“NASA has launched NASA.gov 5.0, the first major redesign of its primary Web site in more than four years” said the news item in NASA’s “Breaking News” RSS feed. It continued “The new design goes beyond a cosmetic facelift. It features a new level of interactivity and customization…”. Intrigued, I clicked through the link, and was soon presented with an alarming warning: “There’s a problem with your browser or settings. Your browser or your browser’s settings are not supported.” at the top of a really ugly page:
Since I was using the current release of Firefox, that seemed ludicrous. As, indeed, it was, because it turned out that the “problem” was that I had Javascript disabled.
Note to NASA: many people have Javascript disabled, sometimes for security and sometimes by their employer or other host organisation. Sometimes, it’s not supported by their mobile device, and sometimes by the assistive technologies that their disabilities require them to use. Your most important visitor, Google, also has Javascript disabled.
If they can’t get a simple website right, how on Earth (sic) are they going to put people on Mars?
Mabblog 