Standard Bank was recently inspired to upgrade its Internet banking interface. Unfortunately, it wasn't sufficiently motivated to ensure the new user interface worked with all browsers, and it is now involved in a domestic battle with me, and other users of Firefox and Safari.
Sweet of the bank really, to go live with the new system before ensuring it worked across all available browser options. Particularly sweet given the new system went live last Monday, just in time for payday for many of us, who will now not be able to pay bills because we cannot see any of the buttons needed to, for example, make payments, or transfer funds.
Standard Bank tells me the problems experienced include: "Buttons not reflecting text or buttons not indicating the correct link, ie you don't know which button to choose when logging on or performing a transaction, or the button is not there, on certain pages within Safari and FireFox." This frames fix has been completed and is in for testing, the bank says. It has also assured me it will test the effect of this change on the other browsers as it doesn't want to create any new problems.
All of the pages will have been fixed, it adds, by next Friday, the first batch (roughly 30% of the pages) having been fixed this past Friday. That would be the second of February, long after certain critical services like my telephone will probably have been cut off.
Standard Bank has sweetly offered me assistance by way of a personal banker, who, I assume, will be able to make sure all of my bills get paid on time despite my lack of access. This is much appreciated, but only as a result of the fact that I'm a journalist, with access to the upper echelons of the IT department, who are more than happy to ensure I am kept happy. What the bank expects its ordinary users to do is beyond me, although it does apologise for the inconvenience.
It's a first
Sweet of the bank really, to go live with the new system before ensuring it worked across all available browser options.
Samantha Perry, features editor, Brainstorm
Standard Bank points out that this is the first problem of its kind in its 10 years of Internet banking. The bank adds that its site is the first to have its user interface signed off by the Society for the Visually Impaired for user-friendliness, where users are making use of the JAWS voice-activated browser. It also points out that less than 1% of its user base uses browsers like Firefox and Safari.
It helpfully notes that cellphone banking is a wonderful contingency for situations like this. Of course, I'll have to pay my mobile provider data charges for this wonderful contingency, which I would not need if Standard Bank had bothered to ensure the new site was working properly before it went live in the first place.
I've been involved in the online world for 12 years now, and I still never cease to be amazed by how little attention anyone pays to browsers other than Internet Explorer.
Some day, I hope, the people responsible for designing these sites will finally get the hint, and take users of other browsers into consideration. Usage-tracking Web sites show that Firefox is gaining ground, even if the other alternatives have generally stable usage statistics. As Firefox gains ground, sites will have to be tweaked or redone to accommodate this. Why not do it right the first time?
And no - I will not compromise my laptop's security even for a few days and use Internet Explorer. It's just not an option.
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