Is it time to ditch IE 6?
A few weeks ago, 37signals brought up a great question -- one that was echoed by a friend of mine just a couple of days ago: When can we finally ditch IE 6?
A few notable companies are taking the first steps. Facebook has been warning users about the perils of using IE for a while. And now it looks like Apple's newest web apps won't be supporting IE 6 at all. Frankly, I'm not surprised. I think they are taking a necessary step forward by forcing users to use a modern web browser. After all, it is 2008, not 1996.
At some point, support for IE 6 in rich web applications becomes a time- and money-wasting monster. Even with the best front-end developers on a project, its massive laundry list of bugs and shortcomings are a burden. When it comes to supporting modern web technologies like Ajax to simple PNG and CSS, IE 6 can’t hang (tell me something I don’t know, right?).
There are a couple deciding factors in making a decision to drop support for IE 6. To me the biggest one is your audience. Before making the jump, ask yourself a few questions about your users: How old are they? How are they getting to your site? What percentage of your current users are using IE? Are they experienced web users? These should be relatively straight forward questions since you should know your audience better than anyone.
We, as web designers and developers, have a responsibility to gently nudge IE 6 users toward more modern browsers. And before we totally abandon them, let’s give them options. Sites like savethedevelopers.org are a great start. After all, according to the W3C, 27 percent of all internet users are still rolling with IE 6.
The day we can finally wave goodbye to our ankle-biting friend we never wanted will be a good one. That day is rapidly approaching, but in the meantime, we ultimately must be considerate to our core user base.
I’m currently working on my first paid project that does not include IE6 support, and it’s been great (even though IE7 has still thrown a few temper tantrums). The real challenge now is trying to figure out how many of those useful CSS selectors and pseudo-classes can now be used to their full extent with IE6 out of the picture.
However, there is still part of me that says “I can’t just leave the site looking totally broken, even if the browser is extremely crappy.” So, I’m writing up a little script in jQuery to disable all stylesheets for IE6 users. Maybe I should also throw in a nice JavaScript alert on EVERY page load that tells them to upgrade ;-)
@Aaron - Yeah, that would definitely make sense. Instead of leaving IE 6 users totally dumbfounded just present them with a simple option to upgrade.
I’ll echo what you said in your post that it’s your audience who will determine when you can stop writing for IE6, but there are steps we can take to speed up that process.
Unfortunately, many people at the top find find it necessary to bend over backwards for the client even when it means having to cater to outdated technology, which frustrates you and me who know the benefits of a modern browser. There’s a level of communication that needs to occur between developers in educating those in non-technical positions as to the benefits of upgrading. This knowledge can then be passed on to the client and eventually trickle down to their users.
The fact of the matter is that as long as the casual user has no reason to upgrade (their sites look/work just fine), they won’t. Why would they?
I’d like to see more research done on users and browser usage, but I think we need to acknowledge that most IE6 users fall into a much larger group: people don’t don’t feel the need to upgrade.
This group doesn’t stop at the 26% of users, it expands deeply into the IE7 and Safari crowd (IE7/Safari shipping by default with practically all computers now). Most users don’t consider their browser a replaceable, upgradeable program, but as a standard piece of the computer. They think about their browser the same way I think of the DVD player or calculator on my computer: it’s just there, it came with the computer, it does what it’s supposed to. If you told me I should go through the confusing process of installing and learning Calculator 2, you’d need to give me some serious incentives.
The trouble is that the incentives just aren’t there in most cases. Users have spent years in their current browsers, they know them well, and the browsers just work. Firefox’s abstract feature list just isn’t enough to get some users to potentially lose their bookmarks and install a dubious-sounding piece of software. We’re not going to establish upgrade behavior in these users without giving them strong incentives.
In this regard, I think Facebook might be on the right track. Earlier this year, they unrolled a great new chat/notification feature that works for all major browsers, but works especially well for non-IE6 users. And every time an IE6 user logs in, Facebook gently reminds them that they’re using a reduced version of the functionality. However, there’s still no real incentive (they don’t explain to IE6 users that they’re missing something desirable), so we’ll see how that goes.
It’s going to take IE6 a long time to step out of the picture, but once it’s gone, we’ll have the same problem in some other form. Unless there’s a real model for incentivizing and educating the upgrade process, some users will always be lagging behind and we’ll always be building for weird browser issues.
EDIT: Yeah, what Elliott said!
Many people use IE6 on corporate computers, and they can’t (or aren’t supposed to) upgrade.
I agree 100%. It’s time for IE6 to go the way of the dinosaur.
@Michael Montgomery concerning corporate computers: This argument comes up a lot. I think the further we get from the launch of IE7 the more these companies will get complaints on why a site looks great at home, but at work they’re getting a second-rate experience. I also think that these companies will think twice before putting version specific internal systems on their machines, realizing how out of touch they’ve become. “Egg on the face” is still a great motivator.
