[Web4lib] Getting Rid of IE 6

Rich Allen rallen at noblenet.org
Fri Apr 10 23:07:56 EDT 2009 

Greetings

SmashingMagazine.com has a posting called "15 Essential Checks Before
Launching Your Website you might find helpful:

http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/04/07/15-essential-checks-before-launching-your-website/

One tip calls for cross-browser checking with 7 free and paid sites

Cheers

> All of this is very reminiscent of the discussions that took place here
> when people were trying to decide how much effort they were going to make
> supporting Netscape 4 after it was no longer the browser of choice. I
> think Lisa's point that it's not very helpful to throw a huge stop sign or
> the visual equivalent at users is correct. Realistically, your site isn't
> the first site that an IE 6 user has visited where things don't look just
> right or act just right. If they haven't realized that their browser is
> the cause, then you may be doing a bit of community service by pointing
> that out to them. But most of them have already realized that and for
> whatever reason, a browser upgrade isn't their top priority. With a bit of
> JS and CSS, you should be able to add a note to the page indicating that
> their browser isn't fully supported and a link to a page where they can
> find upgrade options would  strike the right balance.
>
> As far as how long we support older browsers, I can sympathize with David
> C.'s dilemma. How long do you allow the needs of the 5% delay or preclude
> you from offering new features or services to the other 95% of users? At a
> certain point, I think you have to say "Our library will offer basic
> access to everyone but certain features may only be available to those
> using a standards-compliant browser." In the past, cutting off a certain
> browser version had more of an impact on end-users than it does today.
> While IE 7 might not run on Windows 2000, there are plenty of browser out
> there that do run on older computers and support current standards so that
> a feature that doesn't work in IE 6 will work in FF 2 or Opera or some
> other browser. I think we're finally past the days where we coded for a
> specific browser. Sure, we still need to be aware of the quirks of certain
> browsers but the days of setting up hacks for IE this or Netscape that
> should be past us.
>
> Andrew Mutch
> Library Systems Technician
> Waterford Township Public Library
> Waterford, MI
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "L Cohn" <lcohn at bplnj.org>
> To: web4lib at webjunction.org
> Sent: Friday, April 10, 2009 6:53:30 PM GMT -05:00 US/Canada Eastern
> Subject: Re: [Web4lib] Getting Rid of IE 6
>
>
>
> I agree with some of the comments in reply to mine. My biggest concern is
> accessibility, but not just to the few folk or are blind or disabled in
> some way.....Here's my point of view.
>
> In my library, I see a very few people using their own laptops on our
> wireless signal, who have good equipment and know how to use it. I'd call
> them the minority.
>
> Most of what I see are some elderly people who wouldn't know how to
> upgrade or even what the word means (a message popping up to tell them to
> upgrade would scare the heck out of them).  Then there are the
> disadvantaged folks who can't afford a new computer and if they tried to
> upgrade on the one they're using, it would just crash (if the popup
> message didn't make it crash).  And, of course, there are the hoards who
> don't own computers and come in to use or crash ours (dumb terminals
> sharing a server in the back - they don't run IE, and can't upgrade or
> download anything and half the time the system blocks what they are trying
> to do in any case, legitimate or otherwise - don't get me started).
>
> But, I've learned in web designing and in providing IT assistance to our
> computers and the general public, is to keep everything as simple as
> possible.  My coding is rather primitive according to most standards, I'm
> sure. It's not so much keeping it backwards compatible when what you and
> most of your clientele are working with IS backwards.... <wry smile>.
>
> But my point is still, when a great many people have trouble searching
