OK, this time I’ll give URL’s, because the sites promise to be helpful, they just apparently hate the equipment I’m using. I’m having repairs done to my car, at the moment, which will take it out of action for a couple of weeks. So I need to look for a temporary, and perhaps permanent, replacement.

Dollar Rent A Car has a front page that apparently lets you select the day you want to pick up your rental car. Unless, of course, you’re using Safari. Click on the little calendar image which pops up the current month’s calendar to choose the date, and you’ll see only the first week, no more. If you don’t want to pick the car up until the 14th of the month, you’re out of luck.

Oh, wait, there’s a field containing the date. But don’t be silly and expect to be able type anything into the field. Sorry Charlie, you have to use the little calendar widget. Sorry Dollar, I’m renting from someone else.

Did I want to repair or replace the car? Well, let’s see. I pull up the website for Don Jacobs Subaru to see if I can afford a new Outback. Right there in front of me is a button saying “Build Your Vehicle, Name Your Price”. Ooooh, that sounds tasty. Click. A new window opens with a pretty lady telling me to click the start button, and she’ll come back when I’m ready to talk about price. Click. Nothing. Click harder. Still nothing.

The click/no response continues whether I use Safari or IE5. I know, I’ll fire up Firefox. Click. Crash! Another incident report for Talkback. Sorry, Don, old thing. I’m off to another dealer, one with a website that might actually work (novel concept, that).

Basic site testing should have uncovered both of those glitches, but apparently they didn’t bother with something as silly as checking their work. My mother always uses the same word to describe people who consistently refuse to check their work. “Slipshod.”

Test, my children. Don’t put a whiz-bang in the design until you know it works.