[plug] CSI not compatible with Firefox?

[Adam Davin]

Hello All,

On Fri, 25 Mar 2005 10:28:38 +0800
Mark Dixon <MarkDixon at iiNet.net.au> wrote:

<snip> 
> 
> Mark Dixon wrote:
> > Arie Hol wrote:  "Have you tried using the "User Agent Switcher" 
> > extension available for Firefox ?"
> > 
> > That looks like a great idea.  Sadly, the current version of that 
> > extension does not install with the recently patched Firefox (1.0.2)
> > so  I will have to wait till an update comes along.

I was looking into using user agent switchers at one stage just to get
past some of these "bad behaving" sites. In my travels I came across a
site talking about statistics on "most popular / used" browsers. One of
the things it mentioned is that in the short term this might be a good
idea as it sometimes gets past the silly checks. However, in the long
term, it means that the statistics for "the browser you must use" are
increased and this then verifies the "only program for one browser"
mentality. 

There is no substitute for following standards to maintain a friendly
environment for all, but if "everyone" is using browser "A", then, heck,
we'll only worry about supporting that because we can't be bothered
doing it right the first time. 

As with the way things usually go, unless there is noise made from those
that care enough, the likelyhood is that things will remain as status
quo. As always, its the squeaky wheel that gets the oil (sorry had to
add that in)

On this note, Westpac has "Broken" their site for business banking using
mozilla/firefox. It does something funny and just goes into personal
banking. 

This (and a fee rise) prompted me to start looking around at other
banks, if you are interested, my general feelings and opinion of staff
help and information received is detailed below. Please note that these
are my own opinions and reflections and should be taken with a pinch of
salt ;)

Bank West, first one off the rank: The staff member I got was a trainee,
she was very helpful and explained their products well. The business
products she was unfamiliar with and explained that she would go and get
a supervisor to talk to me about this. The supervisor was also very good
with her product explanations. 
I then asked if their website supported Mozilla/Firefox browsers. As
expected I got a blank stare. She then spent the next 5 mins moving the
mouse around her screen until she hovered over something that said
"Internet Explorer" at which point she proclaimed that they only
supported IE.

Commonwealth Bank, Which bank: Staff here were very helpful and they
have those cute little customer consulting cubicals, so no standing
around at the enquiries desk, you get a nice comfy chair to sit in.
Again the staff member was helpful and handed me lots of brochures with
info and went through them all. 
When it came to the browser question, she responded very well. I got a
"I'm sorry I've never heard of that browser." When I explained it
was an alternative browser to IE, I actually got an interested response
as she was currently being driven mad with popups etc from IE on her
home computer. I gave her the name and she proceeded to say "Well we'll
find out shall we" and she dialled the CBA Technical support line. The
response was along the lines of "Well some people have found it works
and some people have had problems so no guarantees". 

National Australia Bank: This was the bank I had to wait the longest at.
No one seemed very interested. I decided to wait it out and eventually
got attended to when one of the staff members saw me standing there for
a while and prompted another staff member along the lines of "are you
able to see this person".
The staff member that helped me came across as "its my job - not my
career" I was handed some brochures and was briefly shown over them. 
The Browser question was even better. The response was "I have no idea
what you are talking about". On explaining that it was an alternative
browser to IE, I was given a blank stare. I directly asked if she could
find out for me and I was handed another brochure for their Tech support
and had a number pointed out on the back "If you ring this number they
will be able to tell you".
At this point I went "thanks" and left. National rated the worst out of
the lot. Interestingly enough, last time I did the "visit the banks"
exercise, they also rated the worst then (about 10 years ago).

Police and Nurses, Last on the list: Staff member here was excellent,
very friendly, polite and helpful. She acted like she wanted to be there
and that she enjoyed her job. A couple of questions she did not know,
but either made a phone call on the spot to find out or clicked through
their web help to find the answer (she knew generally what she needed to
find, just didn't have the "right answer" in front of her).
All brochures were thoroughly explained and account options. 
The browser question was met with "Ahh yes I think I've heard of that
one, I'll just ring our tech support and find out". The answer was a
definite "Yes, mozilla works on our site". 
All up Police and nurses won hands down for Service / support and
account options. 

I was unable to get to ANZ and the local bendigo
community bank as I ran out of time.

Just a few reflections,

Regards, 

Adam Davin.