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Upon reaching the site, I receive this friendly message (see original KPMG message):

INCOMPATIBLE BROWSER

The browser you are using is incompatible with KPMG.COM To use this KPMG site, you must have:

A 4.x or 5.x web browser, such as Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer (5.x for Macintosh computers). To download versions of this software, click on the appropriate icon below.

KPMG's web site is incompatible with browser versions 6.0 and above.

It never ceases to amaze me how many business sites are willing to shut people out because they use the "wrong" browser.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Standards are a good thing.

Imagine trying to call someone on the phone and getting a recording: "We're sorry, but your phone is not compatible with the person you are trying to call."

Or trying to email someone and getting a message back: "We don't support your mail program, please use Outlook."

No one would think of doing something that moronic, and yet many people will do the equivalent with their web site.

This is based on two main bits of flawed thinking: a) that web design should support any particular browser (as opposed to web standards) and b) that good web design means looking the same on every browser.

Why does KPMG need you to use one specific browser? Well, actually, they don't. You can view the site no problem using Opera, once you sneak past their moron web security guard.

Day 15 talked about F12 and gave a non-short history of browser sniffing. Change your Browser ID to MSIE 5, get past the initial check, and then change it back.... or simply disable Javascript for the initial page.

That said, there's little at the site to warrant all that extra effort. Almost every time I find a site that blocks me out, I find a) that there was no real reason to block Opera and b) there was nothing really worth looking at in the first place. There are a lot of outdated sites around from the days when people thought browser sniffing was a good idea.

Those days are over, folks. Time to move on.