Archive for the ‘Web Standards’ Category

If you visit my site using IE6, you will see this big annoying badge right on top of my logo:

Why?

IE6 does not support web standards, meaning that not only does it do a bad job of displaying websites correctly,  it is the bane of every web designer who has to stoop to the level of implementing IE6 hacks to fix its bugs.

I can’t stop making websites that support IE6 for my clients, because their websites have to work for everyone that comes along, regardless of their browser.

My website, on the other hand, can (hopefully) educate my visitors who are less experienced on the web, and help them to upgrade to a better, faster, more user-friendly, and free browser like Google’s Chrome (if you’re still using IE6, do yourself a huge favor and just click on that link right now), Opera, or Firefox. I mention them in that order because if you’re still on IE6, you won’t understand the benefits or need the addons of Firefox, and Chrome is the fastest, most lightweight browser and probably the best solution for an older/antiquated computer.

If you look closely, you’ll notice that I’m still using a few IE hacks like the IE png fix to give transparent PNG support, as well as a hack to get my navigation menu to work in IE6. I don’t want to leave IE6 users completely hanging, but they will have to endure the big ugly badge in my header.

If you are interested in doing the same thing for your website, feel free to use my code and image – I’ll be happy if you do. Both were inspired by Elliot Jay Stocks (to give credit where credit is due). You will also probably want to joing the IE Death March – an initiative to end IE6 support by March of this year. I mean, IE6 is older than the Ipod – it’s time to move on.