Hello,

i know that there are many topic about IE6 support under IPB3. I know that IE6 is a very old browser as well.
But the fact is, that many companies haven't switched to a modern browser and don't allow the users to install a modern one.

I have 27.000 members on my board and about 7.000 unique users a day, mostly german guys.
The use the following browsers:
50% firefox
7% IE6
14% IE7
14% IE8
8% Opera
7% other Browsers

That means that 490 users don't get the full user experience every day. Which is ok, because they use an old browser.
BUT: The IE6 support could be a little bit better in my opinion.
The bugs when using IE6 are widely known.

I think the board should improve for the old browsers until the percentage of the users using them is REALLY low.
I know, you think by giving them a worse user experience the are forced to upgrade to a modern browser, but as mentioned before most of them simply can't upgrade due to company guidelines.

Thanks,
Michael

27,000 IE6 4 me

No, at one point you have to say stop, and just let it go. Microsoft have stopped their IE6 support long time ago. Why should web developers continue to support that nightmare of a browser?

Just to get IP.Board to work without major issues, will require an immense amount of "hacks".

Companies refusing to upgrade is just silly, and I really hope they'll get a huge smack on their face some day.

No, at one point you have to say stop, and just let it go. Microsoft have stopped their IE6 support long time ago. Why should web developers continue to support that nightmare of a browser?

+1. Just need a mod which shows pop up window to IE 6 users saying update your stone age browser and link to download IE 8, Firefox and Chrome.

.The use the following browsers:

50% firefox

7% IE6

14% IE7

14% IE8

8% Opera

7% other Browsers.

...more or less are the same on my board but as Martin said at one point we have to say a stop or on some years we are still here to complicate our life with extra developing expense because someone still keep his old (and dangerous) browser.

+1. Just need a mod which shows pop up window to IE 6 users saying update your stone age browser and link to download IE 8, Firefox and Chrome.

Something like that is available: http://community.inv...global-message/

Out of 35% that are using IE, 27% use IE6, I guess it's their problem they use outdated browser.

According to google analytics for my site, about 6% user uses IE 6 and 0.2% uses IE 5.5.

52% for Firefox 3+.

+1. Just need a mod which shows pop up window to IE 6 users saying update your stone age browser and link to download IE 8, Firefox and Chrome.

http://www.ie6nomore.com/

use the banners here in your pages. I have and its worked wonders. Its also stopped the moaning from those with ie6 who cant get features to work properly.

+1. Just need a mod which shows pop up window to IE 6 users saying update your stone age browser and link to download IE 8, Firefox and Chrome.

Something like that is available: http://community.inv...global-message/

Out of 35% that are using IE, 27% use IE6, I guess it's their problem they use outdated browser.

http://www.ie6nomore.com/

use the banners here in your pages. I have and its worked wonders. Its also stopped the moaning from those with ie6 who cant get features to work properly.

Did ANY OF YOU read his post? What part of this don't all you understand? :huh:

But the fact is, that many companies haven't switched to a modern browser and don't allow the users to install a modern one.

That means they cant use Firefox either. I too think it is a pain and not a wise move by companies that do that but in this economy i doubt you are gonna change minds so easily. Why they don't get firefox is beyond me but i am not one of them either. I seriously doubt any of you will argue with your bosses telling them what to do with their computers etc either. :lol:

Did ANY OF YOU read his post? What part of this don't all you understand? :huh:

Yes and we stated our opinion that is more useful for IPS staff to dedicate their time in developing new features and fixing bug than trying to make any better experience for IE6 users. Let's face it who ever developed any site is happy MS finally killed IE 6 because after all is finished you need to spend days weeks fixing IE6 bugs. So from my point I understand developers when they said this is best compatibility they will offer for IE6 on IP.Board 3.

I certainly will argue with my boss about computer needs. :)

In order for IE6 to die, and for folks to stop having to cater to it, there have to be issues like this to force the hand of whatever IT departments are unwilling to upgrade. It's unfortunate that so many are unwilling or unable to upgrade, but the web is a constantly changing place. If you can't keep up with at least the technology of a year or two ago, you're going to get left behind. IE6 is a very small portion of the browsers active on the internet, but it leads to a disproportionate amount of web development work.

Yes and we stated our opinion that is more useful for IPS staff to dedicate their time in developing new features and fixing bug than trying to make any better experience for IE6 users. Let's face it who ever developed any site is happy MS finally killed IE 6 because after all is finished you need to spend days weeks fixing IE6 bugs. So from my point I understand developers when they said this is best compatibility they will offer for IE6 on IP.Board 3.

Opinion is one thing but telling him what to add to his website or whatever when he clearly stated that they CANNOT INSTALL a new browser was not needed. Explain how that is gonna help? I personally would be more agitated ( bad enough the boss wont upgrade ) and most likely wont return to the website upon seeing a message like that. JMHO

Other then that i agree about trying to fix all the ie6 bugs.. UGH. I admit i don't really bother anymore either. I just have on my site at the bottom/footer that it is best viewed in FF 3.5 etc. I would never even think about using such a message as i see at some others. Talk about bad for business.

I certainly will argue with my boss about computer needs. :)

In order for IE6 to die, and for folks to stop having to cater to it, there have to be issues like this to force the hand of whatever IT departments are unwilling to upgrade. It's unfortunate that so many are unwilling or unable to upgrade, but the web is a constantly changing place. If you can't keep up with at least the technology of a year or two ago, you're going to get left behind. IE6 is a very small portion of the browsers active on the internet, but it leads to a disproportionate amount of web development work.

