I tend to keep up with updates to browsers, so I left Internet Explorer 6 behind in a cloud of dust a long time ago. It's horrible, and craps all over CSS in a way which beggars belief.
So much so, that several online campaigns have been set up to try to get rid of Internet Explorer 6. After all, it is eight year old technology - and a LOT has changed since its release in August 2001.
So when I discovered that my own website looks absolutely horrible through IE6, I realised that I had to accommodate this somehow.
The market share of IE6 has been dropping steadily throughout 2009, and at the time of writing, accounts for roughly ten percent of browsers on the web.
Rather than try to accomodate such a terrible piece of browser technology, I have decided just to display a message to IE6 users telling them that the site doesn't work for their browser and that maybe it's time for an upgrade.
Now I realise that a lot of people would object to this, shouting claims of lost custom due to IE6 users just closing the site, and that not everyone can upgrade from IE6 (standardised corporate PC builds etc).
But I am willing to sacrifice that potential ten percent of visitors to save myself from a complete site redesign which would be out of date in a year when the last IE6 users finally upgrade to something a bit more robust. I also think that some of those ten percent would have another browser on their system, which they may just use to access sites which don't show up properly in IE6 (there must be a few).
Anyway, the point is that there is a really simple way to detect which version of IE is being used, and display custom messages to the user or to show/hide certain parts of a web page. This excellent blog post highlights how it can be done in detail, but basically detecting IE6 can be done using the following simple conditional comment (which is only parsed by Internet Explorer browsers):
<!--[if IE 6]>
Special instructions for IE 6 here
<![endif]-->
Now, a custom message can be displayed and problematic sections of the site can be hidden for IE6 users.
Simples!
So much so, that several online campaigns have been set up to try to get rid of Internet Explorer 6. After all, it is eight year old technology - and a LOT has changed since its release in August 2001.
So when I discovered that my own website looks absolutely horrible through IE6, I realised that I had to accommodate this somehow.
The market share of IE6 has been dropping steadily throughout 2009, and at the time of writing, accounts for roughly ten percent of browsers on the web.
Rather than try to accomodate such a terrible piece of browser technology, I have decided just to display a message to IE6 users telling them that the site doesn't work for their browser and that maybe it's time for an upgrade.
Now I realise that a lot of people would object to this, shouting claims of lost custom due to IE6 users just closing the site, and that not everyone can upgrade from IE6 (standardised corporate PC builds etc).
But I am willing to sacrifice that potential ten percent of visitors to save myself from a complete site redesign which would be out of date in a year when the last IE6 users finally upgrade to something a bit more robust. I also think that some of those ten percent would have another browser on their system, which they may just use to access sites which don't show up properly in IE6 (there must be a few).
Anyway, the point is that there is a really simple way to detect which version of IE is being used, and display custom messages to the user or to show/hide certain parts of a web page. This excellent blog post highlights how it can be done in detail, but basically detecting IE6 can be done using the following simple conditional comment (which is only parsed by Internet Explorer browsers):
<!--[if IE 6]>
Special instructions for IE 6 here
<![endif]-->
Now, a custom message can be displayed and problematic sections of the site can be hidden for IE6 users.
Simples!
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