Kill Internet Explorer

Adam Howard

Well-known member
I'm going to tell you something I did a while back and I know that many of you as developers will think this to be crazy....

So if you want to try it out yourself, but still think it maybe a crazy move.... Try a site you may have that you can "risk" or maybe don't care about.

A while back I finally got completely tired of trying to fix, debug, and support Internet Explorer. I found myself no longer caring to try to make this 1 browser work, when all the following did just fine....


Desktop (Home Computer)
  • Firefox
  • Sea Monkey
  • Google Chrome
  • Chromium
  • Opera
  • Safari
  • Camino
Mobile
  • Opera Mini
  • Opera Mobile
  • BlackBerry Browser
  • Firefox for mobile
  • Dolphin Browser
  • Kindle Basic Web (Amazon)
  • Skyfire Mobile Browser
  • WebOS Browser
  • Nokia Series 40 Browser
  • BOLT browser
  • Skyfire
  • Blazer
And the list goes on and on....

Yet only Microsoft Internet Explorer is the only one that was giving us issues. I found myself adding more code, just to support that 1 browser. And even more code to support different versions.

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So one day I complete decided to kill Internet Explorer and discontinued support for it all together.

Sure I got a few upset people and at first things looked bad. But let me tell you.... My SEO rating is UP, traffic is UP, membership is UP, and I'm less stressed.

We went from having Microsoft Internet Explorer being at #1, then going down to dead last, and now with the exception of 2 members... It's all done and over with. And things are better.

I would recommend it. (y)
 
I havent supported IE in years. And cant remember the last time i even looked at my site in IE.
(y)

I've been in the slow process of killing it on site #2 and I'm already starting to see the affects, slowly but surely. :D

Life is easier without it, right?
 
I'm on the verge of dumping it alltogether. There is just one moderator who just won't give up! Recently it became impossible due to some addons that uses javascript that I don't plan to unistall just for the sake of IE. I'm practically nurturing him by remotely accessing his computer and show him what is what in Firefox :confused: It's like a bad marriage or bad dream you can't leave & awake from. Pardon my analogy.
 
You shouldn't really need to go out of your way to provide extra support for IE as long as you follow web standards, and take into account common issues when deciding on the method of certain things (eg :after doesn't work, so you need to nested code instead).
 
Nice... totally with you that IE sucks.

My next skin I'm working on is actually going to have "IE Unfriendly" within the header, displaying the FF, Safari and Chrome logos as the browser to view the site within. Nice trial...
You'd be surprised how much work you get done and how fast it gets done, when you stop caring about Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE).

You'd also be surprised on how many people who said they wouldn't switch, actually do end up switching. And a large group of them later end up either thanking you or generally recommending other switch.
 
I remember when I made the switch it was in 2006. Until then I didn't really know of any other browser and belived that to access the internet you had to use IE :ROFLMAO: Sounds silly but it's true. A friend of mine recommended Firefox and that was it. Never used IE as my primary browser again.
 
I switch between Safari, Firefox and Chrome... it really depends on which one is the most stable and fastest at any given major release. FF had some real issues at one point and is also quite slow compared to Safari and Chrome. Safari at last glance was the fastest of all the browsers and most sophisticated to date, with complete spelling and grammar checking, along with other features that FF and Chrome still don't have. FF have recently tried copying the Safari "top sites" page, which Google took up quickly and in both have been an awesome benefit IMHO to quickly visit popular sites compared to bookmark lists, which I find yuk.

I couldn't ever agree more that IE sucks. I have hated that browser for over a decade now.
 
My main site has about 40% visitors on IE (all business users). Still I have stopped bothering with anything less than IE 8. I do support IE 8 and 9.
 
I didn't realize that javascript didn't always run that well in IE until I was testing my site on it the other day to figure out which addon was causing a problem.

I want to be able to access my site from school, so I'll always support IE. Every version if possible. My school mostly uses IE, so I don't really have a choice.
 
