One of the websites I work on has an IE6 user base of 35%. Stop what you’re doing, put your pen down and read that again.

Yep. 35% of the visitors to this site are using version 6 (yes, six) of Internet Explorer.

Now, this is a pain; not so much because I can’t use exciting CSS when creating pages for it (I’m really not that bothered by text-shadow and @font-face) but because it means that page and element appearance can be unpredictable. I know a few “tricks” that will help me avoid layout problems, but there’s not much I can do about how, for example, IE6 renders Highslide navigation bars (or rather, how it renders three navigation bars instead of one).

Accessible web design

Accessible has quite a simple meaning in the context of web design: We should make web pages that people can access regardless of many different factors, including:

• physical impairment (visual, motor etc.)
• the type of browser they’re using (and whether they can use such things as Flash and javascript)
• the device they’re using
• technological limitations (screen size, internet connection etc.)
• to allow freedom of choice (so Firefox and Safari users aren’t penalised for choosing a particular browser)

Making things accessible is a good thing in and of itself (and there’s a fine tradition of democracy & accessibility in computing) and we’re convinced that people shouldn’t suffer simply because they have a physical impairment or don’t have access to a high–spec computer.

Except for people who have to use Microsoft’s old browser

These are all high minded ideas, but for some reason design folk lose their reason when it comes to IE6 and go all Philippe Starck hopeful. Now, I’m a big fan of Manuel Martensen, and he was kind enough to give me some good advice via Twitter today. His attitude is far from atypical:

There are only two kinds of ppl still using IE6, so why bother: Those who don’t care and those you shall not care about. Twitter status 4992456890

I agree that we should all try our darndest to rid the world of the scourge of Microsoft, but in the interests of accessibility we can’t bar IE6 users from our sites, or discount their requirements (especially when they account for 35% of our audience). All for the very reasons listed above:

• They may work in an environment where they have no choice over the browser they can use (e.g. many UK local government departments are using IE6, and even Windows 2000)
• They may be using an old computer that still has Windows 2000 on it because they can’t buy a newer computer
• They may not know how to install a different browser. They may not care about browsers.
• They may even like IE6.

In other words: We can’t lose our ideals just because it’s a Microsoft problem. That’s shooting the messenger.