/Culture/ Calling time on IE6
23/02/2009 | Filed under Discover > Culture
Craig Grannell asks designers and developers if it’s finally time to take IE6 behind the shed and shoot it
Even in 2001, Internet Explorer didn’t set the world on fire. Incomplete standards support rapidly made it look shoddy in the face of strong competition. In today’s market, surrounded by Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Opera and its own successor, Internet Explorer 7, version 6 of Microsoft’s browser looks positively ancient.
Many argue that IE6 hinders development, due to the number of hacks required to get sites working in it. Opera web evangelist Bruce Lawson goes further, squarely blaming IE6 for “hindering the development of the web”, due to its lack of support for advanced CSS and XHTML. Many in the industry tell such tales: horror stories of a third of a site’s development time taken up by dealing with IE6; major display issues requiring a partial site rebuild, despite everything looking fine in all other browsers; elements randomly disappearing entirely due to the ‘hasLayout’ bug. “If anything, things will get worse, since we’re now battling three versions: 6, 7 and the beta of 8,” says Tom Muller of Kleber. “They all display content slightly differently and we regularly work up a site in Firefox or Safari, only to spend a day figuring out why our valid, semantic code doesn’t render correctly in Internet Explorer.”
A reason to live
Clearly, IE7 can’t be shunned: not supporting the current version of Microsoft’s market-leading browser would be a crazy move. However, with its predecessor now approaching its eighth birthday – positively ancient in software terms – should designers now ignore it until it fades away?
“That’s a really attractive thought,” admits Muller, “but when a fifth or more of the audience still uses IE6, we can’t just drop it.” He remarks that, although designers often know what’s best from a technical standpoint – regularly updating browsers and favouring the best experience – the average user may not have even heard of alternatives, let alone considered downloading and installing them.
Lawson adds that for a large chunk of the market, even when someone wants to replace IE6, it isn’t always possible: “Lots of people using IE6 can’t choose an alternative, because they’re on corporate desktops or using older computers. Given the economic climate, few firms will feel like jettisoning a fleet of Windows 2000 desktops that can’t run IE7 or 8.” Furthermore, in many parts of the world, people simply can’t afford computers that run the operating systems necessary to install newer versions of IE. And in certain countries, although IE6’s desktop market share may continue to slide, it could be a while before we’ve seen the back of it. “IE6 is about to rise from the grave as Microsoft plans to launch IE6 mobile in China this year,” says Lawson. “My compatibility tests show its rendering engine, CSS and standards support are from IE6 desktop – and this is for a product designed for a country where 29 per cent of internet users only ever use a mobile phone to access the web!”
Life support
Lawson reckons Microsoft should drop support for IE6 itself – “and it should port IE7 and IE8 to Windows 2000, which Microsoft is supporting until 2010”. But others aren’t so sure. During the past year, high-profile names decided, to varying degrees, to pull the plug on IE6. That Apple told MobileMe users to upgrade is not entirely surprising, given that its target market is hardly Windows users with old kit. But then Facebook shocked everyone by providing a decidedly inferior experience for IE6 users, bluntly telling them why and also offering browser upgrade links. More recently, Google followed suit – not entirely for altruistic reasons, no doubt. Google Mail users running IE6 now see a ‘Get faster Gmail’ link, leading to a page promoting Firefox and Google’s own Chrome browser. Like Apple and Facebook, Google considers IE6 ‘unsupported’, warning that it fails to run some features of Google products.
Clearleft co-founder Andy Budd reckons the fact that sites are offering upgrade paths is a generally positive sign. “It’s reminiscent of the WaSP browser campaign of years gone by,” he says. “Having a large company stop supporting a particular browser version can only give developers more ammunition when dealing with reluctant clients.” Muller agrees, saying: “Facebook offers a service used by so many people who may consider it their main communication tool and they’re willing to upgrade so they don’t miss out.”
Although it’s unlikely smaller websites can convince users to upgrade or crossgrade, there’s nothing wrong in following the examples set by larger organisations. Some companies and designers remain terrified of alienating people and dropping a chunk of the userbase by simply informing them. However, a straightforward note about browser incompatibilities and links enabling free upgrades to modern browsers aren’t things that should be considered negative – at least if the site isn’t crippled by said incompatibilities.
