Seriously, I can’t go a day without reading about someone complaining about IE6. Yes, we all know it’s support is terrible. Yes, we know that Microsoft sat around and did nothing for 5 years. But look, they have stepped their game up, they have released 2 browser versions in 3 years. Yes, they are not up to par with more standards compliant browsers, but they are a major improvement over IE6.
So I ask you: what is Microsoft supposed to do?
It isn’t their fault that users won’t upgrade their browser.
Suck It Up
If you call yourself a web developer, you should be able to make things presentable in IE6. If you can’t, then you probably shouldn’t call yourself one. So suck it up and deal with it. Doesn’t the challenge make our jobs more interesting?
I’m not saying that your site has to look exactly the same in all browsers. We already know the answer to that question. Just make it presentable. Make sure a user can access all content on the site. Remember, it’s still all about the content.
Better Yet
Take a look at the traffic to the site and determine to what degree you even need to support it. If IE6 visitors only compromise a very small percentage, maybe consider using Andy Clarke’s Universal Internet Explorer 6 CSS. That will put the content front and center in IE6, and you won’t even have to worry about it.
Just please, stop complaining.
</rant>
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6 Comments
Andy Pemberton
07.01.2009Hate to do it, but… is this a rant on ranting? A complaint on complaining? I guess that makes it meta-whining?
But, I agree with you - I feel like people either whine about IE6 because a) they’re a newb, b) not talented as you hint, or c) looking for blog readers.
Steve Rydz
07.01.2009I couldn’t agree more Trevor. We all know IE6 sucks. I find it ironic that the people that complain the most are people who complain that it is 11 years old. Does that mean they’ve been complaining for that long?
In my experience as long as you adhere to web standards IE6 isn’t too bad. OK, the sidebar might not line up as you wanted or that transparent PNG has a funny outline on it but at least the content is accessible.
As you say, if the amount of effort required to make IE6 play ball is not equal to the number of people actually visiting your site in that browser then Andy Clarke’s Universal IE6 Stylesheet is perfect for the job. Failing that the Dean Edwards script is also pretty useful.
Sorry for the overlong comment mate, it’s just nice to hear a voice of reason ;-)
Nate
07.01.2009Can’t say I agree with the tone or thrust of this entry, Trevor, though you’re certainly entitled to your opinion.
I’ll admit that I’ve sometimes made it a point of pride that I seldom have to use IE-specific hacks, or that I could make something look as good in IE6 as in other browsers. But those days have gotten old.
IE6 compliance has forced us to keep too many features from web pages, and—Microsoft’s fault or not—people are right to begin agitating for something like a final push to drop the browser.
Most solutions for IE6’s fundamental faults are partial. As you well know, Dean Edwards script has problems. A script I use for PNG replacement, DD belatedPNG caused conflicts with SWFAddress in the last site I worked on.
And for most people, unless they’re willing to go the route of the suggested Universal Stylesheet (a decision most developers don’t get to make for the sites they work on), they’re stuck spending a disproportionate amount of their time fiddling to make stuff work on the problem child of browsers, or not implementing the quickest, most efficient CSS or Javascript because IE6 has to be provided for.
Surely you can bear a bit of complaining.
Trevor
07.01.2009@Andy Pemberton-
Haha yes, it was a rant on ranting.
@Steve Rydz-
I think it was perfectly ok to complain about it for a while, but now that newer versions have been released, they need to stop wasting their breath.
@Nate-
Absolutely IE6 compliance has hampered the web, but I think we are beyond that. There is virtually no reason that you should spend a significant amount of time trying to make IE6 look exactly like more standards compliant browsers.
Instead of using that PNG, just use a GIF. No user is ever going to pull up the site in another browser and compare it, so they won’t even know the difference.
While absolutely I do still spent time supporting IE6, I am just making sure that it doesn’t look broken. I can deal with doubled margins here or squared corners there. I have learned to embrace that it’s inefficient to spend time trying to make sure that pixels match up in all browsers, and I laugh at job descriptions that have “pixel perfect slicing” in them. Clearly they don’t understand the current state of the web.
Jeffrey Brown
07.01.2009I totally agree with Trevor, I have had it up to *here* with IE6 bitching.
However, we must realize that everyone goes through a different timeline of learning. Some people are just wrapping their head around CSS and just finding out about how IE6’s market share and the faulty ways it interprets the elements. So while I agree, we need to keep in mind that at some point when "we" began moaning, someone somewhere was probably rolling their eyes saying, "Here we go again".
Trevor
07.01.2009@Jeffrey Brown-
Ahh, excellent point. I can deal with people who are just getting started complaining about it. But if you have been working on the web for a year or so, I have a problem with it.
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