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!

In 2001 Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 6 became the most dominant web browser in the world.  Nine years on new technology and browsers such as Firefox and Google Chrome have left this average piece of software behind.  In 2009 I think it is time that the web helped IE6 finally move on, but will it?

Most web designers and developers would agree that IE6 has had its time and now is its time to give way,  not only to its successors in IE7 and IE8 beta, but to Firefox, Chrome, Mozilla, Opera and Safari which all bring a much richer web experience to their users.  The problem is that there are many factors halting the decline of IE6, these include:-

• Corporations using systems that still don’t support browser updates
• Users that have never heard of Firefox or Chrome never mind installed them
• Less wealthy parts of the world where older system are more common
• Microsoft’s imminent release of IE6 for the mobile phone market

So it looks like we are going to be stuck with IE6 for some time to come, but that doesn’t mean we cannot advise our visitors which in turn will keep things naturally changing and moving.  I am not saying completely stop supporting IE6, whether we like it or not it has a place on the web and lack of support will only serve to damage the flow of traffic to our sites.

What I would recommend is adding conditional CSS or JQuery to warn users that they are using a browser which could damage their experience of the web and hopefully this will help keep IE6 to a minimum.  In the meantime I will be adding conditional CSS to my site, but ultimately I will still support IE6 until the percentage of users is low enough to not be a concern anymore.

I am a web designer so dealing with multiple browsers is just part of the job.  Making sure that your pages appear correctly in as many browsers as possible is the key to make sure you touch as many users as you can.  With this experience I have seen a certain amount of snobbery when it comes to both IE and particularly Firefox.

The divide is pretty clear between IE and Firefox; IE users are on the whole the general public who have purchased an off the shelf PC or laptop and are happy with the standard Microsoft setup, whereas Firefox users are web designer, developers and IT minded people.  This is where the snobbery starts, Firefox users (the web designer/developers) have an automatic hate of Microsoft – the freedom crushing machine that forces users into their way of thinking.  There are two reasons for this state of mind in my opinion -

1. They think it makes them different or rebellious
2. It gives them a superior stance when speaking to the less knowledgeable general user

It is perceived that Firefox offers a more accurate web experience, your pages are represented as they should be and it gives more control with add-ons to fine tune your work.  In some cases this is true; the add-ons that firefox offer as an open source alternative can be helpful, but that doesn’t hide the fact that the text and image rendering capabilities of Firefox are not as good as IE7, as well as the strange results when using CSS which IE seems to handle in a more organic way.

Okay I know it sounds like I am just having a go at Firefox, so I should explain it isn’t Firefox that is the problem, it is the snobbery that surrounds it.  For every problem with IE there is an equal problem with Firefox and those that love Firefox so much should remember that.  Granted IE6 is now so out of date with the technology of today and it is becoming a little embarrasing, but IE7 and IE8 have made some big steps forward.  I personally like IE7 as an equal to Firefox, but yes it has it’s own issues.  IE has a tendancy to unexpectedly crash/close without notice, while at the same time some web functions don’t react as they are supposed to.  All this makes IE a more frustrating option than Firefox,  but from a page rendering perspective IE gives a much better feel.

I always make sure my pages display at their best in both these browsers, but the snobs will do well to remember that IE is still the most popular browser choice for users which are ultimately the people we are trying to target with our web offerings.  Firefox however is still trying to find a really strong foothold in what is becoming a more competitive market on a daily basis.  All any designer needs to remember is – create for your audience not yourself.