[following a discussion of Bank Leumi's new site, which doesn't work on non-Microsoft browsers] Ever stopped and think why you can't do anything on Orange's site without Flash? Why HaifaU's site cannot be used (at least when I checked a year ago) without a browser that supports tons of IE-specific stuff? If you ever looked at the evolution of my sendsms code, you'd have noticed how the the SMS-sending sites become more complicated as the time passes, without actually getting more features in the process. At the same time look at Amazon. Look at Google. Look at CNN. At Yahoo. All these sites try (don't always succeed, but at least try) to use the *minimal* number of crazy non-standard features of their page. This has a lot of benefits: smaller pages, can be viewed (or listened to) by more people with more types of hardware and software, etc. And it doesn't make the pages "ugly". I attribute what is happening to most Israeli websites to the "dawinim" attitude of Israeli web-builders and companies. They think that if their site doesn't use *ALL* the *LATEST* "advances" in web technology - flash, java, movies, music, javascript, etc. - then they were swindled out of their money. This is absolutely wrong, however. In fact, I think it's a complete farce that these companies (and some people on this list) say that it would cost them more money to support Linux. Ah? It will cost them *less* money if they stopped using all these crazy non-standard features that don't add anything for the users. I have used Leumi's site for more than a year now. Do you think I ever said to myself "Oh, I wish the login process to this site had more animation?" Or "I wish the site played Mozart's Requiem while showing me my balance?" Or "Too bad these links don't flash when the mouse moves over them?" Of course not. No bank-account owner really cares about these things. The site creators just imagine people want those things, spend thousands on doing them in the *wrong* way (by using IE-specific stuff) and then wake up one day with 10% of the users being unable to use their site - and then they start to complain how much it would cost them to fix what they should have done right to begin with... -- Nadav Har'El | Thursday, Dec 26 2002, 22 Tevet 5763