Going forward
Taking things forward, we’re now, oddly enough, in a similar situation to when IE6 first appeared. Back then, designers were starting to ditch tables-based layouts designed for IE5 and Netscape for spangly new CSS layouts. But special care was taken to ensure a user of legacy kit didn’t have the digital equivalent of a door rudely slammed in their face. “As a rule, I’d say still pay IE6 some heed, but don’t lose too much sleep if all things don’t render correctly,” recommends Budd. WaSP member Kimberley Blessing agrees, claiming that IE6 “doesn’t require that many hacks anyway”. In fact, for experienced developers, she reckons the IE6 argument is “bull”: “It’s annoying, but not horrible. If you plan your hacks strategically, IE6 is not all that bad.” Cognifide COO Stuart Dean adds that if you plan to support IE6 but want to create modern, compliant sites, just be mindful of the costs, rather than getting frustrated at spending ‘extra’ hours fixing problems: “Factor support for obsolete browsers into cost projections. Consider this a feature that should be estimated accordingly, since IE6 support is additional work.”
Ultimately, the long tail of obsolete browser usage is nothing new: it’s just the level of standards in the rest of the current leading pack that causes frustration when IE6 looms into view. “IE6 is the new Netscape 4,” reasons Jeff Zeldman, one of the main guys responsible in the 1990s for beating browser makers with the standards stick until they started to play ball. He considers that in a perfect world, designing with web standards means not needing to exclude any browser or device. “But in practice, the hacks needed to support IE6 vis-a-vis display and behaviour are increasingly viewed as excess freight. Like Netscape 4 in 2000, IE6 is perceived to be holding back the web. How much longer we prop up this ageing browser must be decided on a case-by-case basis. Not every site can afford to dump it today, but the writing’s on the wall.”
If you want to bring down IE6, download our logo for your site, and, if you wish, link it to this feature.
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Comments
Richard Cunningham / 23/02/2009 / 15:50 / http://friendbinder.com/users/rythie
I don't think that dropping IE6 is necessarily going to speed up IE6's demise.
One reason I think it is sticking around, that wasn't mentioned, is intranet sites. It's still quite common to find software that companies and organisations that buy software for use internally that only supports IE and especially for older versions, IE6 and no later. These sites are not on the internet, so they get forgotten, but companies keep IE6 on their machines to work with it.
It would be really useful, if the companies selling this stuff, could be persuaded that intranet apps cannot assume one browser maker or a particular versions and to stick to standards instead (i.e. avoid ActiveX)
Also I think IE6 is dying of it's own accord anyway. Windows doesn't let you run more than one version of IE and Vista already comes with IE7. This means for web developer you often need at least two virtual machines to test IEs 6,7 and 8 making it quite a hassle.
Tim / 23/02/2009 / 16:41 / http://www.dubblevision.com
Most definitely - I hate the amount of extra time required to make websites half decent in IE6. I don’t think Microsoft themselves do enough to notify their users that a new version is available.
As for businesses with Intranets that only work in IE6 – its time to change! No website should now only work in IE. Its way past its due date and with other arguably stable and faster browsers (Firefox, Chrome, etc).
There is no reason for everyone else to suffer, just because companies can not be bothered to upgrade their browsers and websites. The sooner developers start ignoring bugs in IE – the sooner the change will happen.
Then again – im a Vista Business user.. and my IE doesn’t even load (but i dont care lol)
Eyvind A. Larre / 23/02/2009 / 18:30 / http://www.larrre.com
Big effort is done in Scandinavia right now, se:
http://blog.wired.com/business/2009/02/norwegian-websi.html
Erlend Schei / 23/02/2009 / 19:04 / http://bit.ly/wired
A Norwegian end IE6 initiative is currently getting massive international support, and has recently hit the home pages of Wired, Slashdot and Digg.
All major Norwegian sites now display large banners targeted at IE6 users urging them to upgrade.
http://blog.wired.com/business/2009/02/norwegian-websi.html
http://tech.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=09/02/20/214210
http://www.pcworld.com/article/159898/norway_pushes_to_boot_microsofts_ie6_browser_off_the_web.html
The campaign can be followed on the Wiki: http://ie6.forteller.net/ and on Twitter by following the #IE6 tag.
