A number of web designers have decided to stop supporting some browsers and particularly Internet Explorer (IE6 to be precise), but as IE6 becomes the native browser for a number of smart phones is it right to dismiss what still can be a large and relevant section of your audience.
I have been designing pages for a number of years now and have experienced my fair share of Internet Explorer 6 nightmare moments, however, this has never stopped me supporting this browser along with others. During the past three years I have tried to support the main browsers, IE, Firefox, Chrome and Safari, a decision simply based on the analytics available to me which have shown that IE in all its versions is the most popular followed closely by Firefox then Safari and Chrome, so it puzzles me why some designers and companies have decided to stop support for IE6!
My job as senior web-designer is measured on a number of factors, these are unique users, page impressions and visit duration; all these are affected by how accessible the website is. Accessability at its essence is making a site easy to use for all users, people are coming to your site with varied skills and technology, from many geographical locations and cultures so we as web designers have a duty to make our sites for all these people. It seems however, that an ever growing number of designers want to ‘Kill IE6′ to somehow make the Internet a better place but punishing the ill-informed seems to be a very negative way to do so.
IE6 until recently was the most popular browser, this is simply because it was the standard install with Windows XP and for many users of PC’s IE6 is just a window to the Internet nothing more; other users of IE6 don’t have a choice, the technology infrastructure in some companies is old leaving their employees no other option but to use this old browser, finally certain smart phones are using a web browser based on IE6 which we can only assume will become more popular over the coming months and years. With all this in-mind how can anybody seriously think about not supporting what is going to be part of the web for the immediate future at least, I understand that it makes the overall design process more difficult but who said web design was ever going to be easy!
I became a designer to creating designs for all to enjoy, so not supporting at least the main browsers goes against all I am trying to do. So to help make things less painful with cross browser testing here are a couple of links to services I have used and would recommend.
Browser Shots is a comprehensive online testing solution (external link)
IEtester – great for ironing out quirks between IE versions (external link)
Don’t forget, as designers or even users of the Internet with knowledge we shouldn’t damage peoples experience, we should educate and advise to help make things better for all!