What do you think about this image?

[hmsnacker123]

hey everyone, I was just wondering what your thoughts were about this image:

Whether it's true or not?

[Snookerman]

This is of course just a joke, mocking IE, but I guess we do spend a lot of time making the sites-cross browser compatible (not just because of IE, other browsers have their own problems), however, I think I spend a lot more time on designing the layout and actually writing the code (which is not even mentioned).

[allahverdi]

yeah it's a joke. Actually, i will need to agree with Snookerman. When i'm making a site (cross-browser), i just start with FireFox. After making it, usually there is just one problem: png transpearency. And it doesn't take too much time.
But pffff, when using javascript. Especially when trying with frameworks.

[Medyman]

We've dropped IE6 from our list of supported browsers. Clients wanting IE6 compatibility are charged extra. So, I happily say that the graphic doesn't represent my time breakdown. I don't find IE7 that troublesome. There are a few sticking points but as long as the code is valid, it doesn't take very long to iron out those issues.

Where is actually writing the code in that graphic?

[Twey]

Haha.

For me, on the average oh-gosh-I-want-a-blog website, it would be something like:
Attachment 2319
(I design the user interface before even thinking about the backend; that way it's easy to create a user-friendly back-end by thinking about it in terms of the interface, rather than to design the interface around the backend).

[Snookerman]

We've dropped IE6 from our list of supported browsers. Clients wanting IE6 compatibility are charged extra.

I'm happy to hear that, but what does that really mean? Can we really stop caring about what our pages look in IE6? That would be awesome! If someone on this forum has problems with IE6, could we just tell them to not bother about it? How dead is IE6 really?

[magicyte]

How dead is IE6 really?

I still use it (that way I can make the CSS look good in IE6 FIRST). I use Firefox as a start-up browser for the websites that I make. But IE6 was a bad part on MS (even though they're as bad as they are ).

I guess it isn't really dead, considering that all of those programmers and designers go to all of that hard work to make websites look nice in IE (no matter the version).

-magicyte

[Twey]

(that way I can make the CSS look good in IE6 FIRST)

That's probably not a very good idea. This way you'll end up with IE code mixed in with the standard code and possibly invalidating the stylesheet, whereas if you do it last you can write standard code first and then just override it in a separate IE-only stylesheet (using conditional comments) that other browsers (and the validator) will never see.

[Medyman]

I'm happy to hear that, but what does that really mean? Can we really stop caring about what our pages look in IE6? That would be awesome! If someone on this forum has problems with IE6, could we just tell them to not bother about it? How dead is IE6 really?

No, you can't and shouldn't. This was just a decision we made based on the kind of work we do, the limitations that IE6 puts on us and how much time we spend developing for IE6.

By dropping support, I don't mean that our pages aren't usable in IE6. We're all web developers and are in the habit of writing compliant code and use progressive enhancement techniques with backups for the usual javascript off, flash off, no transparency etc...

As we strictly state in our contract, we won't go to great lengths to make the design look perfect in IE6. So if some padding or margins are off, so be it. The content is accessible and that's the extent to which we care about IE6.

Really, if there is no incentive to switch to IE6, people won't. So, at some point some people are going to have to make a decision to stop supporting IE6 and thereby rendering it obsolete overtime. I'm optimistic that IE8's release will go to great lengths in reducing IE6's market share but it's only optimism. I also have no illusions that by us changing our support for a particular browser that it's going to make that big of a difference. But it has to start somewhere.

[jscheuer1]

I think that in the broadest terms it's absolutely appropriate to drop IE 4, and probably 5 (though you still get the occasional person that weeps when support for 5 breaks). It's actually relatively easy to support IE 5.5 and up, at least on the basis that Medyman states - not perfect but accessible.