I`m a Brazilian web designer &
front-end developer.
This blog features some of my projects, illustrations, photographs and thoughts. Enjoy!
Why Should I Care About IE6?
Firefox, Chrome, Safari, Internet Explorer, Opera. Developing websites to match all these browsers is no easy job. And don’t even start talking about the different release versions. You can’t force your visitor to use a specific software but your budget is limited and you can’t create a whole new html for each one of them.
Luckily the modern versions of these browsers are relatively compatible, one difference here, another there. Nothing that a separate stylesheet or a reset css can’t solve. One of them, however, take this to the extreme. Yes, I am talking about the evil IE6.
Losing Support?
IE6 is so full of bugs and rendering problems that several websites are not supporting it any more. Digg, Youtube, Orkut and all 37 signals products (Basecamp, Campfire…) just to name a few. Personally I don’t design for IE6 unless the client specifically asks for it.
To Do or Not To Do
It is a tough decision to make, even tougher without the proper information. A good start is to analyse the average visitor of your (or your clients) website. Check their OS, browser software and work from there.
If a significant portion of the visitors have outdated browser then you might have no choice but to design for them. There are some information out there that can help you with the most common issues.
In case you have no traffic data you can check generic worldwide statistics. W3C, StatCounter and ADTECH (Europe) are a few places that display this information online. Be aware that these statistics represent a very wide audience that maybe don’t represent your audience. In this website for instance, less then 1% of my visitors use IE6. Mainly because this website`s targets are developers, designers and general web-savvy people.
Happy End?
According to W3Schools, IE6 dropped 6% from January to September of this year. So lets be positive and one day we won’t have to bother about this particular browser. I mean, even Microsoft launched a campaign to promote browser upgrade. Fingers crossed!
Nice post about web browser. We should not care abt ie6. Thanks for this awesome post.
No more IE6 users… Let’s all hope that day soon will come :)
I dont know y people still using this crap ie6. I also write a blog like this. Have a look. http://www.myhtmlworld.com/web-development/do-we-really-need-to-support-internet-explorer-6.html
E ai cara, muito bacana teu site.. é bom ver um web brasileiro “desenvolvendo mundo a fora”… esse problema do IE6 é realmente terrível.. a maioria dos orgãos públicos aqui no Brasil, inclusive os ministérios, senado, etc, está ATUALMENTE usando o ie6.. eles simplesmente proibem a atualização dos browsers *Informação que tive por intermédio de um amigo que trabalha nos ministérios *
Acho que todos os web designers devem fazer uma “campanha” para que o ie6 seja “abandonado”…
Estou desenvolvendo meu portfólio, e nele dou uma breve explicação do PORQUE NAO USAR o explorer 6… Infelizmente as pessoas que o usam muitas vezes nao imaginam o que estão perdendo… no sentido de que browsers como Firefox exibem praticamente todo tipo de conteudo sem problemas… Nós temos evoluido, estudado, trabalhado bastante e muitas vezes as pessoas nao conseguem ver nosso trabalho por conta de burocracias de instituições…
Vamos nos unir para explicar às pessoas que elas DEVEM atualizar seus browsers…
Gustavo Lima, Brasília / Brazil
Abraços!
There is no question about it, IE6 should not be supported in modern sites, under any circomstances.
Brugbart has a more in-depth Article, giving some pro ditch-IE6 arguments, which i personally find more solid then the lame excuses many web designers put forward.
http://brugbart.com/Articles/Ditch-support-for-Old-Browsers_84.html
Its more generally aimed twoards old browsers, then any specific browser. But IE6 has been, and still is to some, a pain in the ass..