Wow, a new blog post – what gives?

About a year ago I stopped supporting IE6 completely.  Unless a client specifically asks, there are only five browsers I support fully: Safari, Firefox, Chrome, Opera, and IE7/8 (and even IE7 is starting to take its toll on designs).  But, why?  Why eliminate a browser completely from a support list? Do people still use IE6?

According to the W3Schools Browser Statistics page, only 4.8% of Internet users still use IE6.  Most use either IE8, Chrome, or Firefox (the overwhelming majority – although Chrome is rapidly gaining value)

Why NOT use IE6?  Well, for starters it takes the newer web standards and chucks them out the window (and we’re talking basic items like CSS – don’t even attempt to try HTML5 or your browser may explode) as well as disallowing newer technologies such as some javascripts.  It was so bad, Google created a plugin called Chrome Frame that is installed and will hijack IE6 to look nice.

Second, any modern design will look horrible in Internet Explorer 6.  Since aforementioned scripts and CSS won’t display properly it will look awful in IE6. Design has advanced so much since it was released that It’s worth looking at the most beautiful web that you can – one that is offered by Chrome, Firefox, or Safari.

Finally, there are so many security holes in IE6 (Internet Explorer, period) that you will actually be better protected by getting rid of IE6.  Exploits, backdoors, all can be prevented with a good virus scanner and a better browser.

Got a really interesting email today – thought I would share it with you guys:

Dear Google Apps admin,​

In order to continue to improve our products and deliver more sophisticated features and performance, we are harnessing some of the latest improvements in web browser technology. This includes faster JavaScript processing and new standards like HTML5. As a result, over the course of 2010, we will be phasing out support for Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 ​as well as other older browsers that are not supported by their own manufacturers.

We plan to begin phasing out support of these older browsers on the Google Docs suite and the Google Sites editor on March 1, 2010. After that point, certain functionality within these applications may have higher latency and may not work correctly in these older browsers. Later in 2010, we will start to phase out support for these browsers for Google Mail and Google Calendar.

Google Apps will continue to support Internet Explorer 7.0 and above, Firefox 3.0 and above, Google Chrome 4.0 and above, and Safari 3.0 and above.

Starting this week, users on these older browsers will see a message in Google Docs and the Google Sites editor explaining this change and asking them to upgrade their browser. We will also alert you again closer to March 1 to remind you of this change.

In 2009, the Google Apps team delivered more than 100 improvements to enhance your product experience. We are aiming to beat that in 2010 and continue to deliver the best and most innovative collaboration products for businesses.

Thank you for your continued support!

Sincerely,

The Google Apps team

I really don’t remember when a company so large has taken a single outburst against a single browser, but this is a huge step by Google moving closer to a “standard web” – and a day when designers everywhere will rejoice!

Any thoughts on why this is (or isn’t) a good idea?