Encouraging IE6 Usage Trends
By this time next year, if IE 6’s usage pattern continues to match that of IE5, IE6 will be around 13% - iedeathmarch.org
In my opinion a 13% market share is still too high to drop IE6 support completely for anything intended for consumption by the general public. Let’s not forget that the majority of computer users do not know or care what a “browser” is. They just “click on the e” or “go onto the AOL internet”.
For closed system like admin interfaces or internal web apps I see no reason why system requirements which exclude ancient browsers cannot be enforced. That’s the distinction between a website and a web app. A web app is software, and software comes with system requirements. Obviously the decision to drop IE6 support depends heavily on your target audience. So the general rule of thumb should surely be if your site/app would not suffer from IE6 compatibility don’t bust your nuts making it IE6 compatible.
My preferred method is simple. If I’ve decided that an application I’m developing is not going to be ie6 compatible i will add in some simple browser detection either server-side or with a bit a JavaScript which disables the application and shows a friendly message informing the user that they are using a very old browser. I generally give them some upgrade options in the from of links to the Firefox and IE7 download pages.
If your site or application actually works okay in IE6 but has some quirks that you’re unable/unwilling to iron out another good approach, and one taken by Facebook is to display a friendly unobtrusive message to IE6 users again explaining that they’re using very old software and some parts of the site might look/behave oddly. It would be interesting to see figures on how many upgrades have occurred as a direct result of IE6 users of Facebook. I imagine it’s considerable.
All in the the trends look promising, but no sooner will we forget about IE6 like we did IE5 then we’ll start begging for IE7 and all it’s idiosyncrasies to bow out in the same way.
October 1st, 2008 at 12:58 pm
Bang on mate!
I think web developers/designers should be doing more to push people to use new browsers
If a new version of flash comes out - it automatically updates on your machine, same with java. If you want to use some new features in jquery you update the library and you use it. I have never understood why people keep trying to support software that is years and years out of date
A new website comes out, it needs features only new browsers support. If you cant be bothered to update your software then you dont get to see the site..
Its the way i’ll be working from now on, im constantly recommending to our client base that they’re experience will be a lot more bug free if using IE7 or FF3… its hard enough making web apps without having to support 6 year old browsers.
October 1st, 2008 at 3:45 pm
Nice article
Whilst users of old IE versions will udoubtedly dwindle over time I don’t entirely trust these statistics.
http://www.thecounter.com/stats/
They only have stats dating back to 11/2002 and IE6 was launched 08/2001… where do the first 13 months of stats come from in this graph? Maybe I’ve missed something.
Like you say most people don’t actually know what a browser is (or an address bar for that matter), i suspect that rather than the majority of users making a conscious decision to upgrade their browser uptake of IE7 directly correlates to the uptake of Windows Vista and the amount of people who have Windows Update enabled in XP (with a legit License to pass WGA in order to qualify for the download).
I’d be surprised to see history repeating itself here, moreso when you throw IE8 (out late 2008) into the equation.
October 1st, 2008 at 10:19 pm
@Lyall - the stats for Sept. 2001 came from: http://www.thecounter.com/stats/2001/September/browser.php
October 2nd, 2008 at 9:26 am
^ In that case I stand corrected, I still think their stats are a bit suspect - check out OS stats for Vista for example.
It seems you don’t have to pass WGA anymore in XP to get IE7 either…
October 2nd, 2008 at 9:56 am
I must agree that the OS stats look a bit suss http://www.thecounter.com/stats/2008/October/os.php
I don’t think Amiga OS can really be more popular than Windows Vista
December 15th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
Don’t nock the Amiga OS it IS more popular than Windows Vista (even if less ppl use it)