Internet Explorer 6 - Time to call it a day?
Most web developers consider IE6 to be a necessary evil. We hate the development time it adds to a project, which can at times be a pretty hefty percentage.
This may have been the case for a couple of years now, with developer shouting about IE6 being “archaic!” and “nearly 10 years old!” but it’s about time we stopped our winging and realised something; IE6 compatibility is part of our job.
I hate it as much as you, I really do – I especially hate the way PNGs loose all of their value with the lack of transparency support (though there is a wee hack for this) but with Microsoft planning to make new versions of their mobile internet explorer which it plans to base on V6, it’s about to be reborn, and it’s our job to make sure we don’t alienate its users.
So far I might sound like I’m playing devil’s advocate – I most certainly am not. I’d love there to be IE6. I was always taught never to wish death upon anyone, but I think IE6 makes it OK.
So what can we do to stop it?
Dropping support, as I’ve said, isn’t the answer. The best thing we can do is educate IE6 users to the errors of their ways. This article was inspired by a much longer article available in the March09 .net magazine (www.netmag.co.uk) and I urge you all to join the crusade by placing the logo (netmag.co.uk/files/bd.png) on your website and linking it to their article – www.netmag.co.uk/zine/home/calling-time-on-IE6
Submitted 16th March 2009
