How Long Will You Continue Support For Internet Explorer 6?

All good web designers make sure that their web templates are cross-browser compatible. All experienced web designers know that Internet Explorer 6 is the closest thing to the devil himself on Earth. All really experienced web designers know all the tricks to get by the countless number of bugs in IE 6, however, so they're not affected by it as much.

Either way, wouldn't it be great to have an Internet where you don't have to worry about transparent .PNG images not working and padding's/margin's not being mangled up? With the release of Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8 a few days ago, the wait just might be over. Just maybe.

You see, Internet Explorer 8 will be added to Windows Automatic Update sometime next week. This means all legal Windows computers with Automatic Update enabled will be notified about this "high priority" update. Whether or not they actually OK the installation is the issue.

It can be safely assumed that most of the Internet Explorer 7 users will update without question, as they have done so in the past. Internet Explorer 6 users, however, are a different kind of people. Since they didn't update to IE7 when it was released a few years ago, why would they now update to IE8?

There are two main reasons these users will not update. Either they can't update because it's not their decision (for example, they're forced to use IE6 at their workplace) or they themselves just enjoy living in the stone age and won't update.

We'll just have to sit back and wait to see what happens. I myself don't see a big change coming. I'm seeing 90% of IE6 users as stubborn cavemen who just want to be left back in the technology age. I honestly wouldn't mind, but this does affect me too. I will continue to support IE6 in all of my web designs until IE6 is under the 10% mark in the market share of browsers.

Until that day, however, I'll have to keep on trying to remember those "if lower than or equal to Internet Explorer 6" conditional statements.

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Post Tags: internet explorer 6, Web Design

February 12, 2009 -- How to Test and Debug Code in Internet Explorer
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March 27, 2009 -- How To: Use Custom Fields in Wordpress

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There are 51 comments to this post.

Brad had this to say, Apr 15, 2009 @ 11:02 am.

I like your reasoning for deciding when to stop supporting IE6 - it makes a lot of sense and shows your clients that you are focused on their best interest. How close are you to hitting that 10% threshold by the way?

Brad´s last blog post: Community Farm Connections Print Projects.

Dan had this to say, Apr 15, 2009 @ 11:28 am.

I've stopped supporting IE 6 at the beginning of 2009. I figure that most IE 6 users have a low IQ, and are not worth my time. I'd much rather work with the percentage that use IE 7+ and other, better browsers. If clients want IE 6 support, I'll do it... but there will be some extra charges for doing so.

Dan´s last blog post: Bicentennial Update.

Admin

Ralph had this to say, Apr 15, 2009 @ 11:34 am.

@Brad - Well, Internet Explorer in general is dominating 55-65% of the browser market, and out of all the IE browsers, IE 6 is still the most popular. You gotta figure that 20-25% of internet browsers are IE 6.

ViciousDuck had this to say, Apr 15, 2009 @ 1:01 pm.

Well, I personally can't be arsed with Internet Explorer. If, when the site is all done an finishes, and it just happens to be that there are no bugs in IE6, then great. But if there are, I dont bother fixing them.

Atm, my site displays perfectly in IE6, except I never fixed the transparent png issue...

Skype had this to say, Apr 15, 2009 @ 1:54 pm.

If people are too stupid to not upgrade, they deserve to have screwed layouts.

I support IE7, but IE8 will be the saviour.

Skype´s last blog post: BarcodeRed Theme4.

ViciousDuck had this to say, Apr 15, 2009 @ 4:24 pm.

The only reason people still use IE6 is because most web developers are being pansies and are too afraid of losing traffic by stopping support for IE6. Where, if they did just that, all IE6 users would notice that websites didn't display correctly, and immediately upgrade to a current-gen browser.

ViciousDuck´s last blog post: ViciousDuck.org V4.

Cristhian Bedon had this to say, Apr 15, 2009 @ 9:44 pm.