I try to accommodate IE but it seriously gets on my nerves. A newish browser not supporting text-shadow, I mean come on what's that all about? I try to keep a styling looking half decent in IE but I generally won't go out of my way to support it, I won't consider supporting and making crude fixes for the old IE. If my site doesn't look right, display correctly then download FF, chrome...heck dare I say it? even Opera (waits for forsaken trying to convince us all it's a good browser and awaits the opera fanatics association to go on a vigilante spree) :ROFLMAO: (y)
 
Since IE8, the browser has followed web standards pretty well, actually. I've been using IE10 while testing Win8 and haven't really encountered any major issues with it.

And I also don't think it's a good idea to cut off IE support. I don't think it's a good idea to ever intentionally lock out any one browser from a site. Design your site and make a note that it may not display optimally in IE but then leave it at that.
 
Since IE8, the browser has followed web standards pretty well, actually. I've been using IE10 while testing Win8 and haven't really encountered any major issues with it.

And I also don't think it's a good idea to cut off IE support. I don't think it's a good idea to ever intentionally lock out any one browser from a site. Design your site and make a note that it may not display optimally in IE but then leave it at that.

How are those rounded corners looking?
 
I use IE. If a website I use doesn't play with IE nicely, it never gets visited again.

Nobody will miss you...

That about sums it up.

But ironically, I had dozens of people claim the same thing and little by little, they returned. You'd be surprised how many people will switch.

For me though, I slowly made a phase out and I think that is important. I didn't just kill it over night.

About the time I made the notice that I was discontinuing Internet Explorer 6 and 7, I also added this into all my headers

PHP:
<!--[if IE]>
        <div style=' clear: both; height: 59px; padding:0 0 0 15px; position: relative;'> <a href="http://www.sociallyuncensored.eu/Its-Time-To-Choose-A-Better-Browser.html"><img src="http://www.sociallyuncensored.com/images/warning_bar_0000_us.jpg" border="0" height="42" width="820" alt="You are using an outdated browser. For a faster, safer browsing experience, upgrade for free today." /></a></div>
<![endif]-->

This simple and small banner always reminded people that Internet Explorer its self was out of date and when clicking it, brought them here

http://www.sociallyuncensored.eu/Its-Time-To-Choose-A-Better-Browser.html

Any time I had someone tell me that X wouldn't work for them, I told them that we don't officially support IE, but only offer a "best effort".

And to click the compatibility view button in Internet Explorer

Capture.webp


But I would also explain to them that the site works flawlessly with

Desktop (Home Computer)
  • Firefox
  • Sea Monkey
  • Google Chrome
  • Chromium
  • Opera
  • Safari
  • Camino
Mobile
  • Opera Mini
  • Opera Mobile
  • BlackBerry Browser
  • Firefox for mobile
  • Dolphin Browser
  • Kindle Basic Web (Amazon)
  • Skyfire Mobile Browser
  • WebOS Browser
  • Nokia Series 40 Browser
  • BOLT browser
  • Skyfire
  • Blazer
And the list goes on and on....

Yet only Microsoft Internet Explorer is the only one that is giving us issues.

I would also explain to them that the site was coded using Universal Code, but that Microsoft wishes to impose their own standards. And that we would no longer be forced to apply to those standards.

It helps when you have other users backing up your claim that the site works wonderfully in X browser and how much better X browser is.

From there I slowly kept developing things without the care of Internet Explorer. Overtime, that "compatible view" button really becomes useless and yes, you'll get the angry member who will demand you fix things, but hold your ground.
 
Unfortunately this is not always an option. Sure if you have a large, dedicated community they will simply do as is required and deal with the annoyance of having to switch browsers either completely or just for your site. But when you are designing websites meant for both returning as well as new visitors you'll see that bounce rate spike through the roof if you simply choose not to support IE at all.

The compromise I've made though is to support only IE8 and upwards and show a warning for lower versions. My reasoning is that anyone using a version below IE8 honestly doesn't care about an optimal web experience anyway, so I will not spend hours upon hours making a website work for them when they simply don't care.
 
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