Remember way back in 1998 BW (before web 2.0) when many web sites featured warnings like this.
Site optimized for Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 and above at a resolution of 1024 x 768
And the pages wouldn’t display properly in other browsers. Or some feature was broken.
Many of the web-based tools being deployed by the IT department of our overly-large school district are stuck firmly in that era. They only work in IE. Only in Windows. Only on Wednesday and Thursdays.
Ok, so maybe I made up that last part. :-)
However, considering all the dynamic interactive sites being created these days, and all the amazing free tools available, it shouldn’t be that hard to make a simple database interface that works in any standards-compliant browser on any platform.
Non-IE browsers are not subject to group policy settings. This may be one possible reason.
One of our tech guys just told me that “at this point, IE7 is pretty much the same as the other browsers”. As a web developer, that just burns. I was too speechless to respond, although I know I’m going to have to bring it up again and try to resolve the situation.
I fantasize about using my weeks off in the summer to code a replacement for one of the not accessible, only supports some browsers, not intuitive tools we use in our schools. : )