Governments should not privilege one company over another.
The World Wide Web had as its genesis the problem of proprietary systems.
These two truisms make the District of Columbia website an affront beyond compare. The DC Corp Online system, although designed for “businesses to conduct many transactions online”, can also serve as a citizen tool for finding information about “corporate entity and status.”
If said citizen has a Windows computer.
The government of the District of Columbia has set up a system that works only with Microsoft Internet Explorer. Earth to DC officials: there is no MSIE for Macs. [I’m not going to go into standards-compliance.]
There’s a warning sign on the home page of the website, but I didn’t believe it. Not in 2011!
I created my free account and logged in. Then I clicked “search registered organizations.” Nothing. I clicked “name search.” Nothing. At that point, I looked at the foot of the browser to see the URL: run script “__doPostBack(‘ctl00$PageContent$WebSearchButton’,”). Then I looked “up”: InternetHome.aspx.
Idiots.
And I looked at the code: I could see no ASPX code, just javascript. Well, that and really really poorly written HTML (two doctypes, two head sections — 531 errors, 2 warnings for the login page).
Before you ask, my browser (Safari) has javascript enabled.
And yes, the ADA applies to the District of Columbia because it gets a ton of money from the federal government:
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and, if the government entities receive Federal funding, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, generally require that State and local governments provide qualified individuals with disabilities equal access to their programs, services, or activities unless doing so would fundamentally alter the nature of their programs, services, or activities or would impose an undue burden.
Clearly this site, by blocking not just citizens with disabilities but those using Macintosh computers, is a violation of both the spirit and the letter of the law.
Poster child for how not to run a government website.
Known for gnawing at complex questions like a terrier with a bone. Digital evangelist, writer, teacher. Transplanted Southerner; teach newbies to ride motorcycles. @kegill (Twitter and Mastodon.social); wiredpen.com