Cross-browser development can be a real pain. Every web developer that has ever had to do a hack to get some part of their website to work correctly in Internet Explorer six knows what I’m talking about.
Even with IE7 being out for nearly two years, my analytics still show that half of my traffic is using IE6.
Here are 5 reasons they still use an outdated, Swiss cheese security, painfully slow browser.
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They Don’t Know What a Browser Is
I love it when someone comes to me and says, “My internet is broken. When I open it up I see something I’ve never seen before.” Then you find out that all that happened is that their homepage changed. Many people think that the browser is the internet. Until they can fundamentally grasp what the internet is, they will never have an appreciation for the browser they use.
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They Don’t Know That There Are Alternative Browsers
Like number one, if they are even capable of identifying what the browser is, most people are unaware that they have choices. The other caveat is the person (like my dad) who, once he finds out he does have a choice, he installs 10 different browsers. If one browser by one company is good, 10 browsers by 10 companies must be even better.
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They Are Afraid Of Change
People fear what they can’t understand. They put so much effort into learning how to use a browser correctly that it’s just too much work to switch to something different, even though it could be faster, easier, or safer.
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They Thought The Upgrade Notice From Windows Was A Pop-Up Ad
People are really paranoid out there. Going so far as to put multiple firewalls and virus scanning packages on their machines. If they do get a notice to upgrade, they are so distrusting of adware or spyware that they typically just ignore it.
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They Don’t Care About Having A “Good Internet Experience”
Hey, they are just glad to be on the “internets”. This makes me wonder if they even care that my CSS doesn’t render properly when they look at my site. Unfortunately my boss uses IE6 and he does care if my CSS doesn’t render properly for him.
Please, if you’re viewing this with IE6, switch to a different browser. Even upgrading to IE7 is better than what you’re using now. You’d be doing every web developer a favor by installing Firefox, but Opera and Safari are ok too.
April 7th, 2008 at 11:17 am
When Firefox and Opera offer me the customization that Maxthon offers, I might think about switching browsers. I’ve installed both, but I always go back to Maxthon. Incidently, I favor 1.0 version over the 2.0, simply because I can make it do what I want.
April 7th, 2008 at 11:50 am
I just spent two weeks wondering what the heck happened to my OE. It never gave me any trouble when “suddenly” it went berserk on me with some people receiving my emails and others not. I was also not able to insert pics – just really random stuff. I use Firefox and only use IE for the few pages that just won’t work with Firefox. It never occurred to me that the problem with OE was connected to my “upgrade” to IE7. Doing some web research last night on the issue I found that I’m one of many – I mean many! – who have experienced major bugs in IE7. I uninstalled it, went back to IE6 (remember, I seldom use it) and my OE immediately resumed working normally. Go Firefox, but stay away from IE7!
April 7th, 2008 at 12:37 pm
That’s lame. There are many very good reasons to continue using IE6. Just as there are many good reasons to continue using XP if you cannot toss it all for a new Mac.
April 9th, 2008 at 12:16 am
As a web designer shouldn’t you make sure that your CSS works in every browser?
April 9th, 2008 at 2:11 am
You missed the MOST obvious reason… Pirated Windows XP! IE 7 won’t install if you aren’t using a “Genuine” product unless you know how to get around it.
April 9th, 2008 at 2:55 am
The most likely reason is IE7 won’t install on w2k, and contrary to popular belief w2k is still running on a lot of machines.
Me personally, if a site won’t work on firefox or opera, I probbaly have little reason to see it anyway.
April 9th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
i see the “I like it” button. Where is the “this guy is an idiot button”?
April 10th, 2008 at 4:48 am
@ nedray – Not sure why that button would be needed on this site. Best just to keep that idea to yourself and your own site. I’m sure its getting pleanty of hits.
April 10th, 2008 at 1:41 pm
I think this guys point is that a lot of time could be saved without creating hacks for ie6. And to be honest if you can upgrade/change there is NO reason to use ie6, even Microsoft recommend you upgrade to ie7.
