CivicActions

If you're a themer, you know you want it. You crave for it every day. It's a hunger, never relenting, pushing you closer each day towards the brink. You'd consider doing just about anything -- legal or otherwise -- to end the agony of using Internet Explorer 6.

Okay, so that might be a bit melodramatic, but IE6 development really is a pain. It's expensive too. In just the last week a large chunk of time has been spent solving problems specifically for that browser. When our clients spend money on IE6 compatibility, it usually means something else gets dropped from the project. Many companies and products are now announcing the end of support for Internet Explorer, and although we're gaining momentum in that direction, can and should we do more? Microsoft no long supports IE6 as software (although it still supports building sites that work well with IE6). In some cases dropping IE6 support is like dropping support for old televisions, but aren't we doing that too?

The reason many still support IE6 is that people use it, but that can be a double edged sword. When you look at the numbers, there's no way many site operators can justify isolating that large a population.

People use it because there's no compelling reason presented to them to change. Some use it because it is a decision forced on them from some IT policy. As developers, we can help improve the numbers by advocating greater standards compliance, but in a reasoned manner that promotes inclusiveness.

Dropping support completely isn't feasible, but I do think that we can improve the situation by constraining the resources committed to its continued use.

• Limit the amount of time spent on refactoring for IE6
• Document any differences or problems on the site, and prioritize fixes based on severity. Decide on a threshold of severity that you'll address, and leave the rest.
• Provide clients who want to give their users support information about SavetheDevelopers. This group is offering help users that wish to upgrade to a more reliable, secure browser but might not know how.
• Provide a message to IE6 users that they may experience some inconsistencies on the site and provide information on how to upgrade the browser to avoid those problems. There's a Drupal module for this, but it needs some attention to the langage used. Maybe a new module that integrates with what SavetheDevelopers is doing could be a better fit?
• Use and highlight more graceful degradation around IE6, provide the bare functionality but not the ehnanced experience. Where a dyanmic form is used, provide the basic form for IE6.
• Communicate with clients better about IE6 compliance costs and impacts, particularly in the area of security. The more they understand about the concessions that regularly need to be made, the more likely they too will see the need for change.

What other support can we offer to clients around this issue? Can we do more to give a good experience while working to remove this IE6 yoke from around our necks? Can it be done in a way that is supportive of the users we're affecting?