[WEB4LIB] http://www.fafsa.ed.gov and navigator 4.08

[Christopher Handy]

On 1/5/99, Josh Kuperman wrote:

|>Currently, the fafsa web site, which is encouraging people to apply for
|>financial aid online, does not support any version of Netscape Navigator
|>later than 4.05. I tried to contact them using the addresses at the site
|>and their online form, to find why. I was not successful. Does anyone know
|>what their problem is? I can't tell if it is as simple as they need to
|>update their check for browsers to include the newer versions or if their
|>is some difference in the newer browsers.

I notice that they also exclude certain earlier browser versions -- at
least in the case of Macintosh (viz., versions 4.0-4.04) -- so it would
seem they're concerned about a usability issue, one that's present in some
Netscape browsers but not in versions 3.x or in 4.05. Also, they
specifically state that Internet Explorer 4.01 isn't compatible with their
web applications without Service Pack 1. These limitations seem pretty
purposeful, even if the purpose itself isn't immediately obvious.

Curiously, if you follow their instructions for acquiring an appropriate
browser <http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/download.htm>, you'll end up on Netscape's
product page looking at the download links for Navigator 4.08, which of
course isn't supported! Pity the poor aid applicant who has an unsupported
browser but can see no way of acquiring one that is.

A guess might be that the idiosyncratic restrictions stem from a variety of
security and Javascript compatibility issues. And as you say, it may also
be that they haven't yet bothered to accommodate the more recent browsers.
Whatever the case, when I hack the version number of my copy of Navigator
4.08 (changing it to 4.05) and complete a section of one of their
application forms, my machine doesn't catch fire or display any other
obvious malfunction.


Christopher Handy
<mailto:charta at inetdirect.net>
Indianapolis, IN