Alright – it’s time to be honest. We’ve all used it. Internet Explorer 6. Maybe it was before you made the switch to a Mac. Or perhaps it’s still on your work computer at the office? Or maybe you are actually still running IE6 on your home computer?
Well, I’m sad to say there are still people using this browser – and even using it to access Pomomusings? 35.98% of the visitors of Pomomusings use Internet Explorer. And of that 35.98%, 16% of them are using IE6. Luckily, that’s not a huge number – but it’s still unfortunate.
So, I’ll put my bias right out in the air so you know where I’m coming from. IE6 is a horrible browser and it needs to die. Now. Really.
But here’s the rub, especially for web designers – there are still so many of you using it. So we feel compelled to make sure our client’s sites look pixel-perfect in IE6. We want them to look the same in IE6 (which was released on August 27, 2001) and Mozilla’s Firefox 3.5.2 (recently released). It’s as though Microsoft thinks there hasn’t been any innovation or improvements to web design in the past 8 years.
As a web designer, there is nothing more annoying, frustrating and defeating than to try to nail down browser compatibility. And when you throw IE6 into the game, all bets are off. It’s ridiculous. All of this thinking about IE6 came from a recent article in Mashable discussing Microsoft’s statement that IE6 Cannot Die. Well, it can die – and it NEEDS to die – and you can help it! Here are some ways to help contribute to the demise of IE6:
- Stop using it.
- Stop including it in your list of browsers to test websites in.
- Encourage all your family to bring their laptops to Christmas, other holidays and family reunions. You’re the techie – so just make up some excuse to get on their computers and upgrade, upgrade, UPGRADE!
- Stop designing for IE6!
- Stand in front of a mirror and repeat after me, “No – we don’t support IE6.” If that doesn’t work, try following it up with: “Well, YouTube and Digg.com are phasing out support, so…”
- Send a mass e-mail to all your friends at work directing them to SaveIE6 (then find them during lunch and let them know that it’s called SATIRE).
- Take the head of your IT Department out for drinks and tell him/her why they are WRONG and need to upgrade. Get enough drinks in them and they might just come back to the office and perform a system-wide upgrade that very same day.
- Download and Install the Shockingly Big IE6 Warning WordPress Plugin.
- Check out & support sites like Crash IE.
- Become even more educated about IE6 and why it’s not good for the web.
It’s time we all did what we can to get rid of Internet Explorer 6. As for me and Cleave Design, we are going to stop supporting IE6. It needs to be phased out and this is how I will contribute what I can.