5 ms·

Great idea. Punish the poor people who are forced into using IE6. A significant portion of the users would assume that there is something wrong with their visio

Great idea. Punish the poor people who are forced into using IE6. A significant portion of the users would assume that there is something wrong with their vision rather than the browser. I suggest an alert saying "Your browser is old. Please upgrade or contact your IT department."

thingie 16y ago
I also think that intentionally breaking the website (in the worst possible way) in an unsupported browser is exactly the behavior we're trying to get rid of, along with IE6.
- jrockway 16y ago
  Yeah. But unfortunately IE6 doesn't support any functionality that could break the user, so developers are forced to break the browser instead.
gte910h 16y ago
It's a joke....
- Semiapies 16y ago
  It's a "joke" that is the thousandth obnoxious repetition of "Deliberately make the experience suck or impossible for IE 6 users."
melling 16y ago
You are forced to use IE6 because the IT department decided that's all you need for your job. If sites stopped working in IE6 then people could make the case that they need a modern browser for their work. In the US and Europe, IE6 usage is around 5%. I think we're close enough to push IE6 completely out.
- Legion 16y ago
  No, one is forced to use IE6 by the IT department because many internal web applications developed during IE6's time targeted the browser instead of web standards. The idea of having sites "stop working" isn't particularly helpful, because the things that would actually matter if they stopped working are the internal stuff chained to IE6.
  - jsdalton 16y ago
    I've heard this argument a lot, but it doesn't hold up. These mythical IT departments could quite easily allow for a modern browser to be installed alongside IE6, so that users could continue to access legacy applications while enjoying a modern experience on the rest of the web. Sorry, but there truly is no (good) excuse for any IT dept to restrict users to IE6.
    - melling 16y ago
      It's a support "issue." Large IT departments will say that it requires extra support to install a second browser. Is it worth the "extra" cost in time and support? As a developer, in some organizations, you can't install anything on your own machine. So, you can't get your software to work on Firefox, for example. All your software simply has to work on the company standard browser. The idea is that you'll deal with it later...and 8 years later...
      - Shorel 16y ago
        This is a huge software development issue. A disastrous money waster. The solution I see is to start to charge more for an IE6 compatible version of any Web software (and charge for the IE6 compatible version in the cases when the software is normaly free).
        techiferous 16y ago
        IE6-compatibility adds to the work of creating new web apps, so the client's bill ends up naturally being higher if they want IE6 support. With IE6 still having almost 20% of the market, it sometimes makes business sense to continue to support IE6. P.S. I wish IE6 would die in a fire.
ary 16y ago
Wouldn't the point really be about applying pressure to those able to fix the problem? The sad reality is that business reasons have prompted developers to support IE6 and thus kept the problems out of the user's field of view. Much like my experience with giving demos in the workplace, out in the world broken has to appear "broken" for anyone to care about fixing it. Purposefully making IE6 appear broken is the means to this end. Glad we all feel sorry for IE6 users though.
- jodrellblank 16y ago
  And the counter is: If IE6 doesn't already appear broken to people out in the world already, in what sense that they care about is it broken?
  - ary 16y ago
    I fail to see how that is a counter point. It doesn't appear to be broken because the effort of the developers required to support it. The rough edges that remain are too nuanced for the average person to notice. More and more IE6 is being left behind, but the holdouts, mostly in the corporate sphere, are going to need massive user pressure to get the internal IT machine moving.
    - jodrellblank 16y ago
      It's a counter point because the kind of big bureaucratic custom website laden company which is stuck on IE6 doesn't give a damn that it takes you two months instead of one. It's about as compelling as saying COBOL isn't much fun, how about you rewrite all your apps in Ruby-on-Rails because then my life will be more pleasant. The real way to make ie6 go away is to charge so much to make any site work on it that there's a real economic imperative for companies to pause for thought and consider replanning. When it doesn't cost a lot and your main argument is "why not rework your IT system because one bit of my job is a bit fiddly and boring" that's not such a compelling reason. See also CORBA, SOAP, COM, and endless other technologies which aren't fun but companies pay for and people work on anyway.

thingie 16y ago

I also think that intentionally breaking the website (in the worst possible way) in an unsupported browser is exactly the behavior we're trying to get rid of, along with IE6.

jrockway 16y ago
Yeah. But unfortunately IE6 doesn't support any functionality that could break the user, so developers are forced to break the browser instead.

gte910h 16y ago

It's a joke....

