[gui-talk] Unable to Access Target.com web Site Using IE 8 With XP

[Gerald Levy]

I want to get a head start on my holiday shopping.  But using Internet Explorer 8 with XP Pro and JAWS 9, I get the following message when I try to access the Target.com home page at www.target.com:

Problems viewing Target.com ?

Target Home Page  

Problems viewing Target.com ?
It's because your browser isn't supported. Upgrade to one of the latest versions listed below to get the most out of your Target.com experience.
list of 3 items
Click here to download Internet Explorer
Click here to download Mozilla Firefox
Click here to download Google Chrome
list end

According to Microsoft, IE 8 is the latest version of IE that is supported by XP; it does not support IE 9, which is only supported by Windows 7 and 8.  Contrary to popular belief, XP is alive and well and still used by millions of people worldwide, blind and sighted alike.  A few years ago, the NFB successfully sued Target to force them to make its web site more blind friendly.  But now, apparently, thousands of blind computer users who still rely on XP and IE 8 may not be able to access the Target.com site any longer unless they upgrade to IE 9 with Windows 7 or 8, or install Firefox, which has a lot of compatibility problems with JAWS, or Google Chrome, which is still totally inaccessible with JAWS.  Is the NFB aware of this situation?  It seems to me that they have a responsibility to ensure that the Target site remains accessible to all blind computer users, regardless of which browser they are using, because they were the ones who made such a big stink over this issue in the first place.

        Gerald