I agreed with the bit of workplace, speaking from experience at work, they sick with ie6 due to certain security measures they have placed. And I agree, people have had the option to move on from ie6 for a while now. So what makes it different now? They might still stay with ie6,.

Cristhian Bedon´s last blog post: The Impact of Technology.

ViciousDuck had this to say, Apr 15, 2009 @ 11:33 pm.

Well, I can kind of understand that. I know that when that windows update comes, there's no chance in hell that I'll download it. I don't need to see different versions of a piece of crap like IE.

IE is just like poop. It's still shit no matter how it comes out. A rather crude metaphor, but still true.

96th had this to say, Apr 16, 2009 @ 5:51 am.

Duh, thinking like that will never let us go to the future! I think the best way to make people stop using IE6 is to use something like PushUp and modify it to show the dangers and bad sides to IE6 and also put a link to "Stop IE6" like webpages.

96th´s last blog post: Relacja z dzisiaj.

Kathy had this to say, Apr 16, 2009 @ 7:50 am.

People don't throw out their old PC's, they hand them down. Lots of people use IE6 because they are using an older PC with Win98 or Win2K. It isn't that they won't upgrade, they CANNOT upgrade.
Then there's dialup. Yesterday a friend told me the estimated download time for IE7 was 48 HOURS on his crappy dialup service. So he uses FF. But there's still people who are unaware of FF. That's what we need to promote.

Admin

Ralph had this to say, Apr 16, 2009 @ 9:13 am.

Wow, 48 hours, holy crap.

And who the hell is still on dial up?

ViciousDuck had this to say, Apr 16, 2009 @ 12:03 pm.

My grandparents...

ViciousDuck´s last blog post: How to Start Developing WordPress Themes (Resources).

Evan Byrne had this to say, Apr 16, 2009 @ 1:19 pm.

I'm luck, only 7% of my users use IE6!

Evan Byrne´s last blog post: Browser Detection With PHP Browscap.

Dan had this to say, Apr 16, 2009 @ 3:02 pm.

According to Google Analytics, 10% of my visitors use IE (all versions). Then out of those 10%, 80% of them use IE 7 or 8. Therefore, very few users still use IE 6. I don't care much about them, and I've even added a nice little banner telling IE 6 users that their browser sucks

Dan´s last blog post: Bicentennial Update.

ViciousDuck had this to say, Apr 16, 2009 @ 3:36 pm.

In every theme I make I put a banner on the top with like caution tape telling then to stop using the piece of crap theyre using

BeyondRandom had this to say, Apr 16, 2009 @ 4:41 pm.

To be honest, when I change anything on any of my sites I never check for IE compatibility lol

BeyondRandom´s last blog post: Blogzine WP Theme - Theme Thursday.

ViciousDuck had this to say, Apr 16, 2009 @ 8:10 pm.

Neither do I....I'm always amazed that people using IE6 visit a site about web development..

Joey Logano Fan had this to say, Apr 17, 2009 @ 2:51 am.

I will just continue to use coding that that works across all the browsers, and I will try to avoid using complicated coding, I always like to keep my coding simple, just Like I have it on my website.

Jason Bartholme had this to say, Apr 17, 2009 @ 11:52 am.

Unfortunately, I will support it until the company's directors say we do will not consider it in the design process. However, that doesn't stop me from making my case about the 10% guideline as you mentioned. I just checked and we currently have 26% using IE6.

Jason Bartholme´s last blog post: A PHP Link Directory Reciprocal Link Exploit Revealed.

Ryan had this to say, Apr 17, 2009 @ 2:24 pm.

I don't use it, but at my school they have these crappy 9 year old computers that they wont let us install other browsers on. So we are forced to use IE 6. :C

Cristhian Bedon had this to say, Apr 17, 2009 @ 3:56 pm.

You could try to run Firefox of your usb... http://www.portableapps.com has some great apps man ready for your USB.