Tor / 23/02/2009 / 21:19 / http://ap.no
In Norway are all the major sites (and I do mean all) displaying a message to IE6 users telling them to upgrade. See http://ie6.forteller.net
Matthew / 24/02/2009 / 17:37
I'm not that keen on IE7, being a FireFox user, but I still have IE6 on my PC. My PC is old, (bought it when Windows XP was first released), and when I installed IE7 way back 2 years ago, (I didn't have FF at that point), my internet experience was abysmal, with everything taking ages to load, especially the browser itself.
Then when installing new security software, my PC goes kaput. So, after reinstalling Windows, I was back with old IE6, but then quickly made the switch to FF.
Erwin / 24/02/2009 / 19:33
Recently I made a bold choice not to support IE6 in my sites following the Norwegian initiative. There's no sense, in my opinion, to clutter up perfectly good html and css to satisfy the erratic whims of a dinosaur.
And by the way, there is a way to reinstall IE6 after being upgraded to IE7. It's called multple IE. I think it's developed by Tredosoft. The only catch is, it won't work on Vista..
Matthew Bee / 25/02/2009 / 10:37 / http://www.gyrointernational.com
I don't think the issue is as cut and dry as whether IE6 support should be dropped or not. Three techniques can make the development a lot less of a headache with minimum effort.
Fisrt of all, most new developments should have user agent numbers associated with them (most analytics providers include this). Use those numbers to determine the attention IE6 is given. It is little work to target development and prevent a huge headache.
Secondly, implement graceful degradation for the IE6 user, where the site may not look the same or have full functionality, but a user shouldn't be able to tell the site is “broken”. Aside from developers, I guess very few people will view a site in multiple browsers (mobile browsers aside).
The final method to avoid future development nightmares is make people aware there is a new browser available. A simple method for this is www.pushuptheweb.com.
I wrote more on this subject in November at: http://bluhalo.com/blog/view/187/how-soon-is-now-time-to-end-ie6-support
Martin / 25/02/2009 / 14:22
I agree wholeheartedly - lets take I6E out back and shoot it! I mean honestly - that is the worst logo design I've ever seen... its I E 6, not I6E...
And while the rest of you abandon IE6 I'll snap up all your customers as I keep supporting it on my app.
/Martin
Peter / 26/02/2009 / 09:51 / http://www.streammedia.org
There is one major issue with the removal of IE6 from the web - piracy.
When Microsoft released IE7 to get it you needed a valid copy of Windows XP or Vista. If you didn't Microsoft would not allow the download to go ahead so people just stick with IE6.
There are a huge number of people around the world using pirated copies of Windows and thus cannot upgrade. These people also may be unaware that their are alternatives.
This is why IE6 will not go away.
The other issue which has been covered in this article is large corportion networks might still be running old systems. My wife works for the NHS and they still run Windows 2000 machines running IE6!
Chris / 26/02/2009 / 15:50 / http://www.meloncreative.co.uk
Brilliant, I have been waiting for a movement such as this for ages! Needs someone with the clout of .Net to get the ball rolling, as otherwise a bunch of devs whining about it isnt going to make the news / get clients to pay attention.
IE6 is one of the single biggest annoyances of my job, after coding a really good looking site that is nice and clean, and semantically correct, to have to deliberately fill it with bloat / hacks just to get it to display is ridiculous. Who works like this? If you were a surgeon and left your patient in that state not only would you lose your job, you would probably be arrested.
The whole Internet Explorer range of browsers makes me feel dirty, so trying to get rid of the evil that is IE6 is definitely a step in the right direction, good stuff :D Vote++
Now to persuade my 'apple fanboy / designer' boss to add the logo to our site, wish me luck ;)
Suzanne / 27/02/2009 / 10:14 / http://aylesford.storageking.co.uk/
I must admit IE 6 is a pain in the rear, alot of people still use it though, maybe they are not comfortable with change...and i do agree with what is said above the logo is totally wrong!
Kev Jaques / 27/02/2009 / 16:46 / http://multilayerdesign.com
IE6 should have been pulled years ago imo. These types of post have been going the last few years and I think we will still see them being written in 2010. The takeup on IE8 will be less, although I think most will upgrade as IE7 is tolerable at best.
We have yet to see any decent market penetration from Opera which is far a better alternative to IE, obviously FF, Chrome etc... should be prime candidates for users to choose.
