Should I worry about compatibility with IE6?

[Rumpleteazer]

I have discovered that my website doesn't work particularly well with IE6. Not a major issue - just some bits of the page landing on top of each other. There are some changes I could make which would be fairly straightforward to do, but would be to the detriment of the layout and look of the site. Should I worry about this? Or should I just cater for the majority of users who have upgraded to later versions or use other browsers?

 

[anna]

Depends. What kind of users do you have? What's the demographic you are marketing towards? If it's corporate, I would say you should support IE6; if it's a B2C business then I would say not to worry.

Many designers think it's our job to encourage users to upgrade browsers. It's not. It's our job to design sites that can be accessed from whatever browser the user chooses to use. If you know what the majority of your users are using, then base your decision off of that. Good luck!

 

[LouTheDesigner]

Many designers think it's our job to encourage users to upgrade browsers. It's not.

Shouldn't it be our side-job? If we cater toward IE 6 users, then we can please a larger number of people, but it is at the expense of displeasing the current technology zeitgeist.

-Lou

 

[anna]

Shouldn't it be our side-job? If we cater toward IE 6 users, then we can please a larger number of people, but it is at the expense of displeasing the current technology zeitgeist.

-Lou

While I completely appreciate what you're saying, I disagree.

For example- 28% of our users use IE6 to explore our site. Should I suggest that almost 30% of our user base upgrade? I'd be out of a job...

Many, many corporations use Oracle, for instance; well oracle was only recently approved for Windows 7. Do you know how much money it would cost a large corporation to upgrade to windows 7? More than they're willing to put forth when they can just pay me to fix the site for IE6. Yes, total pain in the ass, but, in the end, our job is to please the client, not participate in the never-ending browser war.

 

[LouTheDesigner]

Then I suppose that there is room for both types of designers -- those that cater and those that try to push technology forward. Not to say that one is nobler than the other, but who else, after all, is going to help get rid of the technological fossil that is IE6? We have to allow the average user see that it is a POS, and hopefully, on a larger scale, we can get out of this terrible "cater-to-IE" era.

-Lou

 

[bcee]

Should I worry about compatibility with IE6?

No

Unless your target audience is users in China, India or crappy corporate systems who cannot upgrade.

 

[Brian Angel]

No

Unless your target audience is users in China, India or crappy corporate systems who cannot upgrade.

Bad design thinking right there. I work for (as my current pay the bills gig) a rarther LARGE banking firm whos web apps are all butilt on IE6 with no signs of changing anytime soon. had a user call in last week no longer able to view a site we use becuase he upgraded his browser to something new so you must ALWAYS take into acount other browsers. i was at one forum and someone was asking for help and Ill tell you., On IE6, Firefox, Opera, Safari and IE8.. the same site looked completely diffrent so test on all browsers all the time.

 

[pieman]

As above - depends on your audience.

I have worked on a couple of big back office web apps for a local council who have IE6 with no signs of changing, so has to be totally compatible.

All new stuff that is for the public we would likely have to spend ages tweaking to get working with IE6 so not for those.

 

[Web Design]

The best thing to do is have it looking ok in IE6 (No nasty overlaps etc.) but not redesigning the entire site for it. IE6 users are generally used to seeing sites differently from everyone else.

There are a surprising amount of people who still use IE6 so with upgrade curves like this we should be able to start using html5 sometime in the next century

 

[anna]

@Lou
You are far more noble of a designer, but I am far more realistic! LOL I kid, I kid.

 

[PixelPusher]

Personally speaking I do my best to make sure the website renders correctly in IE6, just for all those stubborn folks that drive irocZs and have cell phones the size of 24oz beer cans.

 

[bcee]

Bad design thinking right there. I work for (as my current pay the bills gig) a rarther LARGE banking firm whos web apps are all butilt on IE6 with no signs of changing anytime soon. had a user call in last week no longer able to view a site we use becuase he upgraded his browser to something new so you must ALWAYS take into acount other browsers. i was at one forum and someone was asking for help and Ill tell you., On IE6, Firefox, Opera, Safari and IE8.. the same site looked completely diffrent so test on all browsers all the time.

Exactly. Crappy corporate systems from my original post fits this well.