Killing a browser
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- Ravdyk
So it seems to be a lot of talk about how IE6 must die. I think nobody would disagree on that stand point but how?
Html 5 is coming up so it probably would be weird if you have to make two websites one that works with html 5 and an other version that works for the other browsers.
We see more and more large companies like Youtube now saying they won't support ie6 further one. Does this give us enough power to say to our client no you don't need ie6 support because even companies like Youtube do not support it.
I am also wondering won't we have the same problem with people using an old safari version or whatever in 5 years?
Your thoughts go beneath this post.
- airey0
this has been discussed to death here already, just do a search for IE6, youtube ditching IE6, etc etc.
- It's impossible to talk enough about how IE6 MUST DIE!boobs
- obey the boobsSlashPeckham
- ukit0
I think it totally depends what kind of project you are launching. If you were getting a commercial site aimed at a mass audience off the ground, it probably makes sense to be as inclusive as possible.
On the other hand, my bet is that over the next few years we will see more and more specialized startups based around new technologies (HTML 5 etc) that may not work in certain browsers (IE) at all.
- IE will always be supported, it's about 70% of users. IE6 on the other hand is on the way out. thank fuck.airey
- Wouldn't be so sure. I'm not talking about businesses so much as specialized projects where the technology is the main attraction.ukit
- key factor. I mean, if IE doesn't support CANVAS you think people won't develop for it?ukit
- Thats my question exactly. Should we or should we not? I guess we should but from a commercial stand point...Ravdyk
- Like I said, depends on your goals. If you have money on the line not supporting IE6 could be a bad ideaukit
- lukus_W0
html 5 won't be in general use for a very long time and IE6 will be around for a while longer
a lot of people are still forced to use IE6 at work, because of legacy applications that their company relies on. we're not just talking about people who are too dumb or lazy to upgrade..
a hell of a lot of people in china use a home-grown browser which is based on the same rendering engine as IE6, so forgetting about IE6 totally could mean partial exclusion from the worlds fastest growing economy.
but yeah, it's on the way out thank fuck.
like ukit said, dropping it totally depends on the project - and the type of visitor yr site gets. if you're selling something, you can't be too sanctimonious about IE6.. imo, you have to support it.
- Interesting, didn't know that about China...although I wonder how many Chinese people visit English sites anywayukit
- yeah, i'm not sure either - but it's worth thinking about i guess .. the browser's http://www.maxthon.c…lukus_W
- it's popular because it has a few tricks to work around censorshiplukus_W
- Interesting...I think I read that the Chinese web audience recently surpassed the entire US population.ukit
- we should all be learning chinese -> in 80 years time our grandkids will be illegal immigrants in chinalukus_W
- epic_rim0
ie6 is vintage; shit looks better on it. Sometimes I run my site through ie6 or my buddy's ie5 (rare in this part of the country) to really beef up the low end and tame the highs. I know a guy who has ie3 and websites look hella phat through that browser. I'm thinking about getting netscape 3 but you never know what kidn of condition it's gonna be under the hood, especially with the used market the way it is.
- ukit0
And the benefits of HTML5 are not going to be that vital to most projects either. I mean, does anyone care that you use a <header> tag and a <nav> tag? Not really.
The main areas where there is potential to innovate in terms of what your users actually see are CANVAS and VIDEO, but neither of these are even really past the experimental stage at this point.
- i think that the semantic stuff will be useful though -> because it will allow webpages to more easily become fodder for databaseslukus_W
- the catch-22 being that until IE supports these they won't fin a huge development following.airey
- for databases.lukus_W
- but as the development interst picks up IE with the probably make efforts to include it.airey
- frustration.airey
- Yeah, it's a good thing over the long term for sureukit
- armsbottomer0
digg analyzed the ie6 userbase, these were their findings:
it totally depends on what your target market is.as for html5, it's been around for a while, it just hasn't been generally espoused the by web community. it would be totally fine to build a site with html5/css3, it just depends on who it's targeted towards.
- I'm not so sure which web browser you'd choose to run yr html5/css3 sitelukus_W
- you haven't tested out a html5/css3 site in FF3.5 yet? you shouldarmsbottomer
- try it with safari4 while your at it.armsbottomer
- http://www.youtube.c… < does that work for you - i'm ff 3.5 but it's broken... maybe cos i'm using linux?lukus_W
- Stugoo0
i agree, kill ie6. I've talked about this to death. time to move on and start taking action.
After reading about orange staff threatened to be fined for NOT using ie6:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/200…I've decided to systematically contact my bank, phone company, gas, electric, broadband providers etc and see what browsers they are using to adminsiter thier accounts as I know a large majority of these companies use web apps.
Basiclaly if they use IE6 I will write a letter of complaint about how they are using an insecure browser to handle my account and that I really need something to be done or I will take my business else where... i mean ffs I was in Bank of Scotland the other day and the guy showed me the company website on IE6... the first thing i said was... you need to upgrade your browser.
Then the idea is to publish this information and to get people to do the same. Set up letter templates etc... name and shame bombard these companies and take them down....
with all that siad as soon as ie6 is dead and im over the celebration hangover (im srsly going to throw a party) im going to go and try to take out ie7....
- Stugoo0
oh yeah but it looks like microsoft are really trying to push ie8, and move away from XP with all this talk of windows7... which will come with no default browser in Europe.... however I bet the browser selection screen will look like this
- ckentish0
ie6 is shit.
ie 7 slightly better but ie8 is good.
firefox is slow to start on a windows machine whereas ie opens instantly.
dont really know my point here but its probably a mistake to judge new browsers on inferior older versions...
- raf0
The poll is flawed, the most important question is missing:- What's a browser?
- GeorgesII0
this is a bowser Raf.
- welded0
The red and purple slices can be taken out of the equation if their favourite sites begin pushing them to upgrade, either aggressively with targeted banners and the like or simply by degrading their experience versus a modern browser.
It depends on the project, but we still assume IE6 support at work but if I have the wiggle room to do so I have stopped sweating the details in IE6, like PNG24s for example. Baby steps...
- Ravdyk0
Let's say you make a simple website for a local shop would you make it work for ie6 yes or no?
- vaxorcist0
All too often, there's a bean counter accountant with a green eyeshade who's running Windows 98 and IE6.... and can't upgrade because he's got some DOS accounting package.... and, uh, he's the guy who has to approve your payment.... and if he sees your work doesn't work in IE6... uh