Archived under: Technology & Digital Culture | Off topic
Off Topic: Why Updating Internet Explorer 6 is Important
Whenever creating a new web site, a developer tries to be as inclusive as possible. We want our web sites to look good in as many browsers as possible. We aim to make the visitor’s experience as pleasant as possible.
This includes designing for popular browsers such as FireFox, Safari, Opera, Chrome and Internet Explorer.
One particular old version of Internet Explorer has been a bit of a pariah for developers for the past five years — Internet Explorer 6 (IE6). Developers have had to create hacks and alternative site versions specifically for IE6, a browser soon to be ten years old.
This is practically a dinosaur in Internet years.
Why update?
- IE6 is a security risk. Since its release in 2001, it has been updated only twice. For an internet hacker, IE6 is like Swiss cheese for a mouse — full of holes and mighty tasty.
- More and more designers are turning a blind eye towards IE6 in a collective move to encourage users to update their browsers. This movement is not about being anti-Microsoft so much as it is about moving onwards. Craig Grannell at Bring Down IE6 asks designers and developers if it’s finally time to take IE6 behind the shed and shoot it.
- Horn Matters — which functions as intended in newer browsers — looks broken in IE6. While we have many plans for Horn Matters, making it IE6-friendly is not a priority.
If you are reading this from your workplace on IE6, encourage your IT department to update your browser to a safer, more modern browser. At the very least, you can adopt the Google Chrome Frame which has better support for JavaScript.
If you an IE6 user reading this from home, updating is as simple a clicking on a link:
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