Most web developers that I know have horror stories about the countless hours spent trying to get their web application to work and behave with Internet Explorer (IE) version 6. Fortunately for us developers, those days seem to be few in number, or so we hope. With the recent release of IE8, one would think that IE6 is either dead or seriously near total annihilation; however this sadly and most unfortunately, is just not true. As of May 2009, stats by usage show that IE6 is neck and neck at 20%, with Firefox 3.
So, why is IE6 still around? To me, it's simply because people are just not interested in upgrading, especially since most everything is seemingly working “OK” with IE6. Some people might be restricted from upgrading due to non administrative privileges, or restrictive company policies. IE6 might have a certain level of “comfort” for people. Others might only use it for legacy applications, or testing.
“I can only lead the horse to water; it’s up to him to drink.” So as the old saying goes, I can’t make you uninstall IE6 and rid the world of that plague, it is up to you. I don't have a simple answer for those who are restricted from installing it. I suggest to everyone, where possible, to take the time and upgrade IE to at least version 7, if not version 8. Most especially if you are using IE as your default browser, however even if you are not using IE as your default browser, it’s a good idea because some programs automatically fire up IE disregarding your default browser preference. If you do use IE as your default browser, wont your consider trying out Firefox 3?
If you noticed, IE7 useage is up around 40%, while IE6 is down around 20%. I think that's huge! “Using Internet Explorer is So 2006” –Mozilla Corp.
References:
http://tech.slashdot.org/story/09/06/02/134224/Internet-Explorer-6-Will-Not-Die
http://www.mozilla.com/en-US/firefox/ie.html?from=getfirefox
http://www.microsoft.com/windows/Internet-explorer/default.aspx
http://www.statowl.com/web_browser_usage_by_version_trend.php?timeframe=last_6&interval=month&chart_id=11&limit[]=ie&limit[]=firefox&limit[]=safari&limit[]=chrome&limit[]=opera&limit[]=netscape&fltr_os=&fltr_se=&fltr_cn=Corporate
http://www.statowl.com/web_browser_usage_by_version_trend.php?timeframe=last_6&interval=month&chart_id=11&limit[]=ie&limit[]=firefox&limit[]=safari&limit[]=chrome&limit[]=opera&limit[]=netscape&fltr_os=&fltr_se=&fltr_cn=
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4 comments:
20% is still one in 5 users ... IE6 is still the second most popular browser. Unfortunately we can't be technology snobs and ignore that group of users.
I believe that IE8 is being pushed through automatic updating for every Windows user (except corporate). IE6 is still the newest browser you can have when using Windows 2000, and as Stephan said via an email response, a lot of internal applications at companies still only work properly with IE6. Unfortunately that means we'll have to keep supporting IE6 for a while to come, as it will probably still take the corporate world a while to upgrade all their systems so that IE7/8 become a viable option for being the default browser.
That doesn't mean you need to deliver a pixel-perfect solution for IE6 of course (depending on how important these users are for your product). You can deliver the best experience to the latest browsers while keeping the quality level acceptable in IE6 by using conditional comments and an IE6 stylesheet :) All the more reason to keep content separated from style!
By no means did I mean that we ignore IE6 users. I am sorry if I came off that way. Although one day (soon) I hope we can at least stop gearing our web development efforts towards IE6.
I am suggesting if someone is using IE6 that they consider upgrading to a newer version. :-)
Thanks for the comments.
I definitely hope that we can move away from IE6 (and IE7 for that matter) soon too! Will save quite some development time.
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