Cristhian Bedon´s last blog post: The Impact of Technology.

piervix had this to say, Apr 18, 2009 @ 6:28 pm.

In the last version of my blog I've supported IE6... but this is the end....eheh

piervix´s last blog post: GreenLand, un template PSD gratis.

suwari had this to say, Apr 19, 2009 @ 5:10 am.

Do you all know that many government system or semi government system still use IE6 as their main browser. If user use the system using IE6 above or Mozilla Firefox, it will bring an error message. Why is that?

Because they want to cut cost of build another system maybe. But IE6 still being used.

suwari´s last blog post: Hackers got job to secure the nation's networks.

Graeme had this to say, Apr 19, 2009 @ 3:57 pm.

IE 6 support should be determined on an individual basis, not a general sweep of it being bad. If a site has a high proportion of users on IE 6 then it would be foolish to alienate those users by stopping support.

But a site doesn't have to look pixel perfect in all browsers, show IE 6 users a stripped down version of the site with a polite message and possible screenshot of the full site as a gentle nudge to upgrade.

Graeme´s last blog post: Friday Fun - 17/04/09.

Chris had this to say, Apr 21, 2009 @ 7:49 pm.

"I'm seeing 90% of IE6 users as stubborn cavemen who just want to be left back in the technology age."

No, they're just regular computer users instead of web geeks like you, me and all the other people posting here. They're the sort of people who don't install software or if they do don't ever upgrade it. If there's no compelling reason, or they don't know there is an upgrade available, why would they? They don't know or care that IE6 doesn't support transparent PNGs and all the other stuff. As far as they can see it works and works just fine.

Chris´s last blog post: No I will not fix your computer T-Shirt.

Vin Thomas had this to say, Apr 21, 2009 @ 8:23 pm.

The company I do work for still uses windows 2000 so they don't really have an option. I tried to get them all to switch to FF. But until that happens company wide, I am stuck making provision for IE6.

Andrew Champ had this to say, Apr 21, 2009 @ 10:25 pm.

ONLY 17% OF PEEPS ARE STILL USING IE6. AND THIS NUMBER IS SHRINKING FAST!

http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp

Miro had this to say, Apr 22, 2009 @ 1:45 am.

Most IE6 users are not "idiots", but mainly corporate users in big companies stuck with expensive internal MS software that won't work with anything else than IE6 unless upgraded to newer versions at the greatest license expenses.

Janos Szudi had this to say, Apr 22, 2009 @ 3:44 am.

In my freelance projects the only thing I care about IE6 is that the site should be readable. For company projects sometimes I have to support IE6, but If we are making a more difficult site with a lots of functions, ajax, interactivity, whatever, that makes supporting IE6 impossible.

Frank had this to say, Apr 22, 2009 @ 8:22 am.

I already stopped supporting IE6. I hope it dies faster that way.

andrew had this to say, Apr 22, 2009 @ 8:24 am.

Miro states my position. I'm also using FrontPage 2000, PhotoShop 6 and Acrobat 5 as my toolset. It really pushes my buttons, but I can't convince my employer to get into the 21st century.

Additionally, with SharePoint taking over the company, the only upgrade will be another version of IE, probably 7, in the next year.

Dave had this to say, Apr 22, 2009 @ 8:41 am.

Firstly, I think that calling IE6 users "stupid" etc i really unreasonable.

I think that if you are going to stop support for IE6, it should not be dropping FULL support. All content should still be accessible, and, if you are worried about complicated AJAX, JS etc getting in the way, then you should make sure that these functions (whether a shopping cart, search system, login forms etc) are still available for people with inferior browser or scripting disabled. Then, you could cancel the JS interactivity (some, if not all) for IE6 users if it is really causing you a huge headache.

These are all basic ideas behind web accessibility, and NO user, whether IE6 or not should be blocked out from basic content and functionality. http://www.webaim.org/techniques/javascript/#disabling

As for design, for my private clients, I do not aim to get the designs 100% pixel perfect in IE6, but always let them know that before hand. If they want the design to be perfectly reflected in IE6, then I explain extra costs invlved etc.

