Internet Explorer 6
Internet Explorer 6 was released in 2001. With the possible exception of earlier versions of Internet Explorer, it is indisputably the worst web browser ever created. It is full of bugs, hopelessly insecure, totally disrespectful of web standards and slower than a tortoise with a broken leg. No respectable web developer would disagree that IE6 has been and continues to be severely injurious to the progress of the Internet.
As a general rule, most web developers aim to support the latest versions of Mozilla Firefox, Apple Safari, Google Chrome, and possibly Opera. But with Internet Explorer, we are generally expected to support the version released eight years ago. Supporting IE6 increases development time by a factor of about 1.5x because a fair percentage of your design that works in every other browser is guaranteed not to work in IE6. Customising the design for IE6 is a joyless exercise since developer tools for IE6 are all but non-existent. Then there are things you simply cannot do in IE6 which means everybody in the class is held back by the slowest kid in the class.
I have come to the view that by continuing to support this loathsome browser, we developers are actually contributing to the problem we are so quick to moan about. As of June 2009, according to Wikipedia some 12.8% of Internet users are still using IE6. I am under no illusion that my small protest will have any impact at all on that percentage, but I do believe it’s in the interest of both web developers and users to encourage upgrading and the fastest way to achieve that is to actually break Internet Explorer 6 by refusing to support it. Therefore, for the first time since I started developing for the web, I have built a site which does not support Internet Explorer 6 at all. If you attempt to view the site in IE6 or lower you will be greeted by a slightly longer version of this rant 
Tags: css, ie6, internet explorer, policy, rant, web standards