You wont get any arguments from me. However i try to accommodate as many as possible without being too pushy about it. Sorry but some of the stuff i see at a few sites ( such as those huge messages telling people to upgrade their browser or whatever ) just utterly amaze me. But to each their own i guess.

I just don't understand why some places wont even allow the use of Firefox? Gonna guess it has to do with support?

I too think it is a pain and not a wise move by companies that do that but in this economy i doubt you are gonna change minds so easily.

"Unless users start complaining then there is no drive for the IT department to implement an upgrade....the more complaints the IT department gets (especially from the top), the more pressure they'll feel to upgrade. Even if they can't upgrade IE 6 due to legacy applications, they could always install a version of Firefox side-by-side and only use IE 6 for the legacy apps.

For the other subset of IE 6 users, this will be a great notice to let them know that their web experience is seriously degraded, and that they should strongly consider upgrading their web browser."

Opinion is one thing but telling him what to add to his website or whatever when he clearly stated that they CANNOT INSTALL a new browser was not needed. Explain how that is gonna help? I personally would be more agitated ( bad enough the boss wont upgrade ) and most likely wont return to the website upon seeing a message like that. JMHO

Other then that i agree about trying to fix all the ie6 bugs.. UGH. I admit i don't really bother anymore either. I just have on my site at the bottom/footer that it is best viewed in FF 3.5 etc. I would never even think about using such a message as i see at some others. Talk about bad for business.

Link to that mod was suggestion for mr. AlexJ who recommended that kind of approach, I personally do not like this kind of enforcement so my users will continue using IE with degraded viewing experience or they can upgrade to IE 7+, opera, firefox, safari and chrome.
IPS developers already said that they did what ever they could to make IP.Board 3 compatible as possible but due to limitations and from Microsoft side ignoring standards that is really hard.
It is funny how webmasters have to deal with Microsoft's mess and how they tried to enforce their policy and way of thinking. Hence those sites that enforce only Internet Explorer is because they set their site only for IE6 and in other browsers looks like a mess.

And regarding companies that are not willing to move to new IE I can just say it is accident waiting to happen, without any new security updates that browser is wide open.I'm so happy that day has finally came when I can say Internet Explorer 6 is obsolete.

Hmm I wonder if there is an html conditional code that can be placed in the templates which will detect a visitors user agent string of their browser. If said visitor is using IE6 or earlier, display a message politely stating they should consider upgrading their browser for the best possible experience.

Those in corporate environments may not have much of a choice, but they can pressure their employers and explain the benefits of upgrading the companies web browsers. Also there are still some IE6 users who are not in a corporate environment, they just refuse to upgrade because they are either wearing a tin foil hat on a daily basis or think IE7 or IE8 "suck". Even though IE7 and IE8 don't "suck" compared to IE6, this is what they think in their head. I've gathered this from browsing the web over the years and am aware of some of these users mindsets.

I'm sorry but unless people are still using Windows 98, upgrading to IE 7 or IE 8 is FREE. All you need to do is run Windows Update and you can upgrade to IE 8 on Windows XP, which is an OS that is already 9 years old. If a company/organization isn't concerned enough about security to upgrade their operating system, let alone browser, they deserve to be knocked down a peg or two.

I don't check IE6 anymore. I refuse to check it or support it. IE 7 is bad enough in certain areas, but it's a heck of a lot better. So far IE 8 has been a blessing, despite features that are missing compared to other browsers. And the ones that are missing are very minor annoyances like no rounded corners, etc...

Supporting IE 6 is almost as bad (now) as trying to support IE 5 on Mac OS 9 and before (the last IE on Mac, which was very different from IE 5 on Windows).

It's bad enough FireFox 2 doesn't support display: inline-block (well, it kind of does - via a very buggy -moz- condition or two). It's bad enough that IE (at least version 7, not sure about 8) only supports inline-block on tags that are by default inline elements (label, span, a, etc...). It's stuff like this that keeps me using floats when inline-block makes a lot more sense. It's bad enough the table-type display properties are still not widely supported yet. I could go on and on. But at least with IE 6 out of the picture I can have one style sheet without hacks or conditional comments (for the most part).

Believe it or not there are still some people on Windows 98 and IE6. Windows 98 and IE8 are still popular in some counties including third world countries and countries such as China. Users in these countries refuse to upgrade, it also is why users machines in these countries are often compromised and the source of most botnet spam.

99% of the people who are on my site are not from a third world country, and 100% of the people I do business with are not in a third world country. And the 1% that may be who are still using IE6 or earlier know they're pretty much screwed anyway (or are already using FireFox).

Seriously the small sliver of people who do complain and are told to upgrade their browsers do so. Even my boss, who used IE6 up until IE8, finally upgraded. He's the last person I would consider to make the move.

I wasn't saying it applied to you, it was just a generalization of what I've observed browsing the web and participating at various forums over the years.

Outside of basic support of the software's functionality (logging in, posting a topic, reading a post, etc.) we do not have any plans to spend much time supporting visual defects in IE6. It's no different to stopping support of PHP4 (which, incidentally, received much less flack and yet is newer than IE6).

here is a good graph that shows browser statistics
http://www.axiis.org/examples/BrowserMarketShare.html

Hmm I wonder if there is an html conditional code that can be placed in the templates which will detect a visitors user agent string of their browser. If said visitor is using IE6 or earlier, display a message politely stating they should consider upgrading their browser for the best possible experience.

I posted a link for a banner that does just that - see my post earlier in the thread

Oh so that's what it does, I thought it displayed to all users regardless of what browser they were using..