Sign up here...

[iamback]

... if you can!

This must be the worst and least accessible sign-up procedure I've come across in many years! Here's what:

The Postbank (a bank in the Netherlands, part of ING) has a service "girofoon" which allows banking from any phone. For the most general features you can call a phone number to sign up and get an access code - but if you want to be able to do payments by phone as well, there is a sign-up form.

Go to Girofoon And from there, follow the link to aanvraagformulier

Of course, I use Mozilla. When I follow that link, a framed page appears and in the main frame a message briefly appears that the form is loading - then the message dissappears and it remains forever loading... and loading ... but the frame remains totally blank.

OK, so did the idjits make this IE-specific? I try with IE 5.01, and apart from a bunch of JavaScript errors, the very same thing happens: - nothing. No form.

Well, let's see what Opera tells me. Now that is revealing: apart from a messed-up layout in the top frame (only one tab visible), it tells me that alas I cannot view the form "in the correct manner" because I am using a browser that is not supported. While this is something getting rare these days with Opera - after all web site owners are learning they should support at least standards-compliant browsers, aren't they? -, what follows this message beats it all. The following combinations are supported by Postbank ("met" means "with"):

Windows XP met Internet Explorer 6.0
Windows XP met Firefox 1.0
Windows 2000 met Internet Explorer 5.5
Windows 2000 met Internet Explorer 6.0
Windows ME met Internet Explorer 5.5
Windows ME met Internet Explorer 6.0
Windows 98 met Internet Explorer 5.0
Windows 98 met Internet Explorer 5.5
Windows 98 met Internet Explorer 6.0
Windows NT 4.0 met Internet Explorer 5.0
Windows NT 4.0 met Internet Explorer 5.5
Windows NT 4.0 met Internet Explorer 6.0
Windows 95 met Internet Explorer 5.0
Windows 95 met Internet Explorer 5.5
MacOS 10.1 met Firefox 1.0
MacOS 10.2 met Firefox 1.0
MacOS 10.3 met Firefox 1.0
MacOS 10.3 met Internet Explorer 5.2.3

So what does this mean? People who have an older Mac are out of it anyway: no payments by phone. IE 5 is supported but only on Win NT4, Win95 or Win98 - not on any later Windows (such as ME or 2000). None of the Linux-based browsers are supported, and Linux isn't supported at all. None of the Safari-like browsers are supported. Firefox 1.0 is supported - but only on Mac OS X or WinXP - not on Win2000 (ever heard of Windows 2003?); and apparently they've never heard of Firefox 1.5, let alone Mozilla.

I've never seen such a ridiculous list. This is about a form. An HTML form does not need any support from an operating system and a form does not need any particular browser. JavaScript support could be nice for enhancement but is never needed. All it needs is a browser that supports forms (I do not know of any that doesn't).

So: My prize for the most clueless website of 2006 goes to Postbank. And it's high on the list for most inaccessible website as well.

Any other candidates, anyone?