@Jacob: Hopefully soon.
I mention it because I work at an enormous company, on a laptop with Windows 2000 (which cannot support an upgrade of IE6!)
Our Vista upgrade project is scheduled to be complete in 2009.
@Rob: Go ahead & snicker.
I just wanted to point out that I think you meant to say “W3 Schools” instead of “W3C.” They’re very different, and I don’t think the W3C is ever going to come out with browser statistics. They tend to live in a more “ideal” world. :)
My only question is why IE doesn’t automatically upgrade like the other browsers/operating systems? Or at least encourage the upgrade a little more. Why should the user even be allowed to make that choice? If my MacBook Pro can automatically update its own firmware there is no reason why Microsoft can’t push a browser upgrade.
@Eric:
My guess would be all the intranets and internal applications that have been developed specifically for IE6.
If they forced an upgrade, they would be “breaking” a lot of web platforms that corporations have spent big money on.
It’s a catch-22 for MS, on one hand the longer they hold off fully supporting web standards the more market share they lose; on the other they have to support the legacy code to appease their corporate base that has invested big dollars in it.
I wish that day was approaching a little more rapidly. Actually, I wish it already came and gone.
People using office computers often cannot upgrade per IT restrictions. The problem is that these companies have internal sites developed to work exclusively on IE6, so until they upgrade, we will have to continue to support it. Anyone that has ever worked in a large corporation can attest that is never a timely process.
Education is the key here, in my opinion (with a little arm bending along the way!).
Working at a small to medium web dev company, I personally have given up on wrestling with IE6’s melodramatics. I spend that time on educating clients as to IE6’s limited support of features. I understand the stalemate of larger corporations, but a revolution needs to be started. I agree wholeheartedly with Jacob Souva. Functionality of sites should still be supported on IE6 (for a little while longer), but they won’t have all the bells and whistles of their big brother’s.
I have to spend a minimum 10% of my effort to find workarounds for IE6. But my users are not supposed to upgrade their browsers, since they are using corporate systems.
I’m all in favor of dropping IE6 as soon as possible. It’s a complete pain to develop for, and a hindrance to improving the online experience. I think there are really two camps remaining that use it:
1) Employees in tightly-controlled IT / enterprise environments
2) People with absolutely no concept of how to upgrade.
Group 1 will go away with time, but Group 2 will only go away when members of that group trash their machines for new ones. I think the only way to get members of this second group to upgrade is just to deny service: if XBox owners could play any game from XBox360 they wanted, even at reduced performance, they would probably be loathe to upgrade. But if upgrading is REQUIRED for any sort of functionality, they’ll probably go through the hassle of buying a new machine, plugging it in, and figuring out the new interface. These users won’t go out and download FF3… they’ll probably just go buy a new machine.
That said, simply cutting off IE6 use is a dangerous proposition, even for companies like 37Signals. Check out this complaint for an interesting take on the issue.
I just wanted to comment on the cool graphic of the IE logo represented as earth and carried upon the shoulders of the mythical Atlas. haha
Soon the only users on IE6 will be designers & developers trying to troubleshoot the outdated browser. This will generate false positives on stats pages throughout the internet.
anyone who doesn’t provide support for IE 6, grats on preventing a large portion of the web from not being able access your website as it was intended.
IE 6 is a reality, and I hate all the messages in websites that tell users to upgrade. If a user is compitent enough or wants to upgrade they will have already done it, not cuz your website asks them to.
i wrote this comment using IE 6.. deal with it!
btw.. use javascript so if your missing a field that you don’t lose all of your already typed data..
You make some great points. Sadly, IE6 is still a fair percentage of the market. It might not be for the more up-to-date companies that swap within a few years to new technology, but there is still a large portion of the population that simply don’t update.
One of my clients gets tens of thousands of visitors a month and 40% of them use IE6. If they didn’t support it, they would loose 500k+ dollars in sells.
I think it is a great idea to slowly move away from it where you can, but it has to be on a case-by-case basis.
One of my biggest clients is a large Government department and all their PCs are running IE6. Until upgrading becomes a priority to their IT department, it’s staying.
As the author said, the biggest consideration is your audience, but you better make sure the person responsible for paying your bill can view their site perfectly.
IE6 is a thorn in all our backsides. But, it is one that is going to have to stay there for a while yet.
Thanks for all the great comments, guys. There seems to be two distinct groups. The corporate IT, legacy software, government group and the freelance, modern web application group. The decision whether to drop support for IE 6 is much easier for the latter. I think it’s this group that will be the ones pushing the limits of the browsers and really feeling the heavy burden of IE 6 support. I wouldn’t expect large government or IT companies to be dropping support anytime soon. In those markets PCs will eventually need to be replaced and IE 6 will be gently phased out over time. In the meantime we, the modern web users, can try to ‘gently nudge’ users of our sites and applications towards more modern browsers. I think that’s a very fair requirement.
