Tesco, one of the UK's largest supermarkets, is going in for home
deliveries. Items may only be ordered online, and only with "adequate"
browsers, because this is all there is to the source of the entry
page at http://www.tescodirect.com --
<HTML>
<HEAD>
</HEAD>
<BODY DEFER ONLOAD=JAVASCRIPT:document.SETFORM.submit();>
<FORM NAME=SETFORM ID=SETFORM METHOD=POST ACTION="../default.asp">
<INPUT TYPE=HIDDEN NAME=CustID ID=CustID VALUE=>
<INPUT TYPE=HIDDEN NAME=Password ID=Password VALUE=>
</FORM>
</BODY>
</HTML>
No contact details, no "any browser" support. So, I phoned my local
store and was told their customer service chief would phone me back.
In fact, the query/complaint was transferred to their Web developer,
who was fairly abrupt and dismissive, but said that "something might
be done".
I told him how www.themutual.net had abandoned JavaScript links to
their communities; how the BBC and Government departments use text-only
alternatives; and that only a minority of e-commerce sites were totally
reliant on JavaScript.
Now if a few UK readers of this list could phone their local Tesco with
a similar complaint, we might get a wibble... turning into a wobble...
and then a standing wave... and then some action! And those Web developer
guys will learn that for their subsequent projects it would be better
to do the job right in the first place.
I told the guy on the phone I was using Opera (which he at least may have
heard of). For additional impact, others could say they were using IE from
their workplace, where their employer wouldn't allow them to enable JS :-)
Rant over,
Jake
p.s. I decided to write in to Tesco and close the two bank accounts I have
with them. I've not used the store for months anyway. Along with those
reasons I stated that the TescoDirect website, in not conforming to "any
browser" principles, excluded me as a potential customer. Ho hum, I've
just ruined someone's day :-)
