Do you use Internet Explorer 6.0? According to my web stats, 53% of IE users who visit this blog are still on version 6 of Microsoft’s web browser.
In all fairness, unless you live behind a computer like I do, you probably aren’t even aware that Microsoft released version 7 in November 2006 to combat all the viruses that IE6 (and therefore Windows itself) was vulnerable to.
Besides the security problems that have plagued IE6, it is also a pain in the rear for webmasters. It’s like a vegetarian sitting down for Christmas dinner. Modern web browsers will, for the most part, display what the webmaster intended. IE6 on the other hand, demands special attention, often a separate set of web pages specifically designed for it.
Are you sure you don’t use Internet Explorer 6.0? If you don’t know, please click the “Help” menu in your toolbar and click “About”. Now, if you do find that you are still on version 6.0, or even worse, one of the 0.2% on version 5, please do one of the following:
A) Upgrade to Internet Explorer 7,
B) Download and use FireFox instead,
C) Upgrade to Windows Vista which has IE7 by default, or
D) Wait for Microsoft to force an IE7 upgrade upon you.
I stopped supporting IE6 on my websites a long time ago, so I’m very happy that IE7 is being sent out as a Windows automatic update for anyone who hasn’t already upgraded. Bring it on Microsoft, the sooner the better! 🙂
If you like, you can find me on Twitter at @nick_ramsay. I'd love to hear from you!
I’m really lucky. Only around 6% of my readers are using IE6 over at tofugu. I was surprised to see that 72% were using firefox. Over at koichiben (70% Japanese readers), on the other hand TONS of people are using IE6. Despite what you’re saying above, I’m still surprised that so many people have IE6. Only reason I have it is for testing purposes 🙁
Nice article, I hope it makes some people switch!
I stopped supported ie6 a while back now. I think my site might break on it now, but I’m not sure.
For reasons unknown to me, my wife still uses ie6. Maybe I should upgrade for her.
Thanks to IE6 being the defacto browser installed at my work’s Kanayama offices, I can tell you that your site is broken with the old browser. The content appears at the bottom, after both sidebars’ content.
Perhaps this slow breaking of sites will force users to update to something a little more current 😕
I wonder what IE6 users think when they see a “broken” site? They probably have no idea that it’s their own fault, not the webmasters. Perhaps we should return to the old days and put little “Best viewed with IE7 or Firefox ” messages on our sites.
Funny how you wrote about this today, Nick … I have a post being released in a few hours that also touches on browser information 😛
That said, many people still use IE6 for many reasons. Lots of people are still using Windows XP, for one, and lots of us have Windows Updates shut off or, at the very least, the notifications disabled. In many cases, people will not upgrade because their current software “just works”. Until websites start having those horrible banners like we used to see when IE4 and Netscape 4 came out telling us to upgrade otherwise we can’t view the site, most people will continue to use whatever is installed on their PC.
On that note, for anyone that doesn’t like FireFox as an alternative, I’d recommend the Opera browser. I’ve been using it for over a year on Windows, Linux, Solaris and even OSX with no problems whatsoever. It’s light on processor and doesn’t suck up huge amounts of memory 🙂
j2fi.net Stats for 2008:
IE Users – 15.4%
IE6 – 46.7% of all IE users
IE7 – 48.0% of all IE users
IE4 – 0.6% of all IE users 🙄
I’m a fan of firefox but use both from time to time. I don’t even remember what IE 6 looks like.
62.19% MSIE 6.0
24.38% Firefox 2.0.0
10.00% MSIE 7.0
3.13% Safari 1.2
0.31% Firefox 1.5.0
This is my stats for the month so far.
My site looks way better on Firefox.
Mine too.
I just can’t stand how IE blurs many fonts.
You’re referring to ClearType. Some people love it, some people hate it, but for those who do want ClearType in Firefox, here’s how you do it:
Love ClearType in IE7? Use it in Firefox and Everywhere Else!
Man, do I hate it when a vegetarian sits down for Christmas dinner! I mean, come on!
Anyway I stopped using Explorer 7 a couple of months ago, not because I hate explorer but because it just would always freeze on me. Now I use Firefox and it’s been pretty reliable.
I used to use version 6.0 but now can happily say I use 7.0 due to a friend sorting it all out for me!!
Cheers Nick!!
Keith
Yay! A convert!
Internet What? Oh. That thing I used to use before firefox.
I’m not a Microsoft fan in general. Unless I’m mistaken, first they copied Netscape and now they are just copying Firefox (except firefox has great add-ons)
I use Firefox, Safari, and I just downloaded Opera. I like having several so I can open more than one Google Account at a time.
The problem with IE6 is that it only runs on XP SP2 and up. The foundation I created a website for is still using W2000 on most of it’s machines, therefor they are stuck with IE6. Upgrading to XP or Vista is both impractical for older machines and expensive. So unless MS makes it backwards compatible we have quite a few years of IE6 ahead of us.
Whats wrong with IE 6?
Its better (faster) than Firefox on my older win2000 machine. I was using firefox, opera switching back and forth. But good old IE 6 never chokes like firefox does.