Lee Munroe » browsers http://www.leemunroe.com User Experience and Web Interface Designer Lee Munroe