Nasar / 02/03/2009 / 11:27 / http://www.pixelfloat.com
Many of my clients are still loaded with WinXP and IE6. As a web developer, I do a test for IE6. I think it is good , and for me there are no plans to drop IE6 for another 1-2 years more. Explaining that all these Browser wars for your non-techy clients.., it is tough some times.
Matt Hill / 02/03/2009 / 12:46 / http://www.friskdesign.com
I simply can't believe the groundswell of voices stating that we should drop support for IE6.
IE6 has about a 20% global share of the browser space, and specific audience shares of anything up to 80%, depending on your target market. As a responsible designer/developer who believes Tim Berners Lee's vision of an information space that's available to all, I'm incredulous at the number of respected industry names (small and large) who are advocating shutting out 20% of people from using their services, or indeed, using the web at all.
The Web is not just a developer's digital playground, it's supposed to be accessible to all. It's not our place to dictate to people what browser they use, in particular to organisations who have no current option to upgrade. You can certainly recommend that people upgrade, but locking them out completely -- that's absurd.
Of course, the WaSP movement was a great thing: it forced browser vendors to adopt standards that were long overdue. Coding to standards is now the industry norm, and IE6 respects them well enough (in standards mode), so I don't see how comparing the early days of WaSP to advocating complete firing of an adequate browser is any way a reasonable comparison.
The web is about sharing and participation. It seems in the arms race of developing sophisticated web apps and experiences, many people are forgetting the basic tenet of what makes the web so special. If your argument for not supporting IE6 is because it "takes too long", "is too expensive" or "doesn't look the same as other browsers" then you're either doing it wrong, failed to factor it into your costs or completely misunderstand the concept of elegant degradation. Sure, IE6 sucks and sites don't always look the same in it, but it's a much better proposition to build a site that *is usable* in IE6 even with those caveats, than simply ignore it completely. Maybe this whole argument is simply about different perceptions of what "support IE6" actually means.
If you advocate restricting users by your decision to drop IE6 as a supported browser, I think you need to take a long hard look at why you're developing on the web in the first place. Do you really want to go back to the days of "Best viewed in..." written on your site? Some of the recent commentary on this topic would suggest so, which is rather depressing.
For as long as there's 20% still using IE6, I'll be building websites that work in it.
Steven Grant / 02/03/2009 / 15:43 / http://g1media.co.uk
I built my latest site to support IE6 but in the future I've decided not to support it.
Since reading the article in .net my thinking has moved. People usually hire a web developer or designer because they understand that you have skills and knowledge for something to be deployed online.
If the client respects you and your expertise, then they should realise that when you say IE6 is archaic and must be changed to a compliant browser, then they should accept your opinion.
We have a responsibility to the industry to ensure best practice, IE6 is not best practice! You should take the time to explain to a customer why IE6 is bad.
I understand what people are saying about market share of IE6 but on all the sites I've seen stats for on the last few months (not just small business but government sites too), IE6 now has a very small market share, less than 5%.
It shouldn't be that hard to convert that 5% - after all, a new browser will actually improve their online experience and it won't cost them a penny.
I know people will say about company intranets etc but they're a different case.
I guess what I'm saying is that you should be looking at your analytics and cutting your site accordingly, if IE6 isn't heavily used, then move on, educate those who do use IE6 and tell them what benefits they'll get from upgrading.
Noel / 02/03/2009 / 19:52 / http://www.instudio.net
IE6 should be done with.
IE6 takes so much time to develop for. Not for nothing but Safari just raised the bar for all browsers.
Nick / 05/03/2009 / 14:45 / http://www.projectorpoint.co.uk
I don't think IE6 being released in 2001 is the key factor in whether it should still be supported. What is more relevant is how long people have had to adopt its successor, which is under a year and a half. That strikes me as a little soon to have expected everyone to have made the move, especially the grey sector.
This transition will probably be slower than previous ones as there's less of a reason to upgrade.
Teck Yu (aka:tysoh) / 07/03/2009 / 09:54 / http://www.dreamplusstudio.com
Thanks for starting this great campaign to bring down IE6, as a web designer myself, catering to the so called - standards in IE6, is a very time-consuming jobs for me. I will raise both my hands up high to bring down IE6 fast, if not immediately!