Cheers
D

Gabe Harris had this to say, Apr 22, 2009 @ 9:42 am.

I've stopped caring about it for most side work I do. I let clients know up front, that I don't support and that it's a dying ancient artifact. And as soon as my boss at my day job stops using that god forsaken steaming pile, I'll stop caring about it at "work", too. Google Analytics has already proven to him that less than 20% of the site's visitors are on IE6, so it's just a matter of time.

WPDONE had this to say, Apr 22, 2009 @ 11:05 am.

IE6 use will end when Windows XP will die and this process started when Windows stoped the support for it.

WPDONE´s last blog post: Modularity Lite - Free Framework.

Chris Reynolds had this to say, Apr 22, 2009 @ 11:34 am.

I stopped supporting IE6 at the beginning of the year. I try and push the message of upgrading as much as possible, and if a client does want IE6, I charge them a little bit more. To me, there's just no reason to use IE6 anymore.

Chris had this to say, Apr 22, 2009 @ 1:30 pm.

The percentage of IE6 varies from site to site. I have a website that doesn't get any IE6 users. It all depends on your target audience. If you are developing a site targeted to advanced computer users, chances are they already have a modern browser.

Remiz had this to say, Apr 22, 2009 @ 1:34 pm.

I've dropped support for IE6 on my blog. I didnt checked new theme in IE6. I know there will be issues with some pseudo classes. We developers can not stop supporting for IE for client projects as they are paying us. Now, what we have implemented is, additional pay for supporting IE6. And some nice design elements and js animations wont be there in IE6. Let move gradually into death of IE6

Remiz´s last blog post: Offline map in iPhone.

aravind had this to say, Apr 23, 2009 @ 12:54 pm.

well, I have stopped supporting IE6 for all my personal websites.
For the sake of clients, I still make my client works compatible with IE6.

Even I am also waiting for that fine day when the market share of IE6 goes below 10%.

Tammy Hart had this to say, Apr 23, 2009 @ 1:03 pm.

I haven't completely dropped IE6, but I have mostly dropped it. The line in my TOS says, "I guarantee compatibility with Firefox, Opera, Safari, and Internet Explorer 7. I do my best to get Internet Explorer 6 to cooperate, but I do not guarantee an error free result for this browser."

Tammy Hart´s last blog post: WordPress: How to Use Categories as Your Navigation Bar.

Matt Hill had this to say, Apr 23, 2009 @ 3:12 pm.

I'm getting pretty concerned that many developers seem to be forgetting what the web is about, so here's some thoughts you might need to take on board

1) IE6 has anywhere from 17% to 33% browser share, depending on which stats you use. On an audience specific site, that could increase to anything up to 80%.

2) Developers are not average users and occupy a tiny, tiny percentage of global web users. What we know about technology is irrelevant to average users

3) The web is not about the technology YOU want to support, it's about what your USERS are USING

4) If you take the conservative view that IE6 still has 33% market share, that's nearly HALF A BILLION USERS WORLDWIDE. And you think it's OK to ignore them?

I am incredibly passionate about supporting as many users as possible. The web is supposed to be an information space usable by everyone, regardless of how they access it. Failing to support up to 33% of web users isn't just arrogant, it's flat out WRONG.

Choosing to drop support for a browser that still has a large market share benefits no-one except DEVELOPERS. Do your jobs properly: support your users.

I wrote a blog post on this issue:

http://www.friskdesign.com/2009/04/20/why-i-support-ie6/

ism. had this to say, Apr 23, 2009 @ 9:41 pm.

Man did that guy kill the conversation or what? Or maybe I'm just late to the party.

God Dang why am i so random?

Ezra Sandoval had this to say, Apr 24, 2009 @ 12:10 am.

