Do you ensure support of your web portal for that IE6 user?
Written on February 17th, 2010 at 01:47 am by rishabhmhjn
As a web developer, you must always be using the latest version of every software that you have installed on your machine. You would tend to put in the latest piece of code on your website to make it look more appealing to your users. But have you consider the fact that by using all the latest technology, scripts and codes, you might render your sight unavailable to as much as 20 percent of your traffic stream! Lets see how it is true...
| Browsers | IE8 | IE7 | IE6 | Firefox | Chrome | Safari | Opera |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| January'10 | 14.3% | 11.7% | 10.2% | 46.3% | 10.8% | 3.7% | 2.2% |
| December'09 | 13.5% | 12.8% | 10.9% | 46.4% | 9.8% | 3.6% | 2.3% |
| November'09 | 13.3% | 13.3% | 11.1% | 47.0% | 8.5% | 3.8% | 2.3% |
| October'09 | 12.8% | 14.1% | 10.6% | 47.5% | 8.0% | 3.8% | 2.3% |
As mentioned Browser Statistics provided by W3 every month, its perfectly clear that there are atleast 170 Million Users who are still using old browsers such as Internet Explorer 6 and alike. Many of the new codes do not perform well on these browsers. But, since they came pre-installed for Windows, the less savvy people never bothered to change/upgrade their browser. Since many business listings and web promotion portal are also viewed by these less savvy people, your website will fail to load and will be irritating for your portal users.
That doesn't mean new codes should not be implemented, but in a subtle manner. There must always be an alternative page provided for those who have old browsers, automatic redirects are also very helpful. Overall, those using should never be neglected and should be kept in mind while designing the web pages.
6 Response to "Do you ensure support of your web portal for that IE6 user?"
I have few png images is in my web application; which IE6 doesn't support transparency for this format. Last week I tempted to use jQuery plugin to fix this problem, but I didn't. Looks like IE6 browser usage is getting less and less everyday.
I had no idea that so many people utilize IE6 still. However, I have to think of my grandparents and a few older people I know and they never update their browsers. Good observation for anyone aiming to get any traffic from old people.
It really does matter to those companies whose main customer is an old age person. Its not on the web developers part to ensure whether the customer is using a latest browser or not! Maybe most of the website traffic be constituting a majority of less savvy web surfers or elder people. In that case, the company really needs to develop the web portal keeping all browsers in mind.
I have ran into the same problems. Some companies have not updated to IE6 or the IT department has not updated the browser. I asked 12 of my client's to tell me what browser they have and 2 out of the 12 still have IE6. So if we want to reach everyone IE6 is still around and can be an issue from some of us. Questions I have is does Microsoft even still support IE6?
Thanks
Louise Rennick
WDD Technologies
Microsoft still does support IE6 but insists on upgrades as soon as any update is released. But many mainstream internet companies are now going to drop their support there services for many products. eg. Google's Docs and Youtube are going to drop their support starting April 2010. It will surely have some effects on their IE6 users. But will be a factor that would force the IE6 users to upgrade as well.
Thanks for information.
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