> your catalog and just getting online, why start throwing up messages and
> making them upgrade.  Put a note somewhere not to intrusive that says,
> "Website best viewed in IE8, click here to download..." and let the people
> download it who want to.  Then people who can't or won't can ignore it and
> go about what they were doing....
>
> Lisa
>
> ------------------------------------
> Lisa Cohn, ILL, WebMaster,  Reference
> Bloomfield Public Library,  bplnj.org
> 90 Broad Street, Bloomfield, NJ 07003
>   973-566-6200x217, lcohn at bplnj.org
> ------------------------------------
>
>
> ---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
> From: jimm wetherbee <jimm at wingate.edu>
> Date:  Fri, 10 Apr 2009 18:05:03 -0400
>
>>David King wrote:
>>> I use the 5% rule - if it drops below 5%, we don't support it.
>>>
>>Never mind IE6. It is getting close to the point where we will have to
>>support web enabled cell phones.
>>
>>--jimm
>>> David Lee King
>>> davidleeking.com - blog
>>> davidleeking.com/etc - videoblog
>>> twitter | skype: davidleeking
>>>
>>>
>>> On Fri, Apr 10, 2009 at 4:21 PM, Tim Spalding <tim at librarything.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>> Your sentiment is good, I think, but clearly there's a limit.
>>>> Supporting Netscape 2 would be so costly and useful to so few that no
>>>> web developer—government or not—would do it. In the
>>>> business world,
>>>> it's a pretty clear-cut benefit/gain decision. What do you think the
>>>> rule should be for libraries?
>>>>
>>>> Tim
>>>>
>>>> On Fri, Apr 10, 2009 at 5:13 PM, L Cohn <lcohn at bplnj.org> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> I'm sorry, perhaps I'm missing something here, but aren't we supposed
>>>>> to
>>>>>
>>>> be making our websites accessible to people using a variety of
>>>> browsers so
>>>> that they can access our catalogs and find information on our sites?
>>>> This
>>>> discussion sounds like we're turning up our noses at our own
>>>> clientele.
>>>>  Some people are so technophobic that we're lucky they're looking in
>>>> the
>>>> catalog at all, much less stopping what they're doing to download what
>>>> we
>>>> consider to be proper for them.  Make your website accessible to them,
>>>> don't
>>>> throw roadblocks in their way by throwing messages up on the screens.
>>>> If
>>>> you work with the general public long enough, you notice that they
>>>> aren't
>>>> even reading the messages that pop up in front of them.  The ones who
>>>> know
>>>> computers, just click OK and ignore the message.  The ones who are
>>>> technophobic see the word install and run screaming from the computer,
>>>> afraid they broke something.
>>>>
>>>>> You're just scaring them off the world wide web. Stop throwing
>>>>> roadblocks
>>>>>
>>>> at them.  It's your job to make your website accessible, not theirs.
>>>>
>>>>> Lisa
>>>>>
>>>>> ------------------------------------
>>>>>
>>>>>> Lisa Cohn, ILL, WebMaster,  Reference
>>>>>> Bloomfield Public Library,  bplnj.org
>>>>>> 90 Broad Street, Bloomfield, NJ 07003
>>>>>>  973-566-6200x217, lcohn at bplnj.org
>>>>>> ------------------------------------
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> ---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
>>>>>> From: David Kane <dkane at wit.ie>
>>>>>> Date:  Fri, 10 Apr 2009 21:02:46 +0100
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Hi David,
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Run a Javascript browser detection script that advises them to
>>>>>>> update.
>>>>>>> If this update is a problem for them, - then they need more help
>>>>>>> that
>>>>>>>
>>>> you
>>>>
>>>>>>> could ever give..
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> Regards,
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> David Kane
>>>>>>> Waterford Institute of Technology
>>>>>>> Ireland.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> 2009/4/10 Cloutman, David <DCloutman at co.marin.ca.us>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Hi Everyone,
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> My library is looking to launch our new Web site last month
