[Am-info] Dutch Railways web site cockup.

[Marcus de Geus]

In reply to a message from "Peter Hollings" <phollings@mediaone.net> dated
2002-01-08 07:30:49 -0500 (Tue):

> It's likely that the Netscape incompatibility resulted from the use of
> Microsoft software (FrontPage, Office) to develop the website.

Peter,

I think one can safely assume that this is indeed the case. <g>

Or, as I wrote in my reply to the message from the webmaster of the Dutch
Railways (NS) (my translation):
________________________________

Dear webmaster,

Thank you for your reply. Unfortunately I must say that, in spite of its
brevity, your explanation manages to raise quite a few questions.

With regard to the NS "having had to opt for the current solution": does
this mean that the web designers failed to complete their work on time?
Could this be the result of their using software that does not lend itself
to generating code capable of handling the "mutual functional
incompatibility of Netscape-based browsers"? How well does the software lend
itself to generating code that can handle the mutual functional
incompatibility of different versions of MSIE? Is the software in any way
capable of generating code that will pass muster?

Anyway, what can be so special about a screen with a little text and a few
data entry boxes that it requires special code that can distinguish between
various makes of web browsers?

And why should users have to sacrifice at least 600*800 pixels of their
screen real estate to the NS?

I maintain that an NS web train table can be created using a couple of dozen
lines of handcrafted pure HTML, and that such an NS web train table would
not take up more than a handful of text lines (say, 300*400 pixels) on the
user's display. I also maintain that such an NS web train table would then
be accessible, for many years to come, to any web browser, old or new,
current or future, regardless of make or version of web browser, operating
system, or hardware. In addition, I am certain such an NS web train table
would be much faster to load on the user's client system than the current
offering. On top of that, I would hazard that maintaining such an NS web
train table would be much simpler, and consequently much cheaper, than is
currently the case. The latter benefit should be of particular interest to
you in view of the current state of affairs within the Dutch Railways
company.

Perhaps we could discuss some of these ideas sometime? You know where to
reach me.

Finally, I hope that NS are not planning to raise train fares in an attempt
to recuperate the loss of revenue due to travellers being deterred by lack
of travel information, and that instead, the money will be retrieved from
those responsible, i.e. the recently sacked management.
________________________________

Regards,

Marcus de Geus
--
marcus@degeus.com
http://www.degeus.com