Why should I keep testing my sites on IE 6 ?

Browsers

Why should I keep testing my sites on Explorer 6 ? As all web designers know (especially CSS guys), Explorer can be the nightmare of every designer. I build something real nice; test it in every browser Firefox, Opera, Netscape, etc… It works the way is supposed to, all functions work fine, all png transparencies work fine…It validates to the W3C standards, good, but wait. There are still a good percentage of people that don’t want to upgrade to IE7 so now I have to test the new site in Explorer 6 and… The headaches start. I have to expend time creating little hacks here and there, making CSS expressions or notices on the header for people that use IE6 and IE7. And I don’t mind IE7, at least this browser reads transparencies and is more CSS friendly, but until when am I suppose to test for Explorer 6.

If you think I’m exaggerating, you should read Chris Pirillos’s “Why You Should Dump Internet Explorer”, O.K. I’m not ready to count my IE6 clients out of my visitors list, after all I’m a business man, right? I have coded a little script that some clients have asked me to put on their websites to force people to upgrade to IE7, but I’m not sure that’s the solution, after all some people don’t have time to upgrade and they would rather just look for somebody else to provide them service.

What do you think?

Last Updated ( Wednesday, 21 January 2009 15:52 )

Comments (5)

What a brilliant post. Fabulous. Keep it up.

IE 6 is a good browser. This post about IE 6 is very nice. Nice post. Get going.

Unless the client has the latest browsers, I'm not listening and could care less. My solution will always be: Update to the latest browser. (Quit your belly aching). Its like trying to make a modern engine run in a Model T. Oh it can be done for a greater cost. You lose them one way or another but you save yourself a lot of wasted time and money. But given the higher costs, I think they will find the time to upgrade.

You pick your battles and IE6 is one you want to lose to another designer, let them get the headaches, there are plenty more operating in the new browsers, people are a lot more savvy than when IE (PUKE) 6 came out and a major RED flag is a client still using 20th century technology.

no comment ok

Jorge, I think using the script to tell people to upgrade is probably the best way.
Can you leave them an option to go into the site and upgrade later? Not to loose the user.

Hey congrats on the new site. Simple and Great!
Joel