[clandestino]

Hello everybody,

I've been browsing this forum for some months, as a guest. Since I gained some experience by doing so, I feel it's start to give back and contribute.

I'd like to tell you about an initiative I launched recently: "Bye-bye, Internet Explorer 6!". This initiative is available at http://www.byebyeinternetexplorer.org.



Despite being a very annoying roadblock for most web designers, IE6 isn't a necessary evil. The main reason it is still present in the browsers stats, is because visitors are using it — period. And 95% of the time, visitors are using IE6 because they don't know that alternatives do exist.

Several similar initiatives have been developed around the web, to bring down IE6 down to the ground and make sure it never rises again, leaving space for more modern and standards-compliant browsers. And to save web designers' time and energy as well, since they would not have to spend their valuable time to make websites compliant with the infamous IE6.

However, while being undoubtedly a massive success amongst the professionals, it might not have been the save with the other side of the world: visitors.

Too often, these initiatives tend to be too tech-centric, speaking a language that most users are afraid to read. Furthermore if that techy gibberish isn't even written in their own language...

Hence the reason and the motive behind "Bye-bye, Internet Explorer 6!", which attempts to take a different approach: instead of speaking to the professional, it speaks to the end user, and explains in simple, everyday words, why IE6 isn't the best solution to browse the web anymore, and why they should change for something better. In addition, it provides this explanation in the visitor's language (eight are supported so far, more are planned in the future), so the message gets even more chances to reach the audience.

"Bye-bye, Internet Explorer 6!" does not replaces or competes with the other existing initiatives, but it complements and supports them, providing a unified voice that will not frighten the end-user.

Spread it, talk about it, post about it, chat about it, twit it, digg it, stumble it, make noise around it. And on top of everything: use it! It's only if all those great initiatives are used that we'll make the web a better place for us and our visitors.

Thank you for your attention.

Note to mods & admins: maybe it's a little bit too much to ask for a 1st post, but it'd be really nice if this post could be turned into a sticky, to ensure maximum visibility.

[ZigPress]

This must be about the 50th example of such a campaign that I've seen over the last 2 years. And it's not the first that tries to speak to the end user either.

As Alan Sugar might say, it's a nice idea, but...

1. Most IE6 users are on company PCs which are locked to IE6 because they need to run old intranet applications, etc.

2. Many home users have no idea what we mean by "Internet Explorer 6" - as far as they're concerned, they "just click the internet icon" and it works. They have no concept of what a browser is, and quite possibly think the google front page search box is the address bar. So long sentences and dense content aren't going to work.

3. Also regarding the content, it still sounds too whiny. Users don't give a damn about web designers' difficulties - why should they? As far as they're concerned, if they are even interested at all, they probably think we should just suck it up and get on with it.

4. Spellcheck your content.

5. The only stuff above the fold is the big picture and the icons. If I was expecting a certain site and got forwarded to this page without warning, I'd think the site had been hijacked or hacked in some way.

I know IE6 is a pain in the ass (though it's actually not as hard to work with as everyone makes out), and I know that I'm not offering any better ideas right now, but I really don't think these campaigns make any difference whatsoever. Sorry...

[BlueDreamer]

Another "die IE6" site

We're rapidly seeing most IE6 usage in the corporate sector, and some medium/large companies. The big problem is that many large companies have legacy systems that won't work on IE7+ (or any other browser), and to update can cost a huge amount of money - with the global recession many can't or won't update. Yes it is short sighted of them, but only a few years back browser development all but stopped and many people thought IE6 was going to be there forever. How times have chnaged!

The volume of individuals using IE6 are probably now a much smaller minorty, maybe 5% or less - I'll bet a tenner on that.

It's great to see folks encouraging upgading, but if a site has a large amount of corporate type IE6 visitors then you just can't ignore them, and the chances are they won't be upgrading in the near future. If you really want IE6 usage to take a big hit then you have to target big businesses.

In the meantime, as web developers, we still have to cater for IE6, love it or hate it. For most sites it's not really that big an issue but one way to encourage upgrading is to use an IE6 specific stylesheet. Either use it to fix things, or better still offer an unstyled or minimal styled site together with a message "for a better experience please upgrade your web browser - Browser1, Browser2, Browser3"

[Acuity]

what a great way to create a site that will quickly get a PR of 3 or above and have a nice link back to your web design company... good thinking!

[ErisDS]

This is such a hot topic in web design and development at the moment, and frankly I'm sick of the whining, especially when it's ill informed.

Quote

95% of the time, visitors are using IE6 because they don't know that alternatives do exist.

