Which applies to you? If you DO have a choice, will you consider upgrading from IE6? Pretty Please???

There's an ongoing struggle in the world of web design and development most of my readers don't know about. Today I'd love to tell you about it. Afterward, I'd really like to hear your thoughts.

According to the latest handy Squarespace stats on my site, 42% of the people who visited my website during the past month are using Internet Explorer 6. I'm trying to figure out why. Then maybe we can make that number shrink a bit. (Baby steps, eh?) I'll share some thoughts on why I'd like this percentage to go down.

In early August, one of my clients forwarded me an email that included this message:

I wasn't able to see the header image on your [newest project] website in Internet Explorer   It showed up as a broken link - Melody probably should know.  Tell her I was using IE version6.0.28 on a Windows 2000 OS. There are lots of people who still use that version of Explorer.  (I could see it fine in Firefox).

Yes. Melody probably should know. And she does. Sometimes, though, she forgets. Forgot. Shouldn't have, but did. (Wishful thinking can be a powerful force to contend with.) Of course that was one of the ever-present reminders that when designing for the web, you have to always, always consider the scads of variables affecting the way people will see what you design. Because what you see online and what your visitors see online could very well be quite different!

The reason my client's friend had not been able to see the page in all its glory, is that I had used the "png" format rather than "gif" or "jpg" for presenting her graphics. (A bit of comparison here.) Sadly, Internet Explorer 6 is not a big fan of the png file format. Because many times, that's the most visually-appealing way to go, I would very much like to use the png format on the websites I design.

So the issue continues to crop up in my work, and today I read this enlightening piece by Chris Coyier at css-tricks.com, entitled "Why People Still Use IE 6." Although some argue in the follow-up comments section that his estimations are off on which percentages are accurate for these categories, I feel confident that these are most certainly the primary reasons. He elaborates on each point in his post:

1. Because they have to,
2. Because they have an old computer,
3. Because they actively don’t care / dislike change,
4. Because they don’t know any better...

The screenshot above shows what browsers my site's visitors were using this past month. Maybe that 42% shouldn't surprise me, but it does. 42% is a lot. (It also surprises me a bit that the Chrome numbers are so low. Then again, I'm not your go-to-girl for all things techie. People who use Chrome are most certainly reading other blogs. Pity. They might have a little fun here now and then! I digress.)

Please know something now: this is not intended to be a geeky, elitist rant (Shhhh. Be nice,) meant to make my less technologically inclined readers feel unintelligent. I've always thought myself a fairly bright person and I used the internet for a very long time before I even knew what a browser was! Our lives are so full and we're constantly inundated with so much available information that we learn what we need to learn when we perceive the need. And if you can "surf the net" without worrying about the ins and outs of what's getting you there, it makes sense that your browser choice might not be up there with what you're going to feed your children for dinner after work every night this week, or how much harder you need to be training for that upcoming marathon. I get it.

But it occurred to me that for my readers who do have a choice, and maybe just haven't gotten around to upgrading or trying out some other browser experiences, maybe I should just ask:

Will you please consider trying something besides IE6?

Here are a couple of reasons I'd love for you to consider my request:

1. It will keep me from having to spend excessive amounts of time in research looking for fixes like this. Since I'm not a developer, wading through workarounds and hacks like this sometimes makes my head want to explode.
2. You'll help me keep my rates reasonable. Thereby enabling me to continuing to work with small, often budget-conscious, businesses and artists who love what a simply-customized Squarespace site lets them do online.
3. More and more businesses are considering eliminating support of IE 6. Want a little proof? Take a little spin over to M. Dave Auayan's IE Death March.

So if you made it to the end, congratulations to me! Care to discuss?

Comments

[A. Casalena]

I wish people were more conscious about the *millions* of collective hours intelligent people are forced to waste to support a decade old, crippled browser. Upgrading (WHICH IS FREE) means:

1) Your internet experience works properly. Your browser moves 10-50x faster.

2) You've let the developers and everyone else go back to working on things that actually improve the world and your life. What if the developers had those million hours back? What would we have done with that time?