It's funny that I came across this article because I'm about to go in and do some IE hacks to a client site that looks great in all standards compliant browsers. For anything I do personally I don't worry about IE but I have to cater to my clients needs. This particular client has a broad user base that includes a large percentage of IE 6 users.

Rob O. had this to say, Apr 24, 2009 @ 10:40 am.

Bizarre as it may be, there are still plenty of web-based apps that are only officially supported to run on IE 6.

We have a number of mission-critical, used-daily, web-based apps that only run on IE, either due to actual poorly-written, hard-coded design limitations or simply because the vendors won't certify those apps on any other browser. And if we fire up those apps in another browser and there's a problem we need support on - regardless of whether the problem has anything to do with the browser from which it's being used - we run the very real risk of being denied support.

Few businesses can afford (literally) that risk, so you're stuck with the vendor-supported browser - and that's most often IE 6.0. This is doubly so if your business is in healthcare or some other field where timely & thorough vendor support is vital. It's easy enough for end-users to be cavalier about browser (and OS) choice - and I personally use Firefox more often than not these days - but companies are quite often painted into a corner by the applications that they need to do their business and noncompliance with vendor requirements can have very real, very swift financial implications.

Rob O.´s last blog post: Glad For Gladwell.

Craig Kistler had this to say, Apr 24, 2009 @ 12:28 pm.

Well put Matt.

At my full-time job we are getting close to 20% of our traffic running IE6. We have millions of view per month with a demographic that is mainly made of people 40+.

These people aren't stupid they just don't know any different. They are accustomed and comfortable with what they have. They see no reason to change something, that to them, works just fine.

I think we as designers and developers need to be aware that everyone using our sites aren't us.

Chad had this to say, Apr 30, 2009 @ 9:42 pm.

Selfishly I'd love to stop IE6 support. I have not done this as my employer does not allow it yet. Personally I'd love to have the IE6 conditional statement make the site naked like CSS-Naked-Day with a VERY short reason to the user why the site looks as it does and what they can do to improve their web experience. This way you don't have to waste time styling special IE6 pages and if your site is semantically marked up the user should still be able to access all the information they need. Ultimately thought it's about your client's customers and what is best for them.

Elio had this to say, Jun 12, 2009 @ 6:18 pm.

+1 Chad
I will be supporting IE 6 until it dissapears, but honestly, I don't really think it will sometime soon
It would need a worldwide coordinated effort to effectively reboot the internet world. A whole new world of opportunities would open.
I wonder if IE6 will be supported by Google Wave.

Elio´s last blog post: WordPress 2.8 is out!.

Tipsy had this to say, Aug 21, 2009 @ 7:23 am.

I'm not using IE since years. I think that Firefox is maybe not the best thing that could happen to us but many easy-making functions are available and not so many mistakes visible. It is obvious that every software have some hack holes and that is something that can be found only by the most experienced hackers or developers. I think that with growing popularity of Firefox (one billion downloads last week) IE will also get much better. The difference between IE6 and IE8 is so huge that those two browser are just like from other worlds.
.-= Tipsy´s last blog ..Pazurki od Eweliny =-.

oes tsetnoc had this to say, Sep 23, 2009 @ 5:53 am.

i have Internet Explorer 6 that I installed on my computer, I always like to use Firefox.
.-= oes tsetnoc´s last blog ..Oes Tsetnoc – Kanye West Interrupts Busby Seo Contest =-.

Management Training had this to say, Nov 6, 2009 @ 7:11 am.

Mostly i use Mozilla Firefox browser. It's really good for me.

used tires had this to say, Nov 8, 2009 @ 3:27 pm.

Since my code works for pretty much all browsers, since it is simple I don't really have to worry about the IE6 problem too much =D

Till then,

Jean

clasamente fotbal had this to say, Jan 28, 2010 @ 3:19 am.

20% of my visitors are still using IE6 so i must support IE6. We must now that not all visitors are experts in using computers so they prefer to use the browser that comes with windows.