Websites that suck, number 23452363467346 in a series: http://www.marksandspencer.com/. On entry (with Mozilla 1.0), I’m redirected to a “disallowed” page. They recommend Mac users use IE 5.01, despite it being a much older browser than anything I have installed – I’m guessing it’s an old browser detection script.
All I want to do is find out if they have a store in Kensington High Street, so I try the site in IE (5.1), and get another page that basically says, ‘we won’t let you in unless you accept cookies’. Surely they could restrict the need for cookies to any online shopping pages, and let any browser through, with a warning if necessary.
So I try the site in Lynx, accepting cookies this time, because god only knows I won’t be back so there won’t be much for them to track. Get to the store locator, but there’s no ‘go’ or ‘submit’ for the drop-down menu, so I can’t get the page to go anywhere.
The irony is that the ‘disallowed’ page title is “Welcome to Marks & Spencer”.
It’s a shame to see a big company offer so many examples of what not to do in web design.