Despite frequent assertions by some Firefox advocates that they only use Internet Explorer for Windows Update tasks, I continue to run across sites that either don’t work under Firefox (because of some ActiveX control) or that warn you they won’t.
Today’s example: Disney’s PhotoPass site. The PhotoPass allows in-park staff photographers at WDW (and Disneyland) to upload they photos they take of you to the Interne3, to be reviewed by you at your leisure for up to 90 days, whilst deciding whether to buy any of them. A tremendous convenience, much better than having to stop by the photo store at the exit of a park.
Except that convenience is only available to folks to toe the Redmond line:
The design on this site has been optimized for specific browser versions. It appears that your current browser version is Firefox 0.10.1, which will not provide an optimal experience. You may download a free upgrade or proceed to DisneyPhotoPass.com below. Please note that if you proceed, some areas of the site may not work properly.
(Yes, the current version of Firefox is 1.0. I haven’t upgrade, and probably won’t until my real machine is back from the shop. I don’t suspect it would make any difference.)
It then offers to take you to Microsoft’s IE download site, or to proceed.
Well, I’m going to try a sub-optimal experience …
[Later]
Well. I didn’t get to see a sub-optimal experience, but the 17 photos there show up (in both Firefox and IE) as “Image Not Available.” So let’s see how the PhotoPass tech support is …
Well, the pictures automagically reappeared during the afternoon, so go fig.
The “larger pictures” that you can click through to are of mediocre quality, though there are signs that the final photos you could order via Kodak are of higher quality.
It’s pricy, though — $10 for a 5×7, $17 for an 8×10, $13 for four wallet-sized (that’s the usual price for the 5×7 as well). Not sure if that includes shipping; even if so, it’s pretty expensive.
Right-click copying on the larger images is supposedly disabled by a Java script, but Firefix ignores that. So much for sub-optimal experience (and, um, needing to buy the photos in order to post them) …
Most of the photo encounters were 2-3 pictures — a long shot, a close-up, and (in some cases) a “special effect” (you hold out your hands in the photo and in the finished product Tinkerbell is standing there, or you hold out your hat and Stitch is peeking out).
I think I know now why there are so few of the official Disney photographers around — the ones they have are actually pretty damned mediocre. More than one of the photos on the site is badly cropped, crooked, or otherwise poorly done. Of the 17 photos on the site, in fact, there’s only one that I would seriousl consider getting a print of — and at $10 that would be a bit of a push.
Ah, well. It’s still a good idea.