Boycotting IE6

I came across this site, free-the-web.com, today. It’s not a concept that’s new to me, I hear it all the time from web designers. They hate Internet Explorer with such venom.

Some sites have ‘get firefox’ links, or they have a ‘this site is not supported by IE’ splash pages, redirects to browse happy or similar. There isn’t much love out there for the IE6 browser.

Is it wrong that I think it’s all a bit unnecessary?

I know the browser doesn’t support standard CSS and it’s generally a bit of a mess, but these tantrums from web developers worldwide is getting a bit gimmicky. I bet some don’t even know why they don’t like the browser, just that they’re meant to and sound good doing it.

A good web developer/designer will (after many sleepless nights and bloody typing fingers) find a way to create a working, supportable site for IE6.

It’s not professional to stick your fingers in your ears and shout ‘la-la-la-la-la’. It’s a mistake to refuse to acknowledge the 20% using internet explorer (and the relative new internet users who will continue to as long as it’s pre-installed with Windows).

‘Boycotting’ IE6 will not stop people from using the browser, it will simply dissuade a visitor from returning.