Enlightenment
Administrator
 108 posts | | Posted on 19 April 2007 @ 01:03 | edited 01:15 |  |
If you're using Internet Explorer 6 or lower, you will get a message displayed at the top that you're using an outdated browser. I'd like to hear feedback on this... ambitious decision, and also explain why.
Why does this website not work properly with IE6?
This website uses advanced web technologies, standardized by the World Wide Web Consortium, also called W3C. At the bottom left, you can see their logo's, indicating this website conforms to XHTML 1.0 and CSS 2.0.
Internet Explorer 6 and below are old browsers. Released in 2001 they are at least 6 years old now. Even when they were released, they did not support the web technologies available at the time. The webtechnologies this website uses are still pre-2000. As a result, Internet Explorer does not properly support some of the technology used, or has bugs in their implementation. For this website, i have chosen to abandon support for Internet Explorer.
Abandoning support for a browser that is still used widely is ofcourse controversial. But i do believe webusers should realise that it's time to upgrade. If you like Internet Explorer, Microsoft has provided Internet Explorer 7 for you free to download. It is alot safer and provides a decent level of webstandards support. This website should work properly with IE7. The alternative browsers, Firefox, Opera and Safari are 100% supported as they take web standard much more seriously.
But i like IE6! Why should i upgrade?
You don't have to. You can even IE6 to visit this website. Most functions work, although sometimes a rendering bug will cause things to look weird. This is entirely IE6's fault. If you can live with this, then you're entirely free to keep using IE6, even though a more current version of the browser is available. The notification that you're using an outdated browser will disappear if you register and login, and also when not logged in it will only be displayed the first 3 pageviews. This way the 'nag message' will not be an excessive annoyance.
If you're unsure about upgrading, then consider that IE7 is a more secure browser than IE6. Many computers nowadays are infected with spyware and virusses, including some very hostile trojan horses, worms, remote control software turning your pc in a 'zombie pc' controlled by criminals to execute attacks on other website, send unsolicited email (spam) and engage in illegal activities like credit card fraud, extortion and child pornography. These are serious issues, and many security experts agree that using IE6 is not a very safe choice. You can get infected simply by visiting a website; not a very pleasant thought. For these reasons, amongst others, i recommend that you do upgrade to Internet Explorer 7.
 Visit the Microsoft-website to download IE7.
Do you support or disagree with this decision?
Please reply! I'd like to hear feedback. Thanks.  Take control of the input and you shall become master of the output. |
Jakub
Unregistered | I keep seeing that message everytime i click why is that? I am using IE6 build 2180 on Windows XP. |
Enlightenment
Administrator
108 posts | The only reason i can find is that you might have disabled or refused cookies. Without cookies, this website cannot 'remember' how many times you clicked but will view every click as if you visited the site again from the start. Did you disable cookies? Take control of the input and you shall become master of the output. |
Johan
Unregistered | Many users still use IE6, why did you decide to make your site incompatible with such a large group? Looks like you might loose visitors that way. |
Enlightenment
Administrator
108 posts | I did not intentially decided to make fluffles.net incompatible with IE6. But i would not settle on using pre 1999 web technology just to satisfy users of this old browser. That is a huge decision, but not without reason.
That said, the site works reasonably well with IE6. But lacking good support for overflow control, for example, can produce a distorted page on IE6. I really feel such users should upgrade to a newer version: IE7.
The consequence ofcourse, is that some users might leave the site immediately. On the other hand, users do get reminded that they are using old technology, possibly with many security vulnerabilities still in place. They might not even know that more modern browsers exist. I really would like to stimulate them to try more modern browsers and leave IE6 behind them. Take control of the input and you shall become master of the output. |
Mike Hober
Unregistered | I think it's justified. IE6 is such an old browser, and even for those who want to stick to IE can upgrade to IE7. There's no real reason to use IE6 anymore. Those using it should feel old and pissed at, LOL. 
I just hope IE6 usage will drop soon. |
