Dealing with "broken" web sites

There has been a discussion going on in Seattle Linux List about sites that don't work with Open Source browsers. I think these guys are barking up the wrong tree.

Telling General Motors that their web site doesn't work with your favorite Open Source browser is not likely to get anything more than a GM person thinking you don't know what you are talking about. There is, however, a better approach. Ok, I think it is a better approach.

Run the W3C complaince tests on the site. (If you have the development plug-in for FireFox) you can check HTML, CSS and more with just a few mouse clicks.) If the site passes, submit a bug report on the browser you are using. On the other hand, if it fails, tell the webmaster than you were having trouble viewing the site so you ran the W3C complaince test and found some errors. (Or 500 errors. Or ...)