I actually find the #1 reason people are still on IE6 is a corporate policy, usually an ancient government one to standardize on IE6.

Sad stuff.

[Melody]

A - Thanks for stopping by and adding your insight to my post, Anthony! Way cool surprise.

B - Most of my readers won't recognize the name. Allow me to make introductions. Anthony Casalena founded Squarespace. Yes, that's the company I'm always going on and on about. Reason number 743 I love this service so much: the accessibility of the Squarespace team - including the dude who started the company.

C - I'm such a dork. This makes me really happy.

[Dena]

I recently went Mac (and will never go back) so I use Safari. And I had an updated IE Explorer when I had my PC but ONLY b/c my husband put it there. Speaking for the non-techies of the world, I can't emphasize enough how scary/confusing even the "simple" stuff is. If I was on my own, I would have no idea my browser was old. It's always worked, so if a site shows up with problems, must be the site's issue, would be my line of thinking.

A simple free download? Intimidating to those of us who don't do it. Where does the download go? Do I have to remove my other version first? What if I mess up the version that works by downloading the new stuff? Once it's downloaded, do I have to do something to activate it or does it just immediately start working? Sometimes during downloads the computer asks questions like where I want to store this and do I want to copy over something else. I have NO FRICKIN' IDEA what the answers are.

That, my dear techie friend, is where you get your 42% from. The late adapting if-it-ain't-broke-don't-fix-it set.

God bless us, every one.

[Melody]

This is almost verbatim what Cindi said to me on the phone a half hour ago.

So okay. It's my job to help. And I want to help. I know I once saw it this way, too, and so it's important for me to remember. Thanks for sharing.

Problem is, it is broke. (Sure, sometimes it's the site's problem, as you suggest. Many, many times, though, it's not.) And "they" want to help you fix it, so "they" have created those free upgrades that help with the problem non-techies don't know how to fix. Thank God for your dear hubby, and for Cindi's, too.

Now to figure out how to make it easy for the rest...

the ones who don't live with geeks.

Have I opened up a bigger can of worms than I meant to? Maybe, but I don't think so. These are the kinds of conversations that need to be happening between Those Who Live On Computers and Those Who Do Not. Because eventually they could lead us to better understand the others' perspective. A way to meet in the middle and help us find a way to solve these problems.

ASAP, I'll be looking for good, easy-to-follow information on how to tackle the daunting challenge of upgrading your browser.

Thanks again for your candid post.

[Dena]

I find this fascinating so please forgive me as I throw more wood on the flames. I'll agree with you that the old browser is "broke" b/c it's no longer performing up to par with the technology out there. But how are non-techies to know this? How is it one day IE 6 is fine, the next it's obsolete? Of course the answer is to read about it, but I'd rather stick hot pins in my eyes than spend 30 seconds on a site telling me how to know if it's time to upgrade. They usually start by asking you to ID what system you're using and guess what? They just lost me.

I think it's hard for tech-minded people to grasp that those of us who aren't tech, simply don't care. I don't want to learn about it, I don't want to know about the cool extra features I'll never use. I don't want to "play" with stuff to see what I like and might use. I spend enough time working on the computer, the last thing I want to do is play on it.

This sounds like a rant against you, which it ISN'T. I would be far gone without my dear Melody to keep me technologically afloat. And maybe that's the answer. We'll require all non-techies to "find a buddy" who can occasionally look at their system and say, "Time to upgrade and I'll handle it for you."

I'm just tired of friends asking me if have this or do that. No, I don't. Go away and quit bothering me.

Cheers,

Dena

[Melody]

Dena, "Find a Buddy" is the best suggestion I've heard all day! No way we can all excel at everything. I find buddies all the time to help me with things I can't do. It's a brilliant idea: for those who are daunted by computing suggestions like "Upgrade Your Browsers Please," then this is the perfect time to partner up with somebody who can help you wade through the confusion. Your techie friends will be thrilled to help you, I'm confident.