Website no-nos
Note to self and other website designers: when building your website, please make sure that you don’t refuse access to a site based on the absence of a piece of software. I’m attempting to register with https://bluehealthcarebank.esignfinancial.com to activate an account and because the javascript for the page checks whether or not I have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed I am unable to proceed with my registration. I mean, come on…
I know that a lot of people have Acrobat Reader installed, but it’s hardly fair to assume that everyone that connects to your site has Acrobat Reader installed. On my MacBook Pro, I prefer using Leopard’s Preview.app and on Windows, I much prefer Foxit Reader to that bloated piece of crap called Acrobat Reader… As it stands now, I need to either build up a VM to register with the site, or borrow someone’s computer simply to register and activate.
I hear your pain. You could either notify the web administrator for the site or create your own site that would be a repository of sites that we condemn for poor usability. I vote for the latter.
Thanks for pointing out that this site was checking for BOTH apps. I feel like a bit of a doofus for not realizing it was checking for Acrobat too.
I can’t tell you how much time I wasted in Parallels trying to sign my HSA application. I kept focusing on the “128-bit IE 5.5+” requirement. I actually setup separate VMs (one with IE 7 and one with IE 6) to try to get this working. What a nightmare. I had all but decided to go with a different bank when I found your site.
Thanks again.