>>>>>>>> (hurray).
>>>>>>>> Early in the development process, about 6 months ago, I had to
>>>>>>>> make a
>>>>>>>> decision about what browsers the new site would support in terms
>>>>>>>> of
>>>>>>>>
>>>> HTML
>>>>
>>>>>>>> / CSS. My goal was at least 95% support of what was being used. At
>>>>>>>>
>>>> that
>>>>
>>>>>>>> time, I looked at the numbers, and decided that IE6 would be going
>>>>>>>>
>>>> away,
>>>>
>>>>>>>> and that over the life of the site, it wouldn't be an issue. (I
>>>>>>>> figure
>>>>>>>>
>>>> a
>>>>
>>>>>>>> typical site keeps a template for about 3 years.) The problem is
>>>>>>>> that
>>>>>>>> the IE 6 market share has only gone down marginally since I made
>>>>>>>> that
>>>>>>>> decision, and I'm looking at about 90% - 93% browser support at
>>>>>>>> launch
>>>>>>>> time. It's not the end of the world, but in order to mitigate the
>>>>>>>>
>>>> issue,
>>>>
>>>>>>>> I have posted a browser detecting JavaScript routine that looks
>>>>>>>> for
>>>>>>>> versions if IE <=6, and then displays a message telling them to
>>>>>>>>
>>>> upgrade.
>>>>
>>>>>>>> The technology works great. I'm tracking all the IE 6 hits through
>>>>>>>> images that load in the message. I'm also tracking click-throughs
>>>>>>>> to
>>>>>>>>
>>>> the
>>>>
>>>>>>>> IE Upgrade page and the Firefox page. (I wanted to give people
>>>>>>>>
>>>> options.)
>>>>
>>>>>>>> The problem is that after a week I'm still getting a lot of hits,
>>>>>>>> but
>>>>>>>> diminishing numbers of click-throughs. Part of the problem may be
>>>>>>>> that
>>>>>>>> the IE upgrade page on the Microsoft's site doesn't load
>>>>>>>> flawlessly in
>>>>>>>> IE 6. (Oops.) The other problem may be that people saw the warning
>>>>>>>> regarding the pending non-support of their browser, and my rather
>>>>>>>> technical disclaimer urging them to upgrade, and are now ignoring
>>>>>>>> it.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> So here's my question for the list. How do I communicate to users,
>>>>>>>> who
>>>>>>>> for all I know may not even know the meaning of the word
>>>>>>>> "upgrade",
>>>>>>>>
>>>> that
>>>>
>>>>>>>> they need to visit the Microsoft site, work through the issues,
>>>>>>>> and
>>>>>>>> install a new piece of software? Also, and this is more fun issue,
>>>>>>>> for
>>>>>>>> the ones that are really just lazy or obstinate, how do I grab
>>>>>>>> their
>>>>>>>> attention. I am not above using Lolcats or dancing hamsters.
>>>>>>>> Creative
>>>>>>>> suggestions are welcome.
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Happy Friday,
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> - David
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> ---
>>>>>>>> David Cloutman <dcloutman at co.marin.ca.us>
>>>>>>>> Electronic Services Librarian
>>>>>>>> Marin County Free Library
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> Email Disclaimer:
>>>>>>>>
>>>> http://www.co.marin.ca.us/nav/misc/EmailDisclaimer.cfm
>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>>>> Web4lib mailing list
>>>>>>>> Web4lib at webjunction.org
>>>>>>>> http://lists.webjunction.org/web4lib/
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>>>> Web4lib mailing list
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>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> Web4lib mailing list
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>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Check out my library at
>>>> http://www.librarything.com/profile/timspalding
>>>>
>>>>
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>>>>
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>>>
>>
>>
>>--
>>Jimm Wetherbee                 | jimm at wingate.edu
>>Information Systems Librarian  | Voice: 704-233-8092
>>E.K. Smith Library             | Fax:   704-233-8254
>>Wingate University             | http://library.wingate.edu/staff/jmw/
>>Wingate, NC 28174              | lux et fides
>>
>>
>>
>>
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Rich Allen, Technical Services
Winthrop Public Library, Winthrop Massachusetts
rallen at noblenet.org
North of Boston Library Exchange

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