And yet, I am oddly unsurprised.
FEMA to Mac, Linux users: drop dead
A stupid usability flaw in the FEMA website is causing frustration for some of the Hurricane Katrina survivors fortunate enough to have computer and internet access. Bottom line: if you’re not using Windows + IE, it appears that you won’t be able to file a disaster assistance claim on Fema.gov.
Oddly enough, FEMA says they comply with Section 508 on their website. So this means if you are disabled and are using a Mac, Linux, etc, your browser will work?
FEMA Section 508 Accessibility Statement
The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is committed to providing access to our web pages for individuals with disabilities, both members of the public and Federal employees.
To meet this commitment, we will comply with the requirements of Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. Section 508 requires that individuals with disabilities, who are members of the public seeking information or services from us, have access to and use of information and data that is comparable to that provided to the public who are not individuals with disabilities, unless an undue burden would be imposed on us. Section 508 also requires us to ensure that Federal employees with disabilities have access to and use of information and data that is comparable to the access to and use of information and data by Federal employees who are not individuals with disabilities, unless an undue burden would be imposed on us.
If you use assistive technology (such as a Braille reader, a screen reader, TTY, etc.) and the format of any material on our web sites interfere with your ability to access the information, please contact FEMAOPA@dhs.gov for assistance. To enable us to respond in a manner most helpful to you, please indicate the nature of your accessibility problem, the preferred format in which to receive the material, the web address of the requested material, and your contact information.
I would suggest that if you are using a forbidden OS and/or browser, do as they say and contact FEMAOPA@dhs.gov. Tell them you have a usability problem.
With the graphical requirement to submit your comment, they do not pass 508 compliance… some pages do and some don’t, it’s more up to interpretation of the rules if anything. The Bobby Reports and Cynthia portal spit out varying issues — their unsemantic coding causes a significant funk in a screen reader, but many of the pages do validate.
They do not pass WCAG 1,2 as they use some depricated tags, and don’t mark the targets of their links.
They’ve made a good effort to be accessible, but they’re obviously employing developers who aren’t that advanced — not to mention the non-user friendly layout and navigation gives it away.
But, yep, since I’m not on a PC, i’ll either be firing up virtual pc or SOL.
That being said, I read earlier that they are migrating from an out of the box software package that caused them to be in this hole.
Whats the fuss about. I can’t read this site proerly with Firefox so I have to use IE. Fix it.
Now i know why i use windows+ie7 🙂
The fed is a wreck……IE is a wreck…..birds of a feather methinks. Not holding out odds that either will be fixed before the next national emergency.
Dave this is almost as bad as dvorack.org/blog blatant discrimination against Safari, which market share is creeping up towards 5%. 😉
There’s plenty to criticize with FEMA, but this issue seems overblown to me. A quick look at their site reveals this (from ):
Does the online application require Internet Explorer?
Yes and no.
Currently to complete your application online you must be using Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 6.0 or above. We are in the process of modifying the application so that it will be available to additional browsers.
If you do not have Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher, you may still be able to check the status of your application and update your information online once you have registered by phone.
Yeah, John, what are the odds that someone will be able to get access to a computer with Windows and IE on it. Those are real hard to come by — especially in public places.
Folks will have to walk past a sea of Mac and Linux boxes to find one I am sure.
I think several readers have missed the point.
Yes maybe you could get there with a work-around. And maybe FEMA is working to correct the problem. And maybe you could use IE 6 or above. But, along with all the other issues that have come to light recently about FEMA. This too is a failure.
As it appears that Brady, in #1, knows much more then I do, it is worth re-reading his post. The web site was not thought through. In other words, there was little if any planning that FEMA might be called upon for a disaster. FEMA was not prepared to be called upon for this or its true mission.
FEMA does not have a Mission Statement. It does, however, suggest that in preparing an Emergency Plan that a Mission Statement is prepared. As most of you are aware, A Mission Statement states in a few words the direction you will take. So FEMA doesn’t know why they are there or where they are going. Instead of being there to serve the public, FEMA has taken to provide a job for an unqualified lackey.
So if you can’t dazzle ‘em with brilliance, then baffle ‘em with bullshit.
IE is very popular, in fact holding more then ½ the browser market. It is not the only browser though and increasingly many only use Firefox, Opera, or Safari. And many people use only Linux or Mac. Is this just another attempt by the Bushites to discriminate against minorities?
BTW, I have used Firefox for almost a year and yet to have any problem with Dvork.org. Maybe if Billy and Armando updated to the latest, Firefox 1.0.6, they too could enjoy John’s excellent blog without having all the security holes associated with IE.
The DOD website has a link to the PENTAGON CHANNEL and if you go there with a Safari browser, you will be advised very quickly that you do not have the proper equipment to view the PENTAGON CHANNEL. You can enter but all you get to see is the pretty screen.
http://www.defenselink.mil/
I went ot the site using Opera 8.01 (one of the bugs in the latest release created by the preperations for future features in Opera was annoying me) and I had NO Problems surfing through the site. Opera also hase builtin feature sets for disabled users including text to speach and voice nav, along with support for common disability feature standards, that are all to uncommonly supported in the crteation of content. Unfortunately I don’t know enough about htem to test their use on the FEMA site.
Oh yeah… I didn’t have to spoof my Browser ID to IE either.
The Useless Information File. No Information is Useless.
I have heard from a number of people that using browser spoofing does /not/ work on the site. You can get thru the first steps, but the final submission fails. If anyone /that has completed the ENTIRE form/ knows how to do this in GNU/Linux please post how, and distribute widely.