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I don't know how to IE6

blog.colbyrabideau.com

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Re: I don't know how to IE6

#41

Post by nknight »

corin_ wrote: post #36
nknight wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The blog post talks about Facebook development. Has Facebook ever released browser share numbers? I bet their target audience is a lot less than 2% IE6.

I was responding to a specific comment which suggested 2% is nothing worth caring about, not to the original blog. That said, I would think that Facebook is mainstream enough to get it's fair share of non-technical users.

IE6 usage has nothing to do with technical vs non-technical anymore. Most IE6 usage in the US is due to stupid corporate policies, home users long ago moved on, and of course the current widespread mobile browsers are all way past IE6.

I optimistically hypothesize that users are less likely to access Facebook (or most other non-internal webapps) from a locked-down corporate desktop, and even if not, that those users also access Facebook from non-corporate systems, making the loss of access from the corporate system partly illusory -- if the posited loss is "2%", I think the actual loss is probably as low as 1%.

Re: I don't know how to IE6

#42

Post by tedsuo »

I'm happy we finally dropped IE 6 support at work, but I don't like the line of reasoning in this article. Having to tackle unsavory but necessary problems is what makes this a job; the ability to do so effectively is what makes you a professional. Two days doing IE6 compliance is not a big deal.

Re: I don't know how to IE6

#43

Post by mgkimsal »

corin_ wrote: post #23
melling wrote: post #15

2% of the US uses IE6. Explain that to your boss and ask if it's still necessary to support it. [Update] For Google Apps, Google no longer supports IE7. YouTube support for IE6 was dropped a year ago, and they make a lot of ad money from YouTube now.

In terms of percentage that's pretty small, but that doesn't mean it isn't important. If you estimate the number of US internet users to be ~240 million, 2% is 4.8 million people. Sure, a small chunk of the pie, but still a large chunk of people. And, in a hypothetical situation where your % of revenue generating visitors is exactly the same as for the overall population, not many companies would want to lose 2% of t…

If it costs a large enough amount of money, they would. More precisely, they should. Why stop at IE6? There's still a combined large number of users using IE5 and IE5.5 and Lynx and NS4 and Amaya, etc.

In some cases, it may cost quite a large amount to continue to maintain and patch sites to also support IE6, and that money needs to be deducted from the 'profit' had from IE6 users. And more to the point, that same money being spent supporting those IE6 users could be being spent on bolstering mobile device work, newer browsers, assistive technologies, and what not.

The "well, we don't want to lose the profit from our users" has been thrown at me in the past, with the charge that "well, techies just care about gadgets/technology". No... in reality, many of us in the trenches (not all, but many) end up being better positioned to see the real business effects of these decisions. I'd much rather be working for a company that was spending its money wisely and being forward thinking rather than reactionary and wasteful. That's not a tech issue - it's a business issue.

Re: I don't know how to IE6

#44

Post by emp_ »

pawelwentpawel wrote: post #7

"make it sure that it works on ie6" is the worst line you can hear at work. especially if you're developing a web app. even global websites like fb don't support ie6 anymore. http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_explorer.asp - IE6 has 2.6%, I don't really see a point in spending hours optimizing stuff for it.

Linking w3schools for anything web is like linking FOX News for politics. *edit: more info http://w3fools.com/

Re: I don't know how to IE6

#45

Post by nbashaw »

enjo wrote: post #20
melling wrote: post #15

2% of the US uses IE6. Explain that to your boss and ask if it's still necessary to support it. [Update] For Google Apps, Google no longer supports IE7. YouTube support for IE6 was dropped a year ago, and they make a lot of ad money from YouTube now.

It really depends on the domain. That two percent can be the difference between wildly profitable and failing. After all, Google still happily sells clicks to IE 6 users. If you're business relies on external ads and optimizing conversion rates, IE 6 remains a priority.

I seriously doubt IE6 support can be the difference between "wildly profitable and failing" for any business. Can you name one example of a failing company that started supporting IE6 and then became wildly profitable?

Re: I don't know how to IE6

#46

Post by b89ewb »

bmunro wrote: post #39
w1ntermute wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does anyone know why Asia has such a high level of IE6 usage? I don't think it has to do with the computers being old, because IE6 usage is relatively high even in developed places like Japan, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

A major reason in South Korea is that in the late 90s, the government mandated the use of ActiveX for online banking. This was only recently repealed, and the Korean government is now encouraging people to move on. The government mandate encouraged many websites to also use ActiveX. South Korea is probably the only country where ActiveX is still in use. Internet Explorer has a browser share of 90-95% in Korea. IE6 is…

A clarification on Korea's ActiveX problem: Korea mandated 128 bit encryption via the use of an ActiveX control or plugin, but when Netscape bit the dust, there was no reason to update that plugin anymore.

The sordid history is here! -> http://blog.mozilla.com/gen/2007/02/27/the-cost-of-monocultu...

Re: I don't know how to IE6

#47

Post by bmunro »

bmunro wrote: post #39
w1ntermute wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does anyone know why Asia has such a high level of IE6 usage? I don't think it has to do with the computers being old, because IE6 usage is relatively high even in developed places like Japan, Hong Kong, and Singapore.

A major reason in South Korea is that in the late 90s, the government mandated the use of ActiveX for online banking. This was only recently repealed, and the Korean government is now encouraging people to move on. The government mandate encouraged many websites to also use ActiveX. South Korea is probably the only country where ActiveX is still in use. Internet Explorer has a browser share of 90-95% in Korea. IE6 is…

And a further reason is that the Windows XP is still the most common operating system in use.

People don't feel any need to upgrade, as everything works with their current browser/OS.

I've used the internet at my Sister in law's (in Korea) - lightning fast internet speeds, with a creaking slow operating system full of bloatware.

Re: I don't know how to IE6

#49

Post by true_religion »

mattdeboard wrote: post #3

Why did you have the impression a B.S. in CompSci would teach you about legacy browser support? I dunno, the first few weeks of my internship I had to do the same thing. If nothing else it was a great way to learn about what the company did by doing low-level grunt work. However I'd really recommend that if this is all you'll be doing for the duration of the internship, maybe look for something else. Otherwise be tha…

I hate to make a "me too" like post, but as soon as I read his biography, I thought "... wait we should stop supporting X browser because some kid doesn't know how to support it too?".

Are we now just leveling the playing field so experience is irrelevant, and kids just out of college should be able to compete with those who have been working the field for ages (ages which I might add included a time when IE6 was the dominant browser, and you ignored it at your own peril).

Re: I don't know how to IE6

#50

Post by wnoise »

tedsuo wrote: post #42

I'm happy we finally dropped IE 6 support at work, but I don't like the line of reasoning in this article. Having to tackle unsavory but necessary problems is what makes this a job; the ability to do so effectively is what makes you a professional. Two days doing IE6 compliance is not a big deal.

Saying it's necessary is begging the question.
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