How I broke up with a tyrannical beast
Last week, I made an important, life-changing decision. One that I should have made years ago, but I’ve cowtowed to abuse for too long. From here on out, I will no longer be developing websites that work in IE6.
I will, instead, be using the fabulous IE6 Update script on all of my websites. (There’s even a WordPress plugin. It’s going to be so simple, it’ll almost be automatic. In fact, if you run a WordPress site, could you just run out an install it, right now? I just did. It feels good.) I won’t even bother trying to check what I’ve created in IE6 any more (though I’ll admit I didn’t often).
According to Netmarketshare, almost 17% of the internet still uses IE6. That’s utterly insane, given that IE6 is nine years old, three versions out-of-date, and famed for being the scourge of the internet. If you’re bored one day, sit a web designer/developer—or whatever hybrid you prefer—down and mention IE6. I can almost guarantee you’ll get a frustrated or sickened face, and maybe a string of expletives, if you’re really lucky.
I came across this wonderful article called Stop Developing for IE6 that lays out a number of excellent arguments for the cessation of the practise, primarily:
1. It’s saving you money.
Because developing websites that work properly in IE6 requires more work, it costs more money to make a website that works. My new policy, then, will invoke a surcharge for IE6-compliant sites. And I really, really, really hate even looking at IE6, so it’s going to be a lot.
2. It’s making the internet better.
Most of the problem is due to the fact that developers used hacks in order to make sites that behaved properly in IE6. This meant that their code didn’t follow best practises, because it had to resort to hacky methods in order to trick IE6 into displaying its content properly. Continuing with these practises holds the web development community back.
3. Even Microsoft actively wants it negated.
This is more true now, with IE9 in the works. Microsoft’s been trying to rid the universe of its deformed little creature for years, and there’s really no reason to update. Typically, the rationale that has been used (and that still is used, especially in government and other large organizations) is that some proprietary internal sites are built only to support IE6, which is a whole other problem in itself. These organizations really ought to invest the money into fixing their systems—they’ve over five years old, anyway, so it’s probably high time for an update. If they can’t, it’s entirely possible to run multiple versions of IE on one machine, and it’s even easier to use IE6 only for internal hacky sites, and use Firefox, Chrome, or any of the other well-built modern-day browsers for everything else.
So I’m decided. It’s high time. No longer will I bend to the reign of tyranny that was IE6. And I’m going to spend as much energy as I can encouraging everyone I know to upgrade their browsers, move to better browsers, or generally get on board with Not Being a Part of the Problem anymore.
Are you using IE6? Please upgrade.
THE FUTURE IS 2006!
the approach i like the best when dealing with obstreperous clients is to quote them the price of support for ie6 separately (which easily doubles the cost of the project).
It was suggested today that I put a clause in my usual contract that says “I don’t do IE6. You want IE6? That’ll be an extra 30%.“I bet nobody will request it THEN, plus I won’t need to have a disclaimer conversation before every website!Win-win-win-win!
I spent many painful hours developing a wedding invitation web site which I built with ‘fool proof’ in mind, knowing that many in my family were not tech savvy. What I did not count on was that the vast majority of them were still using the IE that shipped with their vintage Windows machines. As a result I got reports that none of it worked — from my JavaScript of a dancing photo to the google form that would accept the RSVP — all of it was simply dead.
“What am I doing wrong?” came the flood of emails.
“You’re using IE, aren’t you…”
“Yes.” came the response — the only response I’d ever receive from them over the web.
Die, Internet Explorer, die.
Oh dear, what a nightmare. I can only hope that they all took to upgrading?
I cannot tell you what a lovely feeling it is to have drawn a line in the sand re: IE6. It does help that the Microsoft dev team has actually been doing a lot of good work — I actually don’t mind IE8, and IE7 isn’t that bad. IE9 is coming along nicely, and actually has pretty great support for a lot of HTML5, which is such an incredible turnaround from what we’re all used to seeing from MS.
IE itself will never die, but it’s time for antiquated versions to expire. I understand the desire to make everything work for everyone, but in doing so, at this point we’re essentially pandering to outmoded, security-hole-filled, software. No more!
“My new policy, then, will invoke a surcharge for IE6-compliant sites.”
I think this is the gem to take away from the whole “I’m a web developer and I’m done with IE” stance that seems to be all the rage this past year or so.
IE 6 is, in our world of Firefox, IE 8, and WebKit, a specialized platform — not until Flash or smartphones. Many clients don’t care if their site has a mobile-optimized experience, so they don’t pay for one. Make IE 6 the same deal, and either get paid extra for your trouble, or don’t bother with IE. The fee does the job of illustrating IE’s deficiencies to client (much better than a developer’s tumblr account or whatever too), taking care of that whole “bringing the web forward” thing people who have sworn off IE 6 rave about.
Clients might know that half their user base is IE 6 (I used to work in government — it’s all the rage there) and pay the fee. Or they might not care and waive it. But it’s the client that looks lousy in the user’s eyes if they hit an ugly/non-working site in IE 6, so giving clients the option is where it’s at in my mind.
It also heavily depends on the kind of “site” you’re building: web apps like Basecamp or GitHub or (the now defunct) Wave are more restrictive about system requirements as they’re so much about interaction and experience; IE 6 REALLY fails hard there (no :hover on non-anchor tags? ouch). But adding some IE 6 CSS to a largely brochureware site doesn’t seem like the end of the world to me.
All that said, I doubt my personal home page renders well in IE 6.
I LOVE the “charge-extra” idea, and cannot believe it didn’t occur to me earlier. Money is an excellent communicator in this respect, and I do like giving an option, rather than simply refusing to do something. By default, however, I won’t be doing it. I’d rather code a website properly—if things go a little kinky in IE6, I really don’t mind if it doesn’t look perfect to the user. (I can’t imagine what the internet is like for IE6 users. I assume it’s pretty atrocious.)
I thought it was really hilarious when I called my bank a little while ago, and they told me the reason I was having troubles was because their system was only supported in some version of IE. Of course, I started ranting about “what about all the Mac users who CAN’T run IE?” and “Are you AWARE of the number of security holes?” until I calmed down, and realized the poor man was not responsible for building the site and, in fact, probably had no idea what standards-compliance meant. Whoops.
I’ve never used hacks (I find them too hacky), but I do my best to code everything cleanly. If IE6 can’t handle itself, so be it. However, as much as I’ll no longer bend to its reign of terror, I won’t be so tyrannical as to refuse to do it–I’ll just discourage it as much as I’m able.
The approach i like the best when dealing with obstreperous clients is to quote them the price of support for ie6 separately (which easily doubles the cost of the project).
It is *still* client’s decision, but now they can evaluate the importance of this “feature” in terms of hard, hard cash.
Generally speaking, this is a great way of guiding someone’s decision-making process without completely quashing their control over a project. Some clients will listen to your professional advice and accept it happily, but others are convinced they know better (which is sometimes, but oftentimes not, the case). Throwing “it’s going to cost extra” in on top of “you totally don’t need it” helps that decision.
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