it should accommodate your personal choices. :-)

On a purely practical note, it costs a small fortune and takes years to make changes to Government computer systems. I'm not even sure that Firefox was around when the Government Gateway was introduced, so I am slightly more surprised that it works with that than that it does not work with Chrome or Safari.

Colin Bignell

[The Medway Handyman]

Most Guvmint depts & LA's forget they are public 'servants'.

[The Natural Philosopher]

I asked a councillor what he thought of being a public serveant "I am not: I am an Elected Official" he said.. Yah well no fine...

[Tim Streater]

Smack his little botty. He's an elected public servant. SImples.

[charles]

I'm a Parish Councillor - nobody pays me - I'm not a servant. I'm a volunteer.

[Tim Streater]

You're still elected, though.

[charles]

in theory, yes. In practice, I've been elected unopposed four times.

[Big Les Wade]

Andrew Mawson posted

Certainly not unreasonable, but perhaps unrealistic. I've used hundreds of government or official websites over the years and come across very many examples of failure to follow standards, often on the very same pages that boast of their "accessibility". Nothing bad will happen to these people if they build non-standard sites, so why should they worry?

Half the time there isn't even any practical way of contacting them to tell them that their website doesn't work properly. I remember on one occasion getting aggravated because a gov.uk website didn't work unless you had the latest version of Flash installed. But I couldn't complain, because to use their feedback form you had to have the latest version of Flash installed. Fuckwits extraordinaires.

The interesting thing about the example you cite is its bizarre nature. I have never come across such a bug.

[polygonum]

Trying to remember if I had to use IE back in the day I signed up for Government Gateway - really cannot but quite possibly I did. But I do have a "w" that needed to be typed!

The bug itself has a craziness to it - it seems impossible for every other site in the universe to have avoided the issue if it is a problem with Safari/Chrome (or whatever).

One of the best things Apple have ever done is make Flash less acceptable.

[Brian Gaff]

Is it the French who do not use ws? Maybe the site was designed by a Frenchman?

Brian

[Tim Streater]

I'm not in the least bit surprised. I declined an invitation only yesterday to become a PC in our village. There is a shortage.

[charles]

True, but interestingly, a year ago when we had a vacancy, two people applied for the one slot.

[GB]

I guessed this was the reason why I had exactly the same problems - I use Chrome.

I dealt with it by downloading the forms and posting them off. So, someone had to type the data in again. Really damn stupid.

[Steve Firth]

I had to use a government website recently. The landing page declared that it was not usable with any type of Unix - Android, OSX, Linux, BSD etc. It would not work with Chrome, Firefox, Safari. It required IE8, Flash and Adobe Reader.

So I had to use a borrowed computer to access it. Once loaded I discovered it would only work with a fixed screen size (1280x960) but used only a

640x480 letterbox in the middle of the screen. The forms took 10 minutes to download on a 100Mbps connection. They took 15 minutes to upload. The web application crashed a lot requiring a save after each page.

The display didn't use Windows fonts it used its own fuzzy and hard to read font. To add further aggravation key detail was displayed in red, green and grey.

It was impossible to download all of the form, hence after completing a page one would find that the next page asked for information that no one would remember but no way of knowing in advance to get the info ready.

The form required me to input my address four times in different places. The address was not automatically copied to fill all fields.

I complained that the form was barely readable to someone with good eyesight. Mild longsightedness made it very difficult to read. Someone with red green colour blindness would have problems with the changing colours. Any form of visual problem made the form difficult or impossible to use. I referenced the DDA - no reply.

I wonder which shitty organisation got the contract to produce this rubbish?

[Martin Brown]

You should think yourself lucky that it actually works correctly with even *ONE* web browser. Yes - their IT is *that* incompetant!

Just look at the "send us your SPAM and UCE site" which rejects half of it as "SPAM" because they can't figure out how to disable their antispam measures on the account they tell Joe public to send it to!