I’ll be honest – I hate Internet Explorer 6. Its out of date methods of rendering the web cause me the largest headaches and frustration that I can’t even begin to explain. However, being a web designer, that is no excuse not to ensure that your client’s websites render properly in this browser. 14.24% of their conversions depend on the rendering of that website!
As of December 2009, 14.24% of the Statcounter enabled websites have recorded the visitors using Internet Explorer 6. I thought that the stat had dropped to single digits ages ago, but it appears that I am wrong. Many people still haven’t upgraded from the damned browser that was released over 8 years ago.
Thankfully the browser is slowly dying, at the start of 2009 in January over 23% of internet users were using IE6. I could see this browser sticking around for another 2-3 years at the current rate of depreciation in percentage.
Make sure your websites render (or partially render) in IE6!
Nothing would frustrate me more if I had took the time to write articles that people were coming to through search engines, website referrals, etc. and then to have my website look terrible to the end user. Yes, the content may be “readable” but if the blog looks terrible, they won’t be coming back. TOO MUCH work went into the process to deter the visitor off of my content because of their browser choice.
Take the time to test and fix problems
You can download MultipleIEs (WIN) for this task, as it allows you to run IE6, IE 5.5 etc in parallel with your current Internet Explorer installation. I’ve installed it on my computer and use it anytime I design a client’s website. For Mac users, you could try downloading Wine and using the IEs4Linux installer script.
Problems with my Blog in Internet Explorer 6:
I was actually surprised when everything rendered pretty well in IE6. There was only one major problem that I had to address.
Problem #1 – Transparent .PNGs:
Well, this one was actually pretty easy. I use a script that you can download called IEPNGFIX.HTC which forces .PNG transparency on any image you determine in the header of your blog (or website). The only problem with it is that it doesn’t work with absolute positioning, which can be a pain for some.
The Fix: Add the image classes into the script mentioned above.
Conclusion:
Many people protest that IE6 is a bad browser and want it to be history, therefore not supporting it on their website or their clients websites. Personally, I think that’s a stupid idea due to the 14% of internet users that still use it… why make your job harder by not supporting a browser?
How do you make the IE6 browser behave?
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27 Comments
I never really thought of that! So many things have to go into consideration when designing a website. I feel that the site should support all browsers. After all I think that for some people its a personal choice. If they do not want to upgrade, does it mean they have to miss out of sites built for newer browsers?
I use IE8 but I find that the newer browsers run slower on my PC. Maybe there is something else I should know?
I understand where you are coming from, but some people decide that the hacks and workarounds simply aren’t worth their time for an outdated browser. Personally, I don’t think they are right as many people are reluctant to upgrade.
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”
“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”
Exactly!
But sometimes people are just forced to upgrade because people cannot be bothered with workarounds.
For Bloggers Who want to Stop Writers’ Block
It’s definitely something to consider, I was using Shockingly big IE6 Warning Plugin ->
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/shockingly-big-ie6-warning/
but the problem is that many surf from work and can’t choose the browser they are in.
There were a few get rid of ie6 campaign groups a while back but I can’t find them now. I think I might have joined one on facebook even!
Why get rid of ie6? I mean why not find ways to make the sites deal with ie6?
As you said many are using the net from the office. Although its good to upgrade, its not always easy. On old PCs, it eats up more memory and slows down the tasks. The browser has a lagging problem.
Thats probably where the statistic comes from.. IE6 on work computers function for work related operations rather than personal enjoyment from websites.
Why do I find that broswers get lower after some time. Is it just for me? When I open up any site, it takes a while to load and until then its just plain white like its hanging or something. Why does this happen. Is it because the PC could be slow?
@Nezine Maybe you should try Google Chrome if you haven’t already. It’s extremely fast to start and load websites.
Another tip is to run ccleaner to clean your browser’s cache, this can help speed things up.
If things are still slow then maybe your network connection is slow…
If your network connection is okay then maybe you are infected with a virus or spyware.
Try scanning your comp with http://www.Superantispyware.com ’s free tool for a start.
You should use the latest browsers as older versions are more prone to exploits and infections.
Another tip to see if your site is rendering correctley is to view it using this website that can show you different internet explorer versions…
http://ipinfo.info/netrenderer/index.php
Thanks, Jonny for the tips. I will try Google Chrome and check it out.
I doing the spyware scan and ccleaner as well.
Hope it will speed up the browing.
For Bloggers Who want to Stop Writers’ Block
Excellent resources Jonny! Thanks for your help.
My blog have 22% on IE6 from whole IE family. Luckily, no issue so far on IE6.
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Thats nice to know, Jayce.
But how can you make sure that visitors using higher IE versions can see your blog as it should be viewed?
For Bloggers Who want to Stop Writers’ Block
I am using Google Analytics to track it.
Jayce´s last blog ..How to hack Facebook account profile
I have not used Google Analytics so much, but does it show how others can veiw your site. Thats really helpful.
Thanks.
Haha… My mistake. Just use the different browser to test it your self.
Jayce´s last blog ..How to hack Facebook account profile
Oh ok! I was wondering how you do that with Google Analytics. I think its somewhat tiring to test it in all browsers, right?
If you have the higher IE, then what stops you from using those and opt for IE6. I am asking because I prefer to use the older versions but I also know the advantages of the newer ones.
Glad you took the time to make sure that IE6 works for you!
thanks for the valuable tips it is really a quality post. i will try google chrome but at the moment i am using fire fox!
I also used to think that IE no matter what version, is truly not worth my time. I have been using Mozilla for the last 5 years. Although I experience some crashes with Firefox. But when I checked out my stats, there are increasing numbers of my visitors in IE.
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I feel your pain Rian, Mozilla is truly one step above IE in every sense… Speed, Security and Updates.
When will these people learn??
I used to use Mozilla and had crashes too. I agree it has some advantages over IE but when one is accustomed to using one browser, its difficult to change.
For Bloggers Who want to Stop Writers’ Block
Viewing this in safari on my iPhone. Renders very well although I dislike safari.
Haha! Good to know that Safari isn’t as bad as IE6. Thanks Jonny!
I’m with ya, freakin IE6.
My site is valid xhtml 1.0 valid except for 1 line in the css which I need to make IE6 work correctly.
Hey Andrew,
You could do a conditional call, so IE6 will get a different set of stylesheet rules than the regular browsers, eliminating the invalidity of your stylesheet
Just a thought.. the browser is such a pain.
Hey Brad, you say that IE6 is a problem and you hate it and it is a pain. I was wondering if the problem is only with IE6 or anoy other versions of IE or other browsers?
you posed a very important question. For i only seo my sites for firefox and explorer since they are the 2 dominant players in the market controlling about 95 percent. However, i sometimes wonder about the other 5 percent and whether some visitors are not turn away because of the way my site is presented
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