IE6 Your Time Is Up
Launched on August 27 2001 Microsoft's Internet Explorer 6.0 has been blessed with a curse.
Placed against it's competitors; Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Opera and even it's own upgrade Internet Explorer 7, Internet Explorer 6 just looks shoddy.
I remember downloading IE6 the day it was released. My computer very quickly started experiencing problems. I thought my computer had a virus, but it turns out I just needed to downgrade to IE5.5 to resolve the problem.
But it's not just installation problems; as a website developer IE6 is the main cause of headaches.
Part of my job is to ensure websites display correctly in all browsers. Doing so it's a pretty simple task; just stick to the right codes and standards. When I produce a website 99.9% of the time it appears as it should in all browsers. Except one.
IE6 often requires tweaks and hacks to the HTML and CSS to make it work properly. Often seperate CSS need to be written for IE6 with the use of JavaScript to ensure IE6 renders the website properly.
Why is it that it's competitors are able to just... well... work.
What frustrates me even more is when I realise a website isn't displaying correctly in IE6, so I spend hours tweaking and adjusting the code. Then it works perfectly in IE6 but every other browser has display issues!
But the biggest issue I face is; do I continue tweaking and adjusting website code just for IE6. Or do I make it clear that I don't support the browser in my designs?
You might argue that a website must display properly in all browsers. Now, I don't have a problem with that but I do have to charge our clients more when making a website IE6 compliant due to the extra 30% of time on average required to make it compatible with IE6.
So our clients would also benefit from a cost saving if their websites aren't "tweaked" for IE6.
About 20% of internet users are still browsing the web in IE6 (source W3C). So discontinuing support for website development in IE6 would affect 20% of internet users - and it's not their fault they're using IE6 so why penalise them?
Recently I've started placing a warning in the websites I produce for IE6 users. When an IE6 user visits a website I've made a discrete warning appears letting them know the security vulnerabilities and incomplete standards their internet browser is blessed with. Links to Firefox and IE upgrades are also shown.
The other problem is that many of those users with IE6 just aren't aware there's an alternative, let alone how to install an upgrade. In the current ecenomic situation many firms wouldn't think to strongly to upgrading all their machines to new browsers either.
Worryingly, I found out that China are about to raise IE6 from the grave with an IE6 mobile version, planned by Microsoft. Apparently it's rendering engine and CSS standards all come from the much loved (!) desktop version of IE6.
This could cause issues since 29% of Internet users in China are mobile!
Many are calling from Microsoft to discontinue its support for IE6 and to instead focus on IE7 and IE8. Facebook and Google Mail users in IE6 are now shown blunt messages with links to browser upgrades. Curiously Google Mail users are offered Chrome download links.
If you are reading this blog in IE6, just take a few minutes to browse through the latest upgrades over a cup of warm Coa-coa. You'll me amazed at the improvements.
Have a good weekend. See you Monday at 09:00
Simon
