Along with IE 6, I also run later versions of IE, as well as Firefox, Opera, Chrome, Safari, Arora, Maxthon, and Konqueror. So do my web developer friends and coworkers.
The reason why we do is simple. We want to test our products with every browser with any sort of popularity. Or is a browser that comes with some sort of OS or environment with any sort of popularity. Same goes for browsers with a specific engine.
By playing with so many browsers, we get a feel for things which seem to not be well known (even when documented well), or completely missed by the "pros" who write the most noise on the subject at hand. After work, sometimes my coworkers and I like to get together and joke about how Google security researchers put out a security memo on IE, citing no recourse, while the solution is clearly documented on MSDN, or any similar scenario.
Perhaps we're bad guys for not writing lengthy articles on every subject, and keeping knowledge to ourselves. On the other hand, we get to laugh at the general population on a regular basis. Something which I'm sure every geek at heart revels in.
Here's a small sampling of popular beliefs that we snicker at:
- Internet Explorer 6 can't properly display transparent PNGs without resorting to fancy CSS+JS hacks.
- JavaScript event handling code can't receive the event handle with IE.
- Menus are required to be written in JavaScript to work with all browsers.
- IE is unable to receive multiple cookies in a single Set-Cookie field.
- Cookies is the (only) proper way to store HTTP state.
- IE is not the most advanced browser when it comes to text and typography (because it is, by far).
- SSL/TLS can never be used with multiple virtual hosts.
- Common examples of how to write proper cross browser code is accurate. (Such as common methods to support embedded fonts for IE and other browsers break Konqueror, when supporting all of them is a piece of cake. Or use embed tags for flash.)
- HTTP doesn't have native authentication abilities.
- JavaScript should be included in HTML head.
- SQL query parameters should be escaped.
- Faith in standards committees, large corporations, open source projects, or security researchers.
- That multiple versions of IE can't be run on Windows easily, especially older versions of IE on newer versions of Windows.
That last one is actually what prompted this article. 20% of enterprises say they can't upgrade to newer versions of Windows because they need to use IE 6. On top of this, almost every IT guy who had anything to say about this believe in this situation or mentions virtualization as an out. Heck, even Microsoft themselves are saying you need a special XP mode in Windows 7 for IE 6, as is every major article site on the net who comment on this situation.
Hilarious considering that you can install and run IE 6 just fine in Windows 7. There's plenty of solutions out there besides that one too. They've also been around for several years.
Anyways, experts, pros, designers, IT staff and average Internet surfers out there, just keep on being clueless on every single topic, some of us are having a real laugh.
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