Is IE6 worth it in 2010?

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Socoder -> Web Development -> Is IE6 worth it in 2010?
Sun, 14 Mar 2010, 15:53
Phoenix	I'm in the process of creating a website and I'm deliberating over whether supporting IE6 is worth it or not. I run Windows 7, and just getting IE6 running on it is a PITA. After finally being able to test the site in the dinosaur browser I find that it renders mostly correctly, but with some annoying visual glitches. According to Wikipedia, 21.18% of the world's browsers are of the species Internettus Exploreus 6. Appalling. But does it tell the whole truth? This is a Swedish website, mind you, and IE6's usage share in Sweden is somewhere at 4%, if not lower. I suspect it will be falling even more with the compulsory EU browser choice thing coming into force. In this case I deem annoying visual glitches to be a reasonable concession. But when designing a web site with a world-wide perspective, though, is it justified to neglect IE6? I suspect that poorer countries will have a higher usage rate than my country, but that's just a hypothesis. Can you still close your eyes and hope for the best when targeting a larger part of the world? Do you know anyone who uses IE6, or have you already given them what for? This browser is nearly ten years old. Every mother's son who calls himself a web developer is screaming for the riddance of this bestiality of a browser. Die, already!
Sun, 14 Mar 2010, 16:06
Jayenkai	When phones, and consoles have better, there's no real reason to attempt to support it. There will still be idiots who don't have anything better, but if your site has nothing they'd find interesting, then what's the point in supporting them? -=-=- ''Load, Next List!''
Sun, 14 Mar 2010, 16:07
Cower	I would shut it out. Tell people where they can get a browser that doesn't have more security holes than a syphilis-riddled brain and drop it. Most IE6 usage is due to corporations using it internally and their employees using it for browsing and the people who simply do not know what they're doing. The latter can be helped, but the former cannot. You also don't want to market to the former in the first place, since they're working and probably won't actually do or pay for anything while at work. Just my opinion, since I see the only way to really kill off IE6 as being a complete lock-out for IE6 users. Can't be lenient with them anymore, they're too much like children. You're going to have to force them to move on.
Sun, 14 Mar 2010, 17:14
CodersRule	Apparently this code will crash IE6/7. <style>*{position:relative}</style><table><input></table> Sure, it won't validate, but it's worth it! It will give the users the "has encountered a problem and needs to close" error.
Sun, 14 Mar 2010, 18:05
JL235	I find it strange that people hate IE 6 so much. At the time it was easily the best. Anywho, it depends entirely on your audience. Most IE 6 users are at companies, schools or are users with old machines (with probably little or no intention of upgrading). If this is a site aimed at those segments, then support it. If not, then don't. But it's making sites work perfectly in all browsers which is the difficult bit. Making sites 'kinda' work to a half decent standard is not that hard. So ensure your site looks at least mildly presentable in IE 6 so those users can still use it.
Sun, 14 Mar 2010, 22:38
Stealth	The IE 6 hate is fueled by so many people using technology so old. It was cutting edge when it came out, but so was 54kbps dialup when it came out. It's aged and it no longer makes the cut. It's irritating for web developers because they have to make their square peg code fit in a round hole. Developers want to write very clean advanced code and IE 6 severely hampers that. As for using it, if you have the nerve to do it then cut them out. Don't block them from the site but just don't support them. It depends how important supporting everyone who visits your site is. One in five users are using IE 6 though, and thats pretty high. I think this steams heavily around Windows XP usage. Now that 7 is out we should see that number of users plummet down to 5% as companies and users start to make the switch. What I usually do is make my site work in standards compliant browsers and then attach a IE 6 and IE 7 specific style sheet to the document that tweats my design and fixes issues. -=-=- Quit posting and try Google.
Mon, 15 Mar 2010, 10:06
HoboBen	IE6 support stopped being worth it the day YouTube started warning users that it was unsupported (and I think recently it's stopped working altogether?). Even people who call the web browser "The Internet" or "The Blue E" and run XP with Service Pack 1 with 256 mb of RAM got the message, and have usually paid someone to download IE8 for them. Don't worry if your website looks ugly in IE6 - anyone still running it will be used to that! If you can get the website to still function, then great. But I wouldn't loose sleep over it. -=-=- blog \| work \| code \| more code