April 13th, 2008 at 8:14 pm
I agree strongly about upgrading (obviously) and firefox is many times better than IE7 (very obviously), but I have to say I prefer IE7 to opera and safari. sorry.
April 14th, 2008 at 12:43 am
haha…..to everyone who thinks IE is a good browser, you are an IDIOT. Understand?
If only one thing in the universe could be 100% true, that is it.
May 8th, 2008 at 2:20 pm
Can’t tell you how much time i waste on my making my sites IE6 compatible I HATE IE6! (and 7 but not as much).
June 16th, 2008 at 9:31 pm
Newer browsers are “Web-Centric”, “HTTP-only” browsers. Try for example, getting content from a Gopher protocol site using IE7, Opera, etc.. You can’t, because their alternative protocol support has been eliminated! IE6 is still required if you need to access any of the still very active alternative protocols.
June 27th, 2008 at 11:08 pm
The Gopher protocol works just fine in Firefox 1.5, 2, and 3. Gopher does not work in IE6 without a registry hack. Mozilla does plan on removing support for the protocol in Mozilla 2 which means support will be dropped in Firefox 4.
Check your facts.
July 3rd, 2008 at 3:45 am
well said Joe! IE6 with it’s spotty (at best) standards and css compliance is horrendous.
To all the nay-sayers, IE7 is fine by me – not perfect, but not awful – to say otherwise is Microsoft bashing.
Yes, I prefer Firefox – but still use IE too.
To say it’s the designers job to ensure cross-browser compliance is crass naivety – even with conditional stylesheets, suiting IE6 (and 5.5) is usually a nightmare.
So upgrade now!
July 14th, 2008 at 10:51 pm
unrecognize
August 15th, 2008 at 1:17 pm
There’s an addon to firefox that will let you switch the tab to IE. that way sites that only allow IE are still viewable. ^_^ cheers~
August 27th, 2008 at 12:27 am
hahaha! you are totally right, people just doesnt understand the INTERNET and with that big blue e, well, hard. I had paaain with ie6 in http://www.exotikams.com
September 3rd, 2008 at 8:44 am
‘Google Chrome’ FTW!
September 13th, 2008 at 3:28 am
You forgot the OTHER reason: Microsoft bundles loads of crappy memory-resident applications with every new version of their browser. I use Firefox 3 and Chrome, and I still have IE6 installed because I’m *AFRAID* of installing anything else from Microsoft. Is it ok to install IE7? Maybe it is, but 15 years of bad experiences trusting Microsoft have taught me to stay away. Sorry Microsoft, you may make a great browser, but you’ve pushed too hard too many times.
September 26th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
I absolutely agree with you – for anyone who says IE is even *decent*, please run ACID3 tests on Firefox, IE7, Opera, and Safari. Results will be something like this:
Opera: 84/100
Safari: 74/100
Firefox: 71/100
IE7: 14/100
And IE8beta2 only bumps it up to 21/100. Internet Explorer is not a good product, the only thing it should be used for is downloading an alternate browser.
January 2nd, 2009 at 12:22 am
This article is way off. The biggest reason people use IE6 is because you cannot upgrade to IE7 if you have XP SP1 or older.
January 2nd, 2009 at 4:14 am
very cute tips, haha
especially the “They Thought The Upgrade Notice From Windows Was A Pop-Up Ad” one…
So Microsoft may go force updates in the future without letting the users know what’s been done -_-~~
February 12th, 2009 at 7:41 am
why why whyyy does IE even exist???? I’v been building a site from scratch and it works perfectly in Firefox, Google Chrome, Safari and Opera, but after a few days without testing it on Internet Explorer the whole freaking site is a mess and nothing works on that stupid browser. I swear Microsoft is actually a large professional company, why can’t they do a simple job and make IE compatible with all websites like ALL other browsers out there.
April 17th, 2009 at 11:02 am
Maybe they are using windows 2000 and dont have a choice
May 3rd, 2009 at 3:23 pm
I know that I have to run Ie 6 in one of my departments because software that we purchased at the time was written on the ie6 engine.
July 12th, 2009 at 6:19 am
I still use IE6 and like it.