FEMA Favoring IE? Yes and no..

© September 2005 Tony Lawrence

There's been a great deal of fuss and furor over a Slashdot story about FEMA requiring IE6 to register for disaster relief.

There's enough truth there to bitch about, but it isn't completely accurate. A number of people have reported that they can use Opera on Mac or Linux without any apparent problem (though the reports I read all said that they didn't actually complete the application because they weren't hurricane victims). From https://www.fema.gov/register.shtm:

Does the online application require Internet Explorer?

Yes and no.

Currently to complete your application online you must be using
Microsoft's Internet Explorer 6.0 or above. We are in the process
of modifying the application so that it will be available to
additional browsers.

If you do not have Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher, you may still
be able to check the status of your application and update your
information online once you have registered by phone.
 

No doubt some web designer has already had their butt chewed raw over this, and no doubt it will be changing soon, and also no doubt that this debacle will cause other agencies to look more closely at their own technology barriers. Therefore, some good may come from it after all.

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