IE6 was released way back in 2001, and IE7, the replacement, was released in 2006. Modern web browsers such as IE 7, Firefox, and Safari provide significantly better online experiences than the old technology from 2001. In addition, IE8 is available in beta form meaning the full release should be available shortly.
From a website design point of view, the main problem with IE6 is that it does not fully support CSS version 2 [which controls the layout, colours and positioning of elements on your website] unlike most browsers which in turn means web developers must use hacks or workarounds to make IE6 will display web pages correctly. This makes maintenance and future updates to your website more difficult.
Security is another big issue with IE6. Secunia reports 142 vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer 6 as of January 2009, 22 of which are unpatched with the severity of some of these being rated moderately critical.
It is strongly recommended that everyone ensures they are running a modern browser:
- http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/ie/default.mspx
- http://www.mozilla-europe.org/en/firefox/
The implications of support for IE6 ending are only mild for the users still running this software. In most cases the worst that can happen is that elements on a page will not display exactly as intended, for example they may be slightly misaligned. In most cases the website will still be usable, but may look a little untidy.
