every advertiser i've worked with requires IE6 compatibility. so, theres that to keep in mind.
Ask HN: What is your policy on IE6 development?
11–20 of 36 posts
Re: Ask HN: What is your policy on IE6 development?
#12I agree that without a very frank up-front discussion about IE6 limitations, you'll find yourself redoing PNGs as GIFs and writing some conditional CSS hacks the night of launch when the client's sister boots up her Compaq to check out the cool new site.
Re: Ask HN: What is your policy on IE6 development?
#13I think that you have to look at the client's visitor profile before you make this decision. If a client's site sees 10%+ IE 6 visitors (and many of mine do), you can't simply say we're not going to support this technology. Often I tell them that we will review the site in IE 6 and make sure that it's "functional" but we don't guarantee it will be pixel perfect unless they pay for the extra work. Also I don't like th…
This is the same policy we keep at my firm. We support IE6 on all sites, I don't see it as an option.
Part of being an expert is making things look easy. IE6 is frustrating, but its our problem.
The exception is web applications that aren't public facing. In those cases I think its reasonable to specify that the app will be run in a specific browser, and to charge more if it needs to run in many.
Re: Ask HN: What is your policy on IE6 development?
#14NN 4.x stayed around forever BECAUSE we supported it, and IE6 will do the same. We have met the enemy, and they are us.
Re: Ask HN: What is your policy on IE6 development?
#15I think that you have to look at the client's visitor profile before you make this decision. If a client's site sees 10%+ IE 6 visitors (and many of mine do), you can't simply say we're not going to support this technology. Often I tell them that we will review the site in IE 6 and make sure that it's "functional" but we don't guarantee it will be pixel perfect unless they pay for the extra work. Also I don't like th…
I think you are spot on. But maybe you should not look at the visitor profile but at the revenue profile. Maybe the typical IE6 user has a higher probability of clicking on your client's advertising.
After all, if your gain from supporting IE6 is higher than the cost of supporting it, it makes no sense to abandon IE6.
Re: Ask HN: What is your policy on IE6 development?
#16I generally just make sure that the website is functional in IE6. If an element is bumped/ aligned or distorted in some way (and is still usable) it doesn't get fixed.
Re: Ask HN: What is your policy on IE6 development?
#17I think that you have to look at the client's visitor profile before you make this decision. If a client's site sees 10%+ IE 6 visitors (and many of mine do), you can't simply say we're not going to support this technology. Often I tell them that we will review the site in IE 6 and make sure that it's "functional" but we don't guarantee it will be pixel perfect unless they pay for the extra work. Also I don't like th…
This is the same policy we keep at my firm. We support IE6 on all sites, I don't see it as an option. Part of being an expert is making things look easy. IE6 is frustrating, but its our problem. The exception is web applications that aren't public facing. In those cases I think its reasonable to specify that the app will be run in a specific browser, and to charge more if it needs to run in many.
Being an expert is about knowing how to do something not about making things look easy. In fact, things that aren't easy take more time so the last thing you want to do is make them look easy because then your customers will have unreal expectations as far as how fast the work can be done and how much they should be charged.
There is a legitimate argument for charging more for IE6 compatibility and I don't see what's wrong with telling a customer that. If it were me I'd offer a basic option for free (no graphics with a link suggesting the user upgrade their browser) and then offer full compatibility for an additional charge.
Re: Ask HN: What is your policy on IE6 development?
#18I think that you have to look at the client's visitor profile before you make this decision. If a client's site sees 10%+ IE 6 visitors (and many of mine do), you can't simply say we're not going to support this technology. Often I tell them that we will review the site in IE 6 and make sure that it's "functional" but we don't guarantee it will be pixel perfect unless they pay for the extra work. Also I don't like th…
I think you are spot on. But maybe you should not look at the visitor profile but at the revenue profile. Maybe the typical IE6 user has a higher probability of clicking on your client's advertising. After all, if your gain from supporting IE6 is higher than the cost of supporting it, it makes no sense to abandon IE6.
This is a good point. I work for a non-profit and it's my job to maintain the web site. We notice users who click on our banner ads the most are IE6 users and AOL users (who use a newer browser but who you can identify by the IP).
The less savvy users are the more likely they are to click on ads in my experience
Re: Ask HN: What is your policy on IE6 development?
#19The solution is very simple. Pricing.
Give your client two prices: one with IE6 support, the other without. Give honest prices based on the genuine overhead of working with IE 6.
If the client is willing to pay for IE6 support, fine, do the work you are being paid for. Let the cash decide the future of IE6
...but this is another example of developers making decisions that they should be making. For example, a software developer that decides to build a system with full database independance (hibernate for example) COULD be doing the right thing, but could simply be driving up project costs for requirements that never existed.
Developers - DONT make these decisions, price the options and ask the client.
Re: Ask HN: What is your policy on IE6 development?
#20Our IE6 support policy was tell all our paid up clients 6 months before 1st Jan 2010 that we'll be dropping IE6 support. We have a 6 month lead on changes.
The only complaints we have are from people with heavy Citrix on Win2k investments as IE7+ isn't supported on Win2k and some people who are so poorly invested that they don't want to upgrade (bad client indicatorpotentially)
The basic outcome is that we won't do anything crazy that destroy it intentionally, but if it breaks, you will have to pay us extra to fix it.