I've jumped on the "Anti-IE6" band wagon

24. February 2009

Pushup The WebThere have been a lot of talk online for a while now about the much desired demise of Internet Explorer 6, and other out dated web browsers. I don't think I've used IE6 since the first Beta of IE7, and I haven't used Firefox 2.0 since Firefox 3.0 was released. However, I can see that there are still a few users that visit this blog of whom are still using some of these OLD versions of these web browsers. So, I am joining the effort to "Push up the web" by including the script found at http://www.pushuptheweb.com in my website to kindly remind any visitor using an out dated web browser that they may want to update.

The first Anti-IE6 campaign website I was directed to was http://iedeathmarch.org where they point out the fact that there are a ton of things younger than IE6 (which was released August 27th 2001.)

For example, these things are ALL Younger than IE6:

  • Google Adsense
  • Friendster
  • iPod
  • Original XBox
  • Halo
  • Nintendo Gamecube
  • Hummer H2
  • Windows XP
  • Internet Explorer 5 for Mac OS
  • Canon Digital SLR Cameras

We've actually seen a ton of stuff happen since IE6 was released. IE6 has been around longer than the 6+ years the U.S. has had troops in Iraq. IE6 has been around longer than the 7+ years it's been since the 9/11 attacks.

Now, why are people still using these old browsers? Why haven't they updated to the latest, safest, most secure versions? Well, regardless the reason, it's about time.

General

Comments

2/26/2009 1:57:31 AM #
It would be fantastic if people would update but it is quite unlikely.

I still know of people who use IE6 because they are still modem users and don't want to (or don't have the connection reliability to) download IE7 and install it. There are a lot of non-technical users out there and some are still using Windows 98 and IE5.

Again, I would love to see everyone on a newer browser but the reality is that this isn't going to happen. I feel it would be a disservice to my customers to restrict access to this (thankfully shrinking) minority.
2/26/2009 3:52:20 AM #
That's weird, I can see your reply but not my comment Smile

I think you are correct. On our types of site / blog we can add nag messages and get away with it. I don't think on commercial, non-technical sites that you would though. It is a shame though.
2/26/2009 4:49:27 AM #
BlackWasp, I do agree that it would be a disservice to customers (and blog readers for that matter) so that's why I decided to use the javascript code that is available at http://www.pushuptheweb.com. Their .js code just places a small "nag" box at the top right of your website for 6 seconds be default then it disappears. It doesn't block access to users with older browsers; it just simply give them a subtle notification to upgrade.

I agree it would be bad for business to completely block out potential customers completely; which I have seen implemented on some websites. I feel we can best encourage our customers/users by giving them a subtle reminder; like the code from http://www.pushuptheweb.com does.
2/26/2009 4:51:05 AM #
Oops, that because I forgot to approve it earlier.
Ira
3/12/2009 10:46:55 PM #
Most people aslo use what they have at work, and I would guess at 80% of all corporate environments still using IE6 because using a newer version would break their existing applications. In some ways, I like this, because it shows software is not a thowaway commodity
3/18/2009 8:10:58 PM #
I jamped also
made me so misrable beofre,
now its all gone