Okay, I'm a little tired of seeing threads on here saying: "Help! 'x' doesn't show up properly in Internet Explorer!" For anybody who is new here, new to web design, I will save you the effort. You may not have designed it incorrectly - Internet Explorer is a web browser now developed by Microsoft, and it was acquired from another company before that. Microsoft has little respect for industry standards in file formats, so it's not a shocker that their acquired browser doesn't support the open web standards that the rest of the world, and all of the other browsers accurately adhere to. IE is trash, the only reason it is so widely used is because of it's preinstallation on Microsoft Windows, and frankly, if it wasn't there would be maybe 1 or 2% marketshare and they know it. Microsoft doesn't need to be competitive, or even support industry minimum because they have a guaranteed market of ignorant computer users so they never have a need to worry. How does this affect us as desginers? Should we hold the hands of IE users and code our stuff with standards-breaking custom support for IE so ignorant users never have to switch to a real web browser? Some say yes, som say no. What I say is write according to web standards, and if it doesn't work in IE, inform anybody that complains that they aren't using a current standards-supporting browser and direct them to Firefox, Safari or Opera download pages. While the argument against this states that you will lose customers if the site doesn't work in IE, I say: if you convert an IE user to a real browser you are supporting web standards. Supporting web standards ensures you will have a better internet in 5, 10, 20 years, and if you're a web designer that's a very good thing (did I imply $$$ and a job?). There comes a time when you stop supporting old software, I suggest it's time to stop supporting non-standard software and let it continue to dominate - there's no need, and by supporting it today, you're actually hurting the internet of tomorrow by not letting it progress and develop. The choice is yours, now you know where I stand.
Thanks for this post. I knew ie wasn't that great so i use firefox but you filled me in on some pertinent information that i was unaware of
I will second everything you just said. IE is horrible! I've spent more time working to fix problems displaying in IE than all the other browsers combined. IE should be banned from existence.
No, it's not the fact that I don't know what I'm doing, it's a fact that IE is just bad at displaying webpages correctly. So you have to add special portions of code just for it.
EVERYTHING that Microshaft designs or takes over and redesigns is HORRIBLE. That is why there have been over 1 million virii and other malware for Microshaft junk as opposed to only around 1 HUNDRED or so virii for the Mac in the last 25 years. If Microshaft had the same ratio as the Mac, there would be ONLY about 2 THOUSAND virii on Microshaft junk instead of 500 times that many.
I've noticed that some of the websites I've made don't display the way I want them to in IE. It doesn't code as well as Firefox.
www.FirefoxMyths.com ...even though by using firefox you are proving that you belong on the short bus so you may not actually get the memo.
@muncle by using Firefox doesn't mean I believe any of those myths though. This looks like a FUD smear campaign. I use linux, there is no version of IE for linux. I also use mac, and there is no current IE for mac. I do not use windows. IE doesn't even come near approaching the standards support that Firefox, webkit and opera have. But just because IE is bad doesn't mean I think Firefox is the greatest thing out there - I use Firefox and Camino, Webkit and Safari on a daily basis, sometimes simulatneously, and I often will use Firefox and Konqueror on linux and view my sites in all of those. I also occasionally use Opera in mac and linux. Now even they all of those browsers function differently, and all have particular extended support for web strandards in different areas, IE is non-standard and doesn't support the same lowest common denominator in all of them. It took Microsoft 9 years between the time they annouced they were going to add PNG support, until the date it finally arrived. During that time entire new browser that weren't written began, supported and even surpassed the levels that IE was at. IE is a joke, a pathetic joke.
That's a wonderful smear campaign someone has concocted to promote Opera's use. Opera has just about as many 'fanboys' as Firefox. I've personally done all of the tests they talk about on that website, and Firefox is the fastest web browser. On the other hand Opera is slightly more secure. Everyone has their own favorites, just as long as people don't use IE I don't care what they use. BTW - That site links to a site that talks about Co2 not being the cause of global warming, when infact it is the cause, science has proven that the higher the concentration, the more the temperature rises. It tries to say that Carbon Monoxide is the main cause, which it isn't. ( A Bunch Of Crazy People )