As a Web developer, I loathe Internet Explorer 6. It is holding back innovation and progress in the realm of the Web, and the sooner it toddles off to its rightful place in Silicon Heaven, the better for all of us.
Internet Explorer 6 was released by Microsoft on August 27, 2001, shortly after the release of the first version of Windows XP (with versions also available for Windows 98, 2000 and Windows NT4). For such a comparatively ancient piece of software, it still seems to have a large number of adherents, and this is a Very Bad Thing.
IE6 was a welcome addition to the browser lexicon back in 2001 – it was more stable than the bug-ridden Netscape Navigator/Communicator, and less esoteric than Opera, while offering some new features not found in other browsers at the time. But now, eight years on, it is desperately showing its age, yet many people have yet to upgrade, even to the flawed but still infinitely better IE7, let alone the bleeding-edge alternatives such as Firefox, Safari and Chrome.
To put this in perspective, we should analyse IE6’s shortcomings. The Internet looked and functioned very differently in 2001 – design conventions were different and the functionality a user would expect from a Web site was different. As Web development and design has evolved, better ways to achieve certain functionality have been developed that utilise the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) Web standards, as well as advances in programming languages and interactivity. IE6 is woefully deficient in supporting these standards, with Microsoft preferring to blaze their own path using their own proprietary technologies. To get technical for a moment, most current Web sites are designed and styled using a technology called CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) and are given their advanced functionality using a programming language called JavaScript. IE6 only supports very outdated versions of these technologies, and, in the case of CSS, its implementation works rather differently than the W3C-defined standards, requiring different code to be used. Let’s look at the BNO Web site as an example. This site uses standards-compliant code, adhering to W3C standards, in order to make the site look right and function properly over the widest variety of Web browsing technologies (it even looks good in the more esoteric browsers, such as Opera, or the PlayStation 3 and Wii browsers, and will function acceptably in a text-only browser, or a text-to-speech browser, as used by the blind). Yet, in order to look right and work correctly in IE6, many “hacks” have had to be put in place to bypass its non-standard way of displaying Web pages. It’s almost like having to develop a separate, less functional and less pretty site just for those who still use IE6. It’s a waste of Web developers’ time and effort, and the net result is that, as Web developers, we’re constantly having to cater to the lowest common denominator and foregoing the latest advances in Web technology, such as HTML5 and CSS3, which IE6 doesn’t support at all. These technologies should shape the future of the Web and make for a better browsing experience for everyone, yet developers are hobbled by IE6’s refusal to pass into the realm of the obsolete. There’s also the security implications – IE6 is horribly insecure, with many backdoors that unscrupulous hackers have used to install viruses and spyware on the machines of its users. This is well-documented, and Microsoft’s regular releases of hot fixes have done little to stem the torrent of malware, viruses and trojans that take advantage of IE6’s many security holes.
So why haven’t IE6 users upgraded to something more current? There’s several reasons. On the most basic level, many home users haven’t found the need. They’re content with their Web browsing experience and don’t have the knowledge or desire to upgrade, despite the fact that it’s a one-click process for most. Or they may have underpowered hardware, or an outdated version of Windows which doesn’t support newer browsers. Secondly, in the enterprise, especially in organisations with a large number of computers, the time, money and effort required is more than they can afford, especially in the recent economic climate. Despite an upgrade being easy for a home user, with the account security used in many large companies, upgrading requires IT support staff to upgrade each machine individually, leading to additional costs and loss of productivity. Also, there are some enterprise applications that were written to specifically support IE6 (usually using Microsoft’s proprietary ActiveX technology), and that don’t work properly on newer browsers, which necessitates investment of time and money on a new version of the software. Or, if a newer version of the software doesn’t exist, migrating to a different piece of software would probably incur even greater costs, not just for the software itself, but also migrating data to the new system and getting users up to speed.
As a company who develops business-to-business Web sites, you can’t escape IE6, so how can we possibly break away from it? It’s slow going, but natural hardware obsolescence should eventually weed out most IE6 users. As individuals and companies upgrade their computers, their new machines should come with newer versions of Windows, which, in the case of Windows 7 (which has seen an impressive number of people upgrading to it), comes pre-installed with Internet Explorer 8, which, while still not perfect, is a vast improvement on its predecessors, both in terms of standards support and security.
There’s also our duty of educating our clients – what can companies get out of the cost and hassle of upgrading? Firstly, there’s the security implications – running a browser other than IE6 will plug a gaping security hole in any company’s network. Secondly, potentially increased productivity. The new generation of Web-based applications that IE6 cannot support generally offers a more streamlined, slicker and more user-friendly experience than their predecessors, meaning work will get done faster, and with less calls to the IT department. Thirdly – the ability to participate in social media. Many popular social media sites are phasing out support for IE6 (YouTube being the most visible, with Facebook close behind), so to continue to promote your company through these outlets, upgrading is essential.
When people like myself complain about the pervasiveness of IE6, some people will write us off as techie nerds with nothing better to complain about. I will happily admit to being a techie nerd of the worst kind (I wear it as a badge of honour), but we just want everyone to have the best possible experience online, to keep development costs manageable and to help our clients achieve their goals with the minimum of fuss. Clinging on to obsolete software does not help us achieve any of these things. So, dear readers, spread the word, upgrade your computers, and help us make this change to bring your Internet experience into line with those of us who wish to push its boundaries. This is going to be a very exciting time if we can all get on board.
Tags: browers, Microsoft Explorer, web
