Why Web Designers Should Drop IE 6

In fact, my new policy has become to drop Internet Explorer entirely.

The large amounts of hacks and having to take several extra hours of time just to make a site look good for a ten-year-old browser that came out before September 11, 2001, are just not worth it. Log the time you spend on Internet Explorer hacks - you'll be amazed. To code for IE6 is like coding two websites at once, only one is frustrating and slowly becomes your red-headed stepchild. (I have nothing against red heads, by the way - several of my nieces and nephews happen to be 'gingers' as they call themselves).

Why do people still use IE6?

Well, back in its time, it was pretty cutting-edge. It worked, and it didn't have much of anything to call competition because other browsers just hadn't been as developed at the time.

However, that was before the major failures of the Bush administration.

So for this presidential election, let's completely do away with the Bush administration and do away with all of its straggling remnants - make clients download at least Internet Explorer 8 or Firefox (my disclaimer that shows up to IE browsers directs them toward Opera, Safari, Firefox, Flock, and Chrome) or SOMETHING other than outdated software that is very insecure and very offensive.

I charge extra for compatibility with Internet Explorer. How much? That's the only part of my service that I charge by-the-hour. And it's only added on after a design is done - so if a design doesn't need any hacks, then I'm not going to charge the client extra. And how much more? That is in proportion to the project :P One of the sites I'm working on would be complete overhaul in order to make it work with IE - it's just not possible without weeks and weeks of extra work that's only going to appeal to probably 25% of the browser market - at most.

Internet Explorer is simply a designer's nightmare. It was great ten years ago - but why don't we start living in the twenty-first century and make modern sites for modern browsers?