>Want to give yourself a headache quickly? Try finding the standard features of a Stratus on the Dodge Web site using Netscape Navigator 3.X.

The first hurdle is to locate the Dodge Web site. Enter www.dodge.com and you're taken to some unrelated company. How about trying, oh, www.dodgecars.com? Nope.

So head to www.chrysler.com and sit there while some stupid "splash" screen that does absolutely nothing displays. Then you get to the real Chrysler home page. But where's the link to Dodge? Could it be hidden beyond the "Motor Mall" link? Click on that, and then, using your powers of deductive reasoning, click on "brand sites." And, voila, finally a link to Dodge shows up. Click on that, wait for another useless splash screen to pop up, and for your efforts, you're rewarded with the world's worst recording of Edward Hermann and his homage to Dodge (and see if you can figure out what he's saying even with the volume turned all the way up).

Finally, click on "Stratus" and watch your browser ... crash!

Oops, sorry, you can't find out what the Stratus has to offer, at least not using Netscape 3.X on the Dodge Web site. No matter how many times you try, every single time, your browser will die. One wonders why the people at Dodge are so eager to frustrate people who use Netscape 3.X. Well, probably they aren't - I bet they don't even know this is happening.

But that's the point. Anybody who puts up a Web site without testing it on multiple browsers, clients and modems should have his or her Webmaster's license revoked.

Web designers, in their zeal to impress their bosses with snazzy doodads that look just awesome on an Internet Explorer 4.0 connected to a 100M bit/sec LAN forget that there are still lots of people who are connecting to their sites under less than ideal conditions.

Car manufacturers, in particular, seem hellbent on combining crash-prone applications with completely unusable user interfaces. (Quick: Go to www.toyota.com and tell me what you're supposed to click on). But they're hardly alone; ask anybody who's ever spent much time on the Web.

This problem is not relegated to the wild and wooly Internet. Have you checked out your intranet lately? When was the last time you tried out some fancy Java intranet applet on a 486 laptop with a 28.8 modem - the kind you still have some salespeople using?

You might be surprised at what you find if you do this kind of test on your intranet.

If you do find bandwidth busters, consider alternative modes of connecting users to data. Instead of relying solely on client-centric Java applets, why not take a look at server-side Perl scripts?

If you find it takes too long to get to a particular page or piece of information, maybe it's time to consider a site redesign.

Snazzy graphics and applications aren't good for much if people won't use them. Especially when employee access to corporate data is important, usability testing is a must.

Gaffin is editor of Network World Fusion. He admits to trying to break the speed limit on the corporate T-1 but tries to make up for it by connecting to Fusion at home with Lynx on a 14.4 dialup.