# Sick of sites that don't support Macs



## karavite (Aug 13, 2005)

Hello All,

I am just sick and tired of websites with various applications that don't support Macs. I am a new home owner and I have the renovation bug. Everytime I find a store with some kind of home related application, I have to go to my stupid PC. The last two - Ikea's kitchen planner and Kohler's Virtual Planner for bathrooms. Okay, the Ikea thing is a client app you can download so maybe I can understand, but Kohler is a web app with Flash and you get this lame "Mac OS is not currently supported..." What does "currently" mean? Never?

Well, they can laugh at us or brush us off, but you know what? My money is going elsewhere.

I submit site feedback whenever I encounter this. Perhaps my lone voice won't do much, but if you ever run into the same, don't just leave, tell them why you are leaving. Here is my letter to Kohler. Secret: I try just a little to make it sound like I am some big bucks customer (I am not), but some exec may see this some day, think he/she is losing on the market and not give a rats behind about what IT says!  Execs will do this sort of thing all the time.

Here is my feedback:

You should know Mac users are known to have higher education levels, higher incomes, spend their money and are typically more literate on issues of design. Yes, I am talking about your Virtual Bathroom designer. If I wanted to go turn on a PC to plan my bathroom, I would probably also not mind a cheap and ugly shower module from Home Depot. I suppose I can go to my PC (which I use for my job), but what fun is that? Instead, I'll just be moving on to other shower manufacturer sites.


----------



## karavite (Aug 13, 2005)

Man, how do you guys do it!!! I have been searching and searching for a web site of a company that sells interesting "Euro" showers and right here on the Macosx.com site, you picked up on my thread and put some links up at the top and one led me to a really cool company that looks exactly like what I want!


----------



## RGrphc2 (Aug 14, 2005)

Scott added Google ads to the site...each advertisement is responds to keywords in the text you just put in.


----------



## sirstaunch (Aug 14, 2005)

karavite said:
			
		

> Hello All,
> 
> I am just sick and tired of websites with various applications that don't support Macs. I am a new home owner and I have the renovation bug. Everytime I find a store with some kind of home related application, I have to go to my stupid PC. The last two - Ikea's kitchen planner and Kohler's Virtual Planner for bathrooms. Okay, the Ikea thing is a client app you can download so maybe I can understand, but Kohler is a web app with Flash and you get this lame "Mac OS is not currently supported..." What does "currently" mean? Never?
> 
> ...




They are all fools anyhow, they don't understand they are supporting the most unsafest browser and system, yeah just move on, leave em a nasty feedback. I think the problem is them, they see in their web page designer kit "make it IE and Windows compatible only" so they tick it. They are only thinking about the online creditcard orders and privacy, so the program makes it highly recommended to have such selected.


----------



## karavite (Aug 14, 2005)

RGrphc2 said:
			
		

> Scott added Google ads to the site...each advertisement is responds to keywords in the text you just put in.



Well, it worked a lot better than what I found in straight Google searches. It was almost spooky. Honestly, I think I know how to search and there were two sites here that I did not see in my scores of searches. Who would have thought macosx.com was the place to go for home remodeling!


----------



## CaptainQuark (Aug 15, 2005)

karavite said:
			
		

> I am just sick and tired of websites with various applications that don't support Macs.



 Tell me about it! I'm SO p1$$ed off with companies that don't take Mac users into account that I make a point of sending a fairly unpleasant rant to each and every one I encounter.  

Hasn't done a blind bit of good tho'


----------



## karavite (Aug 15, 2005)

Amen Captian, look at this reply from Kohler below. Still, I think we should keep writing them.

"8/15/2005..Thank you for your email. Sorry you feel that way about using our web. Please contact us again if we can assist you further. Barb V"

Wow, what smooth customer support skills! She really won me over with that customer comes first can-do attitude! I feel my concern has been addressed! Think of the deeply engrained customer service training that went into that reply. I feel so beholden to Kohler now that every faucet, drain, tub and shower in my house will be a Kohler - NOT!


----------



## Giaguara (Aug 15, 2005)

Heh. Seen plenty of people to resolve their banking issues ... changing bank to some other bank that actually supports Safari.  
So why not have the same attitude elsewhere? Banks do wonder why htey lose customers.. not allowing the customers to use a specific browsers is quite a stupid reason to lose a customer I would say.


----------



## sirstaunch (Aug 15, 2005)

I have two banks, one requires IE5+, the other it even let me in using iCab in it's early stages when I was using Classic and only asks for password, not password and security number, wait for java to load and prey it won't hang because the java is too heavy for the browser etc...


