IE perserverance

T

tompop

New Member
Hi all,

I'm to the site and new to web design in general, after a few months of being a freelance graphic designer. The more I read about coding for IE the more I'm perplexed. I've never used IE consistently for a number of reasons, mostly because I find it slow and the interface to be clunky. Chrome, Safari and Firefox are just better, IMO.

Is IE "pandered to" or catered for merely because of casual/work users, who don't/can't download other browsers? I'm baffled! It seems there needs to be a lot of work arounds for an inferior browser (like buying in sherry for a deluded old relative at Christmas, who only drinks one class and then it's in the cupboard all year (I digress)).

I imagine this is a fiercly debated topic, so give me some slack as I'm a noob.

Cheers!

TOMPOP

:icon_Wall:
 
Hopefully this will answer your question;

Browser Statistics

Although IE has steadily lost market share to (I agree) better browsers it still represents 25% of users so you should cater for it.

I personally have given up on IE6 though (IE7 is my new nemesis)!

the trick is that sites don't have to look exactly the same across all browsers (you'll go mental trying to do that) but they should look good in all browsers and certainly you should avoid major display issues.

If you get stuck then post here and we'll try to help out.
 
Thanks for the reply. It was utterly baffling. Everything I read up on (@font-face in particular) was saying that I had to do work arounds for IE and it was frustrating as I hadn't used it in years. w3schools is great, it's one of the ways I've learnt stuff.

I suppose as I get more into the work flow etc it'll become easier.

Thanks again

TOMPOP
 
A good number of people use IE because they can't see any point in changing - or don't know how to change - what comes with their computer. As long as it can get onto that Internet thing, all is well.

Some people might desperately want to use a different browser but can't because their corporate environment/college network/etc prevents them from installing anything on their computer and IT support don't do things like install unauthorised software.
This group might be able to use something different when they are at home, but it could be whilst working/at college/etc the website is important to them.
 
It's a sign of how bad IE is that so many people don't use it. IE comes with every Windows PC, and most people just want an easy life and won't download a new browser unless they're really desperate, yet still Microsoft have managed to screw up so badly that they've lost their market leading position.
 
Alex said:
It's a sign of how bad IE is that so many people don't use it. IE comes with every Windows PC, and most people just want an easy life and won't download a new browser unless they're really desperate, yet still Microsoft have managed to screw up so badly that they've lost their market leading position.
Click to expand...

Frightening isn't it? When we do our IT side of the business we come across more and more 'non-technical' people who have Chrome or Firefox on their PCs. They crop up in the most unexpected places. If the techno-phobes are abandoning IE then MS have really screwed up what was a monopoly! Having said that, IE9 is actually pretty good.
 
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