Scott / 07/03/2009 / 23:56 / http://www.simpsoncrazy.com
@Nick: actually IE7 was released in October 2006 which means it's been out two and a half years! Going on three if you count the beta stage.
Aside from the intranet thing, the main problem is Windows XP. XP was released around the time the internet and personal computing in general got massive. Everyone bought a new PC in the early 00's, and the novice users won't upgrade their system for a long time yet - it's fine for their needs.
Alex / 10/03/2009 / 14:41 / http://www.sicanstudios.com
IE 6,7,8,9,10... all should go down!!!
Long Live Firefox! :p
Although I've been having some problems with downloading files, but in this new version (3.0.7) they seem to have fixed the issue.
IE= the most terrifying nightmare of a designer!
I haven't tried IE8, or maybe I shouldn't be bothered to?? :p
Adrian / 17/03/2009 / 13:52 / http://www.adrianpelletier.com
It is time to let IE6 go. Here is the solution I came up with:
http://www.adrianpelletier.com/2009/02/16/how-i-chose-to-say-farewell-to-ie6/
Pradeep CD / 19/03/2009 / 10:59 / http://www.cdpradeep.com
A good web developer does not take THIS Campaign seriously.
If he is professional designer or developer, then he is going to develop for IE 6 also.
Majority on the internet is IE 6... then IE 7 and Firefox
Paul / 21/03/2009 / 21:28 / http://www.seorush.com
IE6 should be put down, if it was an animal you would have the RSCPA on your case.
Personally I don't bother with IE6 support on my own personal sites anymore, for clients I still do.
Sooner its gone the better!
Timo / 22/03/2009 / 21:59
Schools and libraries are still using IE6 because it still works so there's no need to install a other browser ..
Hoser / 24/03/2009 / 16:40
Not only should we shoot ie6, we should shoot ie7. For the life of me, I can't understand how google can whip out an awesome standards compliant browser in a matter of months, but it took microsoft 14 years to do it with ie8. It's maddening!
Simon Hamp / 25/03/2009 / 13:47 / http://flipstorm.co.uk/
Why are we worrying about statistics for business users... chances are their admins won't even let them view the kind of sites that won't run on IE6. The market we really need to consider is the public.
As IE8 is now released, Microsoft will be pushing hard to get existing IE6 and 7 users to upgrade, for security, market share, usability, and to please their partners.
If you're building for a corporate that maintains that IE6 must stay, build for IE6. If you're designing a public website that the client demands IE6 support, be pragmatic and give it to them. If they don't, add PushUp (http://www.pushuptheweb.com/) or a similar tool so that users have a clear notice on what to do.
The simple fact is most people do what they're told. (Why do you think so many people get malware and trojans from popups that say "Your computer is FULL of viruses, clean it now with our 100% MALWARE-FREE tool"?)
Lmc / 09/04/2009 / 14:44
I am so pleased someone is taking the iniative. I just wish the downloadable logo was a bit more considered for the role you are asking it to play. iE6 is not particularly clear on it and the style does not lend itself very well across most of the site I would have considered using it on. Still, a comendable effort.
web tasarim / 14/04/2009 / 08:29 / http://www.3beyaz.com
A good web developer does not take THIS Campaign seriously.
If he is professional designer or developer, then he is going to develop for IE 6 also.
Majority on the internet is IE 6... then IE 7 and Firefox
adikt / 24/04/2009 / 18:52 / http://www.blindedbybullshit.com/magazine-articles/worlds-most-insipid-magazine-article/
EVERY web designer, both professional and amateur, is aware of the rendering problems caused by IE6.
It would be absolutely great to say "right, I've had enough of this, I'm not supporting IE6 anymore" and design all your future sites accordingly. The trouble with this attitude is that (again, as any web designer with any shred of professionalism will know) there are still LOADS of people using IE6. Browser statistics are an incredibly vague estimate at best, since they are generally only recorded on technical websites, whose users tend to be more savvy about the existence of alternatives to IE, therefore skewing the results vastly in favour of browsers like Firefox, Safari and Opera.
Websites like Google and Facebook can afford to leave IE6 unsupported - people are like to upgrade just so they can use them - they use them every day and increasingly can't live without them. Who's going to go to the trouble of upgrading their browser to access "Bob's Landscape Gardening" website? Noone - they will just find a competitor's site that they CAN see.
