I use to like Internet Explorer. There are some uses – like the fact there are people that use it and view my site with it. However, it seems there are people who missed the updates and still use Internet Explorer 6 (IE6.) I still see people viewing my site in IE6 and know my PNG images look crappy to them. Oh well, I am not changing it for IE6 and I do not optimize sites for it. As a web designer, it is my choice and I am not afraid to tell my clients why I do not.
It is not just about integrity as said in Joseph McCullough’s article IE6 and the Starving Artist, it is about making people aware of how much safer it is to surf without a faulty browser. Funny how the update was missed as when IE7 was released, it came out as an automatic update!
Why is Internet Explorer 6 bad?
The program is not compatible with some css and javascript elements. It is also well known to have many security vulnerabilities.
It is not about being snooty or web standard compliant (okay, well, you should at least try to be W3C compliant), it is about safe surfing. No one likes malware or viruses. Some of them can be a pain to remove or even costly!
While I am not going to slap some code on my site to tell people to update, I am at least writing to tell people that IE6 is dead. As funny as it sounds, there was even a funeral for IE6 too! Google even started phasing out IE6.
So, why not upgrade to Windows IE7 and above? 😉 It is available and not really that hard to update. There are also other great browsers like Firefox, Chrome, Opera, and Safari.
What browser do you like to surf the Internet with?
I really appreciate the reference!
The reason why I did not go the security route concerning IE6 is because 70% of IE6 users are temporary IE6 Users: IE6 Is the only thing their work lets them use. Offices and corporations are still stuck on IE6 because a lot of intranet applications were made specifically for IE6, and I'm sure these are developed and maintained with sufficient security. The reason why they aren't upgrading is simple economics. There is no pressure to upgrade due to the accommodation of web designers who optimize for IE6. Upgrading intranet applications on a corporate scale will cost a ton. Why spend millions when you don't have to, right?
But overall I'm in agreement with you. It's time to move forward.
Oh, and I browse with Chrome, though I may start using firefox for the developer addons. There are some slight irritations with it, but I enjoy it for the most part.
Good article!
My recent post Removing punctuation and spaces from a String in C++
I use firefox – my favourite! I stopped using IE years ago.
As a web designer, I still have to design for IE in mind since there are people who use it. However, I do not support designing for IE 6… only IE7 and above when it comes to that browser.