----------



## Ashka (Aug 15, 2005)

I don't have any problems with the 3 Banking sites I use or my Utility sites.
I do have a problem with one section of my ISP site and tell them to wake up periodically.
Most of us seem to send similar e Mails to suppliers with IE only websites. "Mac Owners only buy the best, from Computers to what ever they are selling". Often get a reply stating they are working on it  ..... Too late, I go elsewhere and tell them where


----------



## TommyWillB (Aug 16, 2005)

I simply don't spend my money on products made by companies that clearly don't want my business.

My #1 rant in life is wanting to spend money at some company that makes doing so DIFFICULT. 

Hell... Don't then want my money? It's here for the taking if they just try...


----------



## Perseus (Aug 16, 2005)

iCab? Woah! I test my sites in that browser just for kicks, it supports HTML pretty well, but nothing else! 

A fantasy I have: the Universal Broswer. Yay!


----------



## TommyWillB (Aug 17, 2005)

Perseus said:
			
		

> iCab? Woah! I test my sites in that browser just for kicks, it supports HTML pretty well, but nothing else!
> 
> A fantasy I have: the Universal Broswer. Yay!


Would you like that to "universally" support all of the various security/privacy/virus bugs in today's browsers?

What would you have it do for things that todays browser render differently, and where there is not accepted "right" way to render it? I.e. it has to pick something?

Would it universally support everything including cell phone browsers? I.e. do you want it to render everything in a 200X350 pixel box in the top left corner of your screen?

The fact is that HTML is not meant to impose a specific UI output... It's a markup language to "describe" the content, not a display language. Things get even more interesting when you start adding things like plug-ins, JavaScript, CSS, Flash and other things that are not part of the HTML markup language. Browsers by defination need only support HTML and not all of these other additional things.

A "Universal" browser is a nice dream, but it's a pipe dream as likely to happen as world peace, the elimination of poverty/hunger, and equality and human rights for all. These are good things to strive for, so I'm not suggesting you stop dreaming... I'm simply trying to suggest why it's such a big/difficult request.

Honestly I'd sort of like to see a widely used browser that supports fewer features and functionality. If we can get the builders of web sites to get the basics right, that would eliminate many of the basic usability issues that plague all users on a daily basis... not just Mac Safari users.


----------



## jh2112 (Aug 17, 2005)

I suspect Perseus meant one browser that does it all on a mac.
I have to use three different browsers just to log in to various financial sites: Safari, Camino (I could also use Firefox,) and IE5.


----------



## karavite (Mar 26, 2006)

Hey, I had to wake up the old thread, but I was just at Ikea's site and, no their kitchen planner software (which is actually pretty darn cool) does not run on a Mac, but the download page does say:

"PC running Windows 95, 98, 2000, NT or ME Pentium class processor with at least 128 MB of RAM, 25 MB of free hard drive space, 8 MB of Video RAM 800 x 600 minimum screen resolution XGA, 16 bit color. *Unfortunately the planner tool does not yet run on MAC operating systems. We apologize for the inconvenience.*"*

What does the "yet" mean? Sounds to me like they are planning a Mac version. Could it be that my writing them (I wrote them too) had any effect? Every time I find some consumer site not supporting Mac, I write a note. They are making a mistake by equating our market share as THEIR customers to being equivilant to the Mac's market share of computer users. 

*From:http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_US/complete_kitchen_guide/planner_tool/download/index.html


----------



## nixgeek (Mar 26, 2006)

Maybe they've been turned on by the switch to Intel...who knows?


----------



## Satcomer (Mar 26, 2006)

Well they don't seem to be very technical savvy. I thought MAC means Media Access Control or something along that line.


----------



## Lt Major Burns (Mar 27, 2006)

Use safari enhancer to change what safari identifies itself as.  IE6 is buggy, but IE 5 is fine.  now you can use safari as normal and at least get your foot in the door and you'll find "mac isn't supported" usually means bugger all. either that, or it has trouble installing it's spyware onto your system.  it's all the same stuff at the end of the day.


----------



## CharlieJ (Mar 27, 2006)

me 2 they are not professional


----------



## Tommo (Mar 29, 2006)

I agree with most of it, I use my Mac for all online transactions and banking as it is much more secure than IE on my PC. Trouble is for Safari and IE to both work equally well on all sites, both MS and Apple would have to stick to agreed standards and I don't think hell is likely to freeze over anytime soon. Until then sites are going to support the majority and there are a lot more Windows machines out there than Macs.


----------

