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No more Internet Explorer 6 support.

November 7th, 2008

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I, like many web developers the world over, have a had a nasty thorn in my side for a long time and its name is Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.

IE6′s CSS support is well documented across the Internet for being notoriously bad. To get sites to look the same on it as on other browsers such as Firefox, Safari, or even Internet Explorer 7 requires messy code hacks and compromises.

I’ve been itching to ditch supporting Internet Explorer 6 for a long time. I can’t tell you how many times over the past couple of years integrating a site for hours, and when it comes time to browser test everything looks beautiful in every browser EXCEPT IE6. So, I began doing some research yesterday and it seems that many developers are finally planting a stake firmly in the ground and are ending their support of Internet Explorer 6 with their projects.

I’m staking my claim as well. From this point on, none of the sites I produce will be guaranteed to work with Internet Explorer 6 or lower. With the advent of Internet Explorer 8, there are two good choices for those people who wish to stick with a Microsoft browser.

Now that I’ve made this statement I have to decide how to handle IE6 users on my sites. Do I just let the site break naturally, letting them see whatever layout inconsistencies that may arise from the browser’s inability to render CSS correctly, or do I use some sort of IE conditional or Javascript function that yields a message to the IE6 user that his browser is no longer supported? If you’re a developer phasing out IE6 support, what is your plan?

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  • I think the implementation depends on the percentage of your traffic that uses IE6. What do your stats have to say?

    37signals had an interesting approach for Basecamp: http://37signals.blogs.com/products/2008/07/bas...
  • My stats say that out of 42% of my overall Internet Explorer users, about 10% use IE6. That's enough to convince me.
  • I'm building my new personal website and I intend to display a clear and unavoidable message for any IE6 users that they need to upgrade.

    Although, I'm unlikely to get any IE6 users as my site will be aimed at web developers, but you never know.
  • Amen. I've had it.. unfortunately where I work (kansascity.com) IE6 is 2nd on the list. 25%.. 1.7 million visitors in October.

    IE7 is first with 3 million...

    I need a new job.
  • Oh yeah.. 5th on the list.. IE5.. 88k visitors last month.. I'm not sure those people can actually see the site. I don't think even the ads comply with IE5
  • I still support it -- as much as I hate it, I don't want to abandon a good sum of my audience. Besides, the client/CEO is always going to open your site in IE5.5 :)
  • pam
    Ugh - I wish I could stop hacking for IE6.... but I swear that ALL of my clients still use it and they are the first to let me know when something isnt right - even in the beta phases of a new development. I have to tell them view it in Firefox and then I'll hack for IE after they approve everything. Good for you for stopping the madness...
  • kik
    I think that mark's solution is the good one. We, developpers, know that ie6 sux, and we feel angry about it. But non-developer people don't know about it.

    Not supporting ie6 anymore is a good solution only if we inform the ie6 user on as much websites as possible that their browser is outdated. If they see the message every day in 6 month, nevermind which quota of your visitors use it.
  • graceful degradation in IE6, leave a note to users of IE6 that they are currently outdated: http://www.bringdownie6.com/
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