solve all your problems with IE at once

[popiol]

I'm new to the forum, so, first of all, hi everyone!

I came up with this idea, which probably has appeared in minds of many of you already, but somehow I haven't seen anyone writing about it in the web yet, so I'll give a try. After all those years of struggling with IE as a web developer, after all those posts I've read about how to trick IE to get what you want, I finally realised that supporting IE is the worst thing I can do. It's the worst thing that web developers can do. Supporting IE is like approving the constant ignoring of the web standards by Microsoft. The best thing we can do is to STOP SUPPORTING INTERNET EXPLORER. Why not? Just think about how much easier developing web pages would become. Most of users still use IE, that's true, but we have the power to change it, don't we?

The idea is to add to each of your pages a simple, kind remark, like this:

<!--[if IE]>
<div id="ie_alert">Caution! You are using Internet Explorer!
Internet Explorer does NOT support widely accepted
<a href="http://www.webstandards.org/">
web standards</a>,
and may display the web page incorrectly. It is strongly recommended to
use one of the standard-compatible browsers, such as:
<a href="http://www.mozilla-europe.org/en/firefox/">Firefox</a>,
<a href="http://en.opera.com">Opera</a>,
<a href="http://www.apple.com/en/safari/">Safari</a>,
<a href="http://www.google.com/chrome">Chrome</a>.
All the listed browsers are available for free.
</div>
<![endif]-->

Add some nice CSS stylesheet, and that's all! All the problems with IE disappear!

I'm interested in your opinion on that. Do you think this idea has a chance to spread, or IE will always be the thorn in our sides?

[opifex]

IE8 is an improvement over the past IE browsers.... will M$ ever come in line to any set of standards? Probably not and as long as Windows maintains popularity it doesn't matter to M$.

I still code support M$ browsers because I like to eat on occasion... as long as the client is using IE it would be a good idea that the page shows nicely in IE. I only include support for IE6 and below at an additional cost.
Remember that the only way that anyone can shun any of the browsers is to provide code that IS compliant with STANDARDS.... at this moment webstandards.org has both html and css errors (although minor)! Might not be a good idea to promote them in your crusade.

[popiol]

I still code support M$ browsers because I like to eat on occasion... as long as the client is using IE it would be a good idea that the page shows nicely in IE.

That's a good point. If your client requires that you support IE, you can't do much about it. But, there are a lot of people who work on their own projects, or who are trusted by the client enough to make such decisions by themselves. Just note that there are still web pages which actually require using IE! If one can ignore FF or Opera, then why not to ignore IE?

at this moment webstandards.org has both html and css errors (although minor)! Might not be a good idea to promote them in your crusade.

Oh come on, I've used webstandards.org just to inform a simple user what the standards are about. You can change it to wikipedia if you prefer, doesn't matter to me. Besides, I'm more using it than promoting it. So far, they are more popular than me ;)

People, please, vote! I need more feedback!

[andr105]

On the poll I've chosen the variant which says that IE will loose its popularity. I'm convinced that it will really happen because the use of IE is coupled with a set of problems. Personally I also had some problems with the browser!

[aj_nsc]

I'm convinced that it will really happen because the use of IE is coupled with a set of problems.


Unfortunately, IE is also coupled with an operating system which holds >80% market share....as much as web developers hate IE passionately (although things have been slowly improving in recent versions), it's just not going away.