Will 2010 finally be the year that Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) loses enough market share that developers no longer need to support it? I know I speak for not only myself but for many of my developer colleagues when I say, “one can hope!” IE6 will be 9 years old this year and yet there is still a column for it on our QA checklist. Windows has come out with two newer (and better) browsers within the last 9 years that we also support; yet developers typically code for the most recent version of Firefox, Chrome, Safari and Opera. So why do we need to support a version of IE that in today’s technology space is equivalent to a fossil?
It’s simple. People are still using it. Even though the market share is declining, at last look IE6 still makes up about 20% of the market. Buy why? To compare a modern browser to IE6 would be like comparing a Corvette to a horse and buggy. It lacks the bells and whistles of the newer browsers, it’s less secure, it doesn’t support png transparancy and it doesn’t support today’s web standards – which causes developers everywhere hours of frustration.
Ultimately, having to support IE6 is hindering the advancement of websites both in design and functionality. With the release of HTML5 on the horizon, the web is about to take on a whole new direction and will leave those that don’t support it in the dust. IE6 users will start to notice sites that look broken or simply do not work. They will get messages asking them to upgrade (if they haven’t already.) Even bigger sites like Facebook, YouTube and Digg are starting to limit their support of the browser.
So, my question to you is do you use IE6? If so, why? Is it a choice? Are you restricted by your IT department? Did you just not know there was a difference between browsers, or that there are better ones out there? Have you noticed sites are prompting you to upgrade, look broken or just don’t work? Please, leave your answers in the comments. I’d love to hear from you!
If you are looking for an upgrade try one of these:
Tags: Application development, browers, IE6, webdev, Website design
This entry was posted on Friday, January 22nd, 2010 at 10:23 am and is filed under Application development, Website design. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
January 22nd, 2010 at 11:12 am
Patti, as a developer I could not agree with you more. I just don’t understand how, or better “why,” people are still using IE6 to browse the web.
If I had to guess, I think one big issue is that non-technically savvy people don’t generally realize there is even an alternative to Internet Explorer. IE ships with windows, and therefore just gets used by default. You and I stay on top of what’s available, but to the normal end user – if it works, no need to change it.
This type of casual internet user would probably not pro-actively update their machines either (i assume). If not, they would not even realize new versions of IE have been rolled out as important updates from Microsoft.
I’ve been a Firefox user for a long time. I have nothing but good things to say about it. Google chrome looks decent as well, there was just some privacy issues when it was released that sort of drove me away from it. Both, it is important to mention, are free.
Anyways, great post. I’m all about getting IE6 removed from the list of “standard” browsers. It’s not standard, it’s way past it’s time.
January 22nd, 2010 at 11:26 am
Great post! This reminds me of a conversation I had with Jeff Leombruno (http://www.pixelmedia.com/blog/author/jleombruno/) a couple weeks ago. He mentioned that when he develops, he always tests in IE6 along the way. I tend to do the opposite – which means I think I’m done coding and then open it up in IE6 and it’s a complete buzz-kill because my template is completely broken or 5 dozen small things are amiss. I don’t know why I’ve always worked like this (for that reason), so I think until IE6 is obsolete (which will hopefully be soon) I will take that approach!.
January 22nd, 2010 at 2:04 pm
There’s definitely a movement out there to kill IE 6. From Microsoft product managers giving talks on the subject (see Pete LePage’s talke at An Event Apart Boston http://aneventapart.com/2010/boston/) to web citizens banning together (http://www.ie6nomore.com/) and companies starting their own campaigns (http://www.bringdownie6.com/)…you aren’t alone in your hope that the browser dies before 2014 (http://www.betanews.com/article/Microsoft-may-not-kill-IE6-until-at-least-2014/1250003327).
Do you think Firefox avoids this issue by taking a different approach? It seems like Firefox prompts me to upgrade to new versions and if I decline long enough the upgrade is just installed automatically without giving me the choice.