In testing a new blog, I'm down to making it work in IE6. I haven't done much testing in IE6 for a while and have forgotten how incredible obtuse it can be. So far I've only worked with CSS issues (javascript is next) and it's making me tear my hair out (which is hard since it's cut very short).
I really we wish we could all refuse to support this abomination any more, but for some reason it still commands 20% or so of the market. I installed a neat little app on my windows XP partition (on my MBP) called Multiple IE which at least lets me test IE6 (and actually older versions but who cares).
I'm thinking of using something from Save The Developers or doing it myself to tell me people to please upgrade to a reasonable browser (even IE7 is better). If I get really pissed during the testing I may simple refuse to show the site at all in IE6. Some people have already resorted to this. For a technology blog like this one (with 70% non-IE readers) it's not a big issue; for a more general blog it might not be as acceptable.
The more sites refuse to display in IE6 the more likely people might upgrade (assuming they can). Sadly there are a lot of companies who still use IE6 as their only acceptable browser and target its quirks and non-standard features without regard to anything else.
So to cop a slogan from President Gerald Ford,
WIN!
Whip IE6 Now!
el gregorio 09/05/2008 12:29
how about just disabling all css styles for IE6? should be possible with conditional comments. that way, IE6 users can still get the content, but they have to upgrade for the eye candy.
Keath 09/18/2008 14:13
On some of my sites, I've started doing something similar to what el gregorio suggests, although I don't disable styles altogether - I just drop to something readable, but very minimal. I also add a banner at the top of the page warning users about the security ramifications of not upgrading and include a link to the MS update site and to Firefox. It just isn't worth it any more to try to make modern content work under such a broken browser.
Michael Chermside 10/03/2008 05:40
Speaking as an IE6 user (who also works building web applications), would you PLEASE come down and have words with my employer? Because until someone does that (and there's no way they'll listen to ME... I just work here) I'll continue using IE6.