The call to quit IE6 has gotten louder over the years. Now with the release of IE8 and PROOF that MS can make a standards compliant browser, those calls are turning to screams.
I am one of them.
Frankly IE6 is broken and old and should be tossed with the bath water. I am less and less inclined to bother checking my sites in them unless a client requests it. Why? Because there is less need. Lets go over the arguments for supporting IE6:
Most People Use It
While not only debatable it’s silly. First of all, just in case you had no idea (don’t worry most don’t), you can see who’s visiting your site with what. Most sites I develop have seen a serious down path in IE6 users over the last 7 years since IE6 release. Most sites don’t even garner 1%. Now if you want to say most people use IE as a whole you’d be right. But developing for IE7 is much easier and only needed a few tweaks and hacks…while so far IE8 needs NO tweaks or hacks. It’s a beautiful thing.
No one wants to spend the money to upgrade
Dude it’s free. Even MS isn’t that stupid. IE8 works on XP and Vista. If you don’t think it will run on 98 or Me (I’m sorry you’re still running that) get 7.
We are limited to IE6 at work because of proprietary software the company uses
Besides the fact they should upgrade for security reasons; you shouldn’t be surfing at work. I know we all do it, but you can’t cater to those who are doing something they shouldn’t. If, by chance, your job IS surfing the web you should be making a case for updating. Hammers aren’t screwdrivers. Get the right tools for your job, especially when free.
Websites shouldn’t limit the latest bling and I don’t need to see new bling on websites
IE6 not only doesn’t see the latest bling, it’s also 8 years behind STANDARDS. That’s right, it’s not to code. Things that IE6 can’t support have been around longer than IE6 and are no longer fads. Png, CSS, fricking padding are here to stay folks. MS upgraded the browers twice now. Even they know.
You can’t upgrade without a valid copy of windows
Dude pony up or get Firefox. FTL.
It’s time to drop IE6. Drop the support and you’ll have much saner webmasters.
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