Microsoft's Internet Explorer version 6 was released in August, 2001, yet there are still more people using it today than Firefox 3.0. As of February 2009, IE6 still holds greater than 18% of the total web browser market share.

 

As for me, I am a part of that 18% constituency, not because I love IE6, but because I figure someone in our office should represent this dysfunctional (and sizable) view of the websites that we ourselves design. For the same reason, I also choose to browse the web using Firefox 2.0, versus the current 3.0 version. It's true that Firefox 2.0, released in October 2006, only commands a mere ~ 4% of browser market share, but that's still greater than Chrome, Safari and Opera, which each are less than 4% (but growing while Firefox 2 usage contracts). Choosing to personify that "LCD" (lowest common denominator) that we website designers speak of doesn't make me popular around the office, I admit. I tend to be the wet rag, the buzz-kill in the design process when some sweet, new design fails for me in either IE6 of FX2. And it's due to these compatibility issues that most website development processes begin to churn. Without retrofitting a tight CSS layout to accommodate outdated browsers, life would be much easier. Website development would cost less and take less time. There would be peace and harmony in the world.

 

On March 19th, Microsoft publicly releases its 8th version of Internet Explorer, and this time, we are told, IE8 will be the most standards-compliant browser of all. If history is any lesson here, we'll believe it when we see it. While release candidate 1 is available this month, it will be several months more before what we can consider a "stable" version will be available for download. But a bigger question is this: will the launch of IE8 finally compel all of the large corporations still running IE6 to finally take the plunge and upgrade??

 

Website and web application developers have begun to force the issue, drawing a line in the sand and stating a timeline after which IE6 support will cease. In fact, we now see that none other than the Norweigians have taken a leadership role in this issue, starting a movement to force IE6 abandonment. As a company, we at OakTree Digital have discussed this topic as well, and in the coming months, we too will no longer include IE6 and Firefox 2 in our default list of browsers we ensure compatibility for. When that time comes, I, too, will upgrade...but not a moment before.

 

In the scheme of things, the Internet (and the web browsers that allow us all to experience it) is still relatively new. We should hope and expect that in the near future, any competing web browsers will follow the same set of standards so that development doesn't require one part science and one part magic. That day is surely coming, and not a moment too soon.