With the release of Windows 7 RC and Microsoft’s decision to make Internet Explorer 8 an automatic upgrade on previous versions of Windows, I thought I’d discuss our favourite browser, Internet Explorer 6.

There are a number of sites that web designers that are now dropping support for Internet Explorer 6. At the end of the day, it’s an old browser (over 8 years) and is unable to cope with the demands of modern website production.

As a result, I have taken a decision regarding 2bitoperation’s stand on Internet Explorer 6 that relates to any RapidWeaver theme we release.

Read More...

ie6 themes stacks snippets rapidweaver

A great campaign started by .net Magazine to finally take IE6 behind the proverbial shed and shoot it once and for all.

“The premise is simple: Internet Explorer 6 is antiquated, doesn’t support key web standards, and should be phased out. This isn’t about being anti-Microsoft, it’s about Microsoft’s lack of development in the browser market. With IE7/8 not available for Windows 2000, IE6 accounts for up to 20% of web usage, primarily via business users. Clients pressure designers to ‘force’ sites to work in IE6, and designers, not wanting to lose business, comply, using hacks and workarounds. This wastes time and money. Microsoft needs to fix this, designers need to unite, and we all need to move on.” - Bring Down IE6

This is one campaign I’ll happily get behind. Internet Explorer 6 was released in August 2001. That’s almost 8 years ago.

For any IE6 users, you’ll notice the image on the right has a different background to the blog post. That’s because IE6 doesn’t support transparent PNG backgrounds and workarounds using Javascript or other plugins are needed - a waste of bandwidth and resources.

ie6 web standards