Internet Explorer 6 Must Die

ie6nomore-logoAs a web developer it’s my job to make sure websites work on all current popular browsers. Over the years I’ve come to a simple efficient conclusion: develop for the majority of browsers (standards compliant) then correct for Internet Explorer 6. The fact that it’s the only thing you need to really fix your site for says a lot. It was released so long ago that it shouldn’t still be viable in the timeline of computational history, but for some reason it is still here.

The designers say Internet Explorer 6, which was released in 2001 and since has been updated twice by Microsoft Corp., is crippling the Internet’s potential and slowing down the online experience. They also blame IE 6 for giving webmasters a collective headache, because they have to write special “hacks” into Web code to accommodate an outmoded browser.

source: http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/08/06/internet.explorer.six/

IE6 is the new Netscape 4. The hacks needed to support IE6 are increasingly viewed as excess freight. Like Netscape 4 in 2000, IE6 is perceived to be holding back the web.

Jeff Zeldman, standards guru [general web bad ass and editor of A List Apart]

http://www.bringdownie6.com/

So here’s the deal, if you still have IE6 download a newer browser. They’re free and WAAAY better. Firefox is much (like 3x faster at loading pages) IE8 is a bit better and actually works like most of the others, i’m told. Safari and Chrome are still the kings of speed. Bottom line: Just get a new one! If you don’t I won’t build sites you can even access.

Edit/Update: I’ve added the code from the http://www.ie6nomore.com/ site. Brilliant!! If you venture to my site with some ol piece of a broswer your get a polite but firm message you need to update to this century… here’s a peak for all you non havin’ IE 6 peoples.

IE6 warning message, Glorious!!

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Safari 4 Public Beta: ROCKS!

button-download-icon-20090217

Apple released Safari 4 Public Beta on Tuesday. I of course downloaded and installed it as soon as I realized it was available. I have to just say, it Rocks!

For a while now I’ve been using Safari to surf the web, due to it’s superior speed loading pages over even Firefox 3. However I use Firefox for designing and developing websites since the plugin Firebug is so much more helpful than Safari 3’s built in development tools.

But Safari 4 changes that!

Safari’s new built in development tools allow the same live page edits, adjustments and inspection that Firebug enables. There is also a built in page weight and load speed tab, which is very useful in optimizing your pages. Also the Javascript debugger and load time evaluation of page assets surpasses Firebug. This single handedly makes Safari my new favorite web browser!!

page load time panel

page load time panel

— Update —

I’ve been using the Safari 4 beta for almost a month now and I have nothing but more good things to say about it. I can’t wait to see: What Google does in the mac version of ‘Chrome’; If Firefox 3.3 is as fast and great as the growing hype; The downfall of dominating loaner Internet Explorer.

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