The best part was the "come to our site and download our graphic" saying "bring down IE6", branded, of course, with the .net magazine logo.
WHAT a waste of money!!
ana / 06/05/2009 / 17:11 / http://vecinos.com/barcelona
I am so pleased someone is taking the iniative. I just wish the downloadable logo was a bit more considered for the role you are asking it to play. iE6 is not particularly clear on it and the style does not lend itself very well across most of the site I would have considered using it on. Still, a comendable effort.
Marco / 07/05/2009 / 16:52 / http://www.shitshitshit.eu
http://www.shitshitshit.eu is proud to support Bring Down IE6!
Pradeeep CD / 19/05/2009 / 06:10 / http://www.cdpradeep.com/
I agree with Matt Hill (http://www.friskdesign.com)
I just read his article on his blog, you should read this too...
http://www.friskdesign.com/2009/04/20/why-i-support-ie6/
Great article...
Mike / 28/05/2009 / 16:53
Not sure if this has been mentioned, but its interesting to note that MS are no longer going to support IE6.
http://rapidapplicationdevelopment.blogspot.com/2009/05/secrets-of-sharepoint-2010-exposed-at.html
Requires at least Windows Server 2008 64 bit
Requires SQL Server 64 bit (2005 or 2008)
Will not support for IE 6
Public testing to occur first half of next year
kris / 29/05/2009 / 01:35
either microsoft has to find a way to "force" everyone to upgrade, to embed ie7/8 (or even better, mozilla) within an ie6 instance...
or... designers need to learn to suck it up and learn what will work Everywhere and give up a few notions of what They want versus what they can actually Deliver...
which, if you ask me, would be the best for all involved, really.
Dev The Web / 31/05/2009 / 23:18 / http://www.dev-the-web.com
I just stop checking my sites for IE6 compatibility, I don't care about people who still use it :(
Usually all works fine on Mozilla, IE7, Safari, Opera and Chrome, but not in IE6, it's the top of browser's hell chart :)
Ben / 05/06/2009 / 16:39 / http://benbyford.co.uk
I currently work for a web company dealing mainly in business sites for those IE users, and to be honest it life could be soooo much simpler driving design forward on compliant browsers such as Firefox, Safari, Chrome, and Opera, which have update often, and have fewer CSS rendering issues!!
So call everyone to action, IE is needs to go the way of Netscape and take face the music!
Edgar Leijs / 05/06/2009 / 19:36 / http://www.edgarleijs.nl
I've spread this article on Twitter and put the logo on my site http://www.edgarleijs.nl
Please don't support IE6 anymore... it's just a wast! More and more websites also have a IE6 only banner that subtly ask the users to upgrade to a newer browser... this is a good thing... Not so good is that loads of companies use old Microsoft software that is not compatible with IE7 and higher. Just ditch the IE and use Firefox, Chrome or another better and more secure browser in your company. It will work!!!
To all corporate IT peoples. It's up to you now.... good luck!
Pete / 22/06/2009 / 08:49
Considering now that we're on Internet Explorer 8, it seems futile from that point of view to keep developing for the ancient IE6. I think what it come's down too in terms of continued support from a web developers perspective is researching who exactly is visiting your website, and what type of people are they.
For example, I imagine that .NET magazine only has a very small percentage of users who still visit on Internet Explorer, just because in general I imagine they are more tech-savvy and more likely to be using a newer browser and a computer that supports above IE6 or an alternative.
Jennifer / 13/08/2009 / 14:57 / http://www.purple-cat.co.uk
Just over 10% of IE users visiting our website are still using IE6 which is still quite a large amount of people and unfortunately that means these people don't see many websites at their best.
In the end it's up to webmasters to decide whether they want to limit themselves by making their website IE6 compatible.
Sometimes as much as you want to please everyone, you just can't.
Mike / 01/11/2009 / 18:39 / http://www.bozboz.co.uk
Its definately about time to kill i.e6. If we dont keep disabling technologies as they become outdated then noone will ever progress to CSS2.0 and beyond!
Lily / 16/11/2009 / 05:59 / http://www.thunderlily.com
Is time for IE6 to die, only IE6! The rest are ok!
