Internet Explorer version 6 (or IE6) is one of the most widely used web browsers today. Why? Because nobody knows any better. They just use what comes with their computers. Only when people realize how terrible a browser Internet Explorer is – and more specifically IE6 – will they switch to a better, more professionally developed browser such as Firefox or Safari.
Every time I design a new website, I cringe as I code the new site for IE6. I endure the looooooong and painful process of re-coding the style sheet of my already beautiful, functional website for this poorly developed web browser. I literally waste time doing this. Averaging 5 different trusted sources from the web together, I calculated a sobering average (as of March 2009) that 22.1% of all web browsers are IE6. According to the sources, this percentage drops a little each month.
IE6 was made in a time when “web standards” were not used. Why didn’t Microsoft (MS) not look ahead to the future or toward progress? Why would translucent PNG images ever want to be used on the web? After all, Microsoft is not and has never been web-designer-friendly… they don’t think with the right sides of their brains. Not only this, but IE6 is notorious for its instability and is a major security hazard to your Microsoft-based PC.
For those of you who still use IE6, please reconsider! IE6 came with Windows XP, so if you have XP, you probably have IE6. If you installed or upgraded the browser, you will have either IE7 or IE8. You can check which version of IE that you have by clicking on this link (opens in a new window): http://www.thismachine.info
I am pleading in this post that you will realize how terrible IE6 really is, and that you will download and install a different browser. Here is a list of widely used, smooth, secure, and standards compliant browsers along with links to their download pages:
- Firefox – http://www.mozilla.com
- Safari – http://www.apple.com/safari/download
- Chrome – http://www.google.com/chrome
- Opera – http://www.opera.com/download
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The truth is that most people who use IE6 don’t do it by choice, but because they are in an office environment and they can’t upgrade. Imagine this scenario: the IT department cannot upgrade because their intranet doesn’t work in other browsers, and they don’t have the budget to develop a new one… and higher management thinks the intranet works just fine, so why pay thousands of dollars to change it ?
I’ve made my peace with IE6. IE6 users get a stripped-down but functional version of the site, using hacks and whatever it takes to spend as little time as possible on the problem, and everybody else gets the real deal.