Semiapies 16y ago
It's a "joke" that is the thousandth obnoxious repetition of "Deliberately make the experience suck or impossible for IE 6 users."

melling 16y ago

You are forced to use IE6 because the IT department decided that's all you need for your job. If sites stopped working in IE6 then people could make the case that they need a modern browser for their work. In the US and Europe, IE6 usage is around 5%. I think we're close enough to push IE6 completely out.

Legion 16y ago
No, one is forced to use IE6 by the IT department because many internal web applications developed during IE6's time targeted the browser instead of web standards. The idea of having sites "stop working" isn't particularly helpful, because the things that would actually matter if they stopped working are the internal stuff chained to IE6.
- jsdalton 16y ago
  I've heard this argument a lot, but it doesn't hold up. These mythical IT departments could quite easily allow for a modern browser to be installed alongside IE6, so that users could continue to access legacy applications while enjoying a modern experience on the rest of the web. Sorry, but there truly is no (good) excuse for any IT dept to restrict users to IE6.
  - melling 16y ago
    It's a support "issue." Large IT departments will say that it requires extra support to install a second browser. Is it worth the "extra" cost in time and support? As a developer, in some organizations, you can't install anything on your own machine. So, you can't get your software to work on Firefox, for example. All your software simply has to work on the company standard browser. The idea is that you'll deal with it later...and 8 years later...
    - Shorel 16y ago
      This is a huge software development issue. A disastrous money waster. The solution I see is to start to charge more for an IE6 compatible version of any Web software (and charge for the IE6 compatible version in the cases when the software is normaly free).
      - techiferous 16y ago
        IE6-compatibility adds to the work of creating new web apps, so the client's bill ends up naturally being higher if they want IE6 support. With IE6 still having almost 20% of the market, it sometimes makes business sense to continue to support IE6. P.S. I wish IE6 would die in a fire.

ary 16y ago

Wouldn't the point really be about applying pressure to those able to fix the problem? The sad reality is that business reasons have prompted developers to support IE6 and thus kept the problems out of the user's field of view. Much like my experience with giving demos in the workplace, out in the world broken has to appear "broken" for anyone to care about fixing it. Purposefully making IE6 appear broken is the means to this end. Glad we all feel sorry for IE6 users though.

jodrellblank 16y ago
And the counter is: If IE6 doesn't already appear broken to people out in the world already, in what sense that they care about is it broken?
- ary 16y ago
  I fail to see how that is a counter point. It doesn't appear to be broken because the effort of the developers required to support it. The rough edges that remain are too nuanced for the average person to notice. More and more IE6 is being left behind, but the holdouts, mostly in the corporate sphere, are going to need massive user pressure to get the internal IT machine moving.
  - jodrellblank 16y ago
    It's a counter point because the kind of big bureaucratic custom website laden company which is stuck on IE6 doesn't give a damn that it takes you two months instead of one. It's about as compelling as saying COBOL isn't much fun, how about you rewrite all your apps in Ruby-on-Rails because then my life will be more pleasant. The real way to make ie6 go away is to charge so much to make any site work on it that there's a real economic imperative for companies to pause for thought and consider replanning. When it doesn't cost a lot and your main argument is "why not rework your IT system because one bit of my job is a bit fiddly and boring" that's not such a compelling reason. See also CORBA, SOAP, COM, and endless other technologies which aren't fun but companies pay for and people work on anyway.