eFlow.ie

Graham

What on earth are the eFlow web developers playing at?

I browse to the eFlow My Account page using safari on the Mac and I get a message telling me that I need to use internet explorer or firefox.

I tell safari to spoof it's user agent to pretend to be IE or Firefox and the site works flawlessly (by flawlessly I mean it's as bad as it is in Internet Explorer or Firefox). Why are they blocking access from browsers that work with eFlow.ie?

Similar results from an iPhone/iPad.

It's not as if their website is using some majorly advanced css/javascript, it's kind of retro in a MS frontpage 2000 template kind of way.

Ronan_

They don't let you pay with Chrome either

CreepingDeath

Graham wrote: »

Why are they blocking access from browsers that work with eFlow.ie?

Probably because they've only tested it with IE and Firefox and don't want to have to continue to support it on multiple browsers.

If they make an enhancement or bug fix in the future, they don't want to have to test it on 3 or more browsers. Especially as new versions of those browsers are released constantly.

p

It was built by amateurs.

Graham

CreepingDeath wrote: »

Probably because they've only tested it with IE and Firefox and don't want to have to continue to support it on multiple browsers.

If they make an enhancement or bug fix in the future, they don't want to have to test it on 3 or more browsers. Especially as new versions of those browsers are released constantly.

So you exclude an increasing proportion of the web because you just can't be bothered?

CreepingDeath

Graham wrote: »

So you exclude an increasing proportion of the web because you just can't be bothered?

It's that, or end up supporting multiple browsers having to constantly test the site against every single browser release that comes out.

I see the business reasoning for it.
The developers may be paid a €20,000 per year maintenance contact to ensure the web site stays operational. Limiting themselves to only supporting IE and Firefox limits the risk that they have to spend more development time fixing incompatibilities with newer browser versions.

It's all to do with profit.

Ross

CreepingDeath wrote: »

It's that, or end up supporting multiple browsers having to constantly test the site against every single browser release that comes out.

If Boards.ie actively blocked Safari and Chrome we'd be excluding 22% of our audience. That's from a sample of more than four million "visits", so while there is a slight techie bent in that demographic, it's still a pretty broad one.

If there are business reasons for excluding more than a fifth of the people who could use your service, it's a warped one.

Graham

CreepingDeath wrote: »

Limiting themselves to only supporting IE and Firefox limits the risk that they have to spend more development time fixing incompatibilities with newer browser versions.

Sorry but that does not excuse excluding browsers just because you can't be bothered/takes too long. Professional web developers ensure their work can be rendered across all major browsers.

CreepingDeath

Have you raised this with eFlow ?

markpb

Ross wrote: »

If there are business reasons for excluding more than a fifth of the people who could use your service, it's a warped one.

Unlike boards, people don't use the eFlow site for the content or for entertainment - they use it to pay tolls. Those people will still be customers whether they like it or not.

And yes, it's lazy.

mneylon

It's a horrific site

I get an email from them with my monthly statements which are in PDF .. 'cept they're not - their system sends them to the browser as .aspx, so you have to rename them in order to open them!

jimmycrackcorm

Graham wrote: »

Sorry but that does not excuse excluding browsers just because you can't be bothered/takes too long. Professional web developers ensure their work can be rendered across all major browsers.

The difference is that web sites such as boards.ie are all about the web site but the eFlow site is simply a sideline for what they do. Hence they are not in the business of making sure that their web site is always up to scratch with different browsers. Also becuase of the type of business it's not really going to matter a huge amount if people have to switch to IE or Firefox to access their sites properly. I switch from chrome myself, irritating but liveable.

As companies such as Eflow are not internet-businesses then it's very likely that they don't have a dedicated web it team and subcontract out online work to get their sites built as a fixed contract.

These are built by professional web developers but it does cost more to do the additional testing for other browsers.

Evil Phil

Development Forum Charter wrote:

If you've had a bad experience with an Irish company that is between you and that company, sort it out yourself. This forum is for the discussion of programming and software development. It is not a place for you to air your grievances.

That's why I'm locking this.