No. 95% of the time, visitors are using IE6 because that HAVE NO OTHER ALTERNATIVE. As ZigPress points out - they are on work machines, which are administered by corporations and organisations who use legacy systems which rely on IE6.

The simple fact is that if you want to be a web designer or developer it falls within your mandate to support IE6 if IE6 users are part of the website's target audience. If they aren't - great, design without caring. If they are then unfortunately it is your job to work around IE6.

I know that IE6 costs a lot of freelancers a large amount of money. But working around legacy electronics also costs your electrician money. Every industry has it's unfortunate parts which professionals in that business have to take into account.

[T_break]

Its just a case of getting to know IE6's little eccentricities, I have never had to use anything more drastic than a conditional comment and like Bluedreamer said a friendly advisory note about upgrading. Microsoft are trying to get people to upgrade at the min, there is an article about it in Web designer mag (cant remember what issue) but until D-day when there are only a handful of people using it, we will all just have to put up with it.

[clandestino]

Thanks all for your valuable comments. It's true that, as webdesigners, it's our duty to ensure that what we produce renders nicely regardless of the browser and the platform used by the visitor. But does that mean we all have to support 20+ browsers & platforms? I don't think so. I personally made the choice to limit my support area to the browsers available on Windows & OSX, not Linux (except for FF, but that's pretty obvious).

Now, when you say most of the current IE6 users have no other choice than use IE6 because they are in a rigid corporate environment that make them use webapps hard-coded for IE6, I don't entierely agree. Most of the businesses have completed a migration to Windows XP and IE7. Numbers & stats tend to show that most IE6 users come from emerging markets and from categories of non-professionnal users that don't care about keeping their systems up to date. That's the type of audience I'd like to target.

That said, when you say there's space for improvement in the message, I totally agree. I realize that you're right when you say that some people don't even know what a browser is, or that they don't care about standards. That's certainly a part of the message I'll need to rework a bit.

Acuity, on May 29 2009, 22:56, said:

what a great way to create a site that will quickly get a PR of 3 or above and have a nice link back to your web design company... good thinking!

Well... That's a way to see things. But it's not the right one. I'm not doing this because I need more visits.

[BlueDreamer]

If you've identified an audience from emerging markets that can easily upgrade then I say go for it - the more you chip away at it the better.

Catering for 20+ browsers/platforms is quite extreme in my opinion, it's better to target the three main browser rending engines instead - IE (Trident). Firefox (Gecko), and Safari (Webkit) as this normally covers 99.99999% of usage. Ok so Gecko on Linux might be a few pixels out here and there but does that really matter unless you have a high proportion of penguins as visitors?

There's been a lot of talk over recent years about "graceful degradation" which is a time saver. Mainly used around IE6 it basically says that it doesn't have to be pixel perfect for IE6, if it's still usable and functional then that's enough. And mainly the point that if we still do pixel pandering for IE6 people will say "why upgrade, everything displays fine".

[Dizi]

clandestino, on May 30 2009, 16:54, said:

Thanks all for your valuable comments. It's true that, as webdesigners, it's our duty to ensure that what we produce renders nicely regardless of the browser and the platform used by the visitor. But does that mean we all have to support 20+ browsers & platforms?

The thing is you just answered your own question, no we don't have to support 20+ browsers, we do however have to support all the major browsers...and IE6 is a major browser. So if you don't support IE6...even thought it is a pain to work with, then you are doing the client who has paid you to provide a professional service a disservice, as you are not doing what you were being paid for...which is always design and build a website that represents that business that can be seen by the largest amount of people, which mean supporting all the majority used browsers. So it doesn't matter where these IE6 users are from the point is that they are there, and you still have to cater for them as that is your job.

Like with all job there will be things that you like and things that you hate...IE6 is the latter but that doesn't mean that because you don't like it that you can just stop supporting it, as it is something that isn't your choice to make... you chose to be in this profession and you just have to take the bad with the good.

[darrenbale]

as a strange aside, I had a visitor to my site today using IE4!! i have no idea what my site looked like in his/her browser.

Windows latest lot of updates contains the upgrade for IE8 so Microsoft are trying to convert everybody.

[clandestino]

Dizi, on May 30 2009, 18:41, said:

...then you are doing the client who has paid you to provide a professional service a disservice, as you are not doing what you were being paid for...which is always design and build a website that represents that business that can be seen by the largest amount of people, which mean supporting all the majority used browsers. So it doesn't matter where these IE6 users are from the point is that they are there, and you still have to cater for them as that is your job.

Well, don't take me wrong, I do support IE6 today. Most of — if not all — the websites I have created render nicely in IE6, thanks to numerous tweaks and JS frameworks. But at the same time, why not try to educate the users about the advantages of abandoning IE6?