Well its all ready going to IE8. But, people should really start going with FireFox all ready. IE7 was a joke all the “new features & updates” were just the same old features on FireFox and opera for years. There was not one unique feature.
“Apple’s newest web apps won’t be supporting IE 6 at all.” Ya, like that’s a surprise they hardly support there own browser.
I started to think that none of our clients were using IE6 anymore, but the other day I had a meeting with two different clients and BOTH of them were using IE6. I didn’t say anything but I was very suprised to see it. I will be recommending it to both of them in our next meeting that they should upgrade. Hopefully upon the release of IE8 it dies a lot faster :(
yes........
Let’s FIRE IE6 <-- I really hate while my clients come with bugs only related to IE6…
Yes, I have a PC (I don’t want to hear about it...lol) but I have had IE explorer 7 since it came out...after all, I run vista as well, and always install updates, because the software programmers tend to improve things with time. I still put my websites that I upload my photos and graphics to on Firefox 3 (that newest one should be uploades as well...I would use it only if I didn’t need two browsers) Firefox has superior virus protection and I have not had it crash when I upload files to my websites. There were a few times that I uploaded files through IE 7 and not only did it crash my IE 7, but my entire computer internet connection. Grrrrrr.
@Brian: It’s users like you that really upset me. You KNOW that better options exist, but you still refuse to upgrade because of stubbornness, I’m guessing. But you are right about the [removed] Rob, buddy, you need really need a new spam checker, retyping sucks.
Now I’m not anti-MS, I’m anti-stuff-that-wastes-my-time. Hey, IE 7 works (for the most part). It’s IE 6 that I have a problem with. MS has a habit of breaking compatibility: SQL Server 2005 refuses to support backups from the 2000 version. But to be fair, they don’t control the users of ancient software.
Now even if I HATE IE 6 with a passion, I still develop for it: 27% is a HUGE market to ignore. I do try to educate my clients about their choice. And if you’re curious, I do charge extra: time is time.
Microsoft needs to make IE easier to upgrade, that way more people would upgrade and designers wouldn’t be stuck trying to cope with a web browser that’s older than my brother.
About that “27 percent of all internet users” fact, I wanted to clarify: W3schools is not W3C, and they state this in their website:
“W3Schools is a website for people with an interest for web technologies. These people are more interested in using alternative browsers than the average user. The average user tends to use Internet Explorer, since it comes preinstalled with Windows. Most do not seek out other browsers.”
W3Schools is being developed by a Norwegian company: http://www.w3schools.com/about/about_refsnes.asp
I wish there would be no IE at all sooner. It’s a fact, that it’s really stupid browser (CSS) and really slow(scripts).
Hey, even the kid Google Chrome is better than all IEs put together!
Yes, it is indeed time to ditch IE6. If my clients didn’t consistently complain that they have to have IE6 I’d stop supporting it instantly. Even so, I think with the release of IE8, more and more companies will be forced to consider a full forklift of IE6 in favor of...well...probably IE7. But at this point I’ll take anything I can get ;)
I develop websites for an industry of slow adopters. Therefore, I have no choice but to support IE6. Sadly, I don’t think I’ll be able to abandon it anytime soon without abandoning valuable visitors.
Wait, when did we ditch IE5?
When developing websites I make sure that they work in the popular browsers, Firefox, Safari, IE6 and IE7. Although I always have problems getting websites to work in IE6 it is still crucial as many people still use it.
The best way would be, IMHO, to integrate the upgrade links within the site’s context, as SouthPark studios beautifully did on http://www.southparkstudios.com/clips/ .
When the website detects IE6 as the user’s browser, a small screen is displayed on some pages, containing messages from the characters - each in their own way, suggesting that using IE6 is a no-no. Using content within the context (in this case, SP’s acid humor) is much more efficient than just presenting a simple (and “dry”) upgrade request such as “Hello! Upgrade to IEx now and get much more!”.
At our company, security is a top priority, and as such our service does not support IE6. However, we understand that some people at work have no other option other than IE6. As a response, we created a document for them to send to their IT guys which outlines reasons why they should offer an alternative to IE6.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/17681961/Why-Your-Company-Should-Offer-an-Alternative-to-IE6
-Arsen
http://mitto.com
Your Safe and Secure Online Password Manager
now the internet becomes more user friendly & having a lot of features like blogs, forum, SMM , web 2.0 trends many more, so consider these they need to support compatible version browser & IE6 no more capable to response good for visitors or users .. so there are many latest keeping excellent features to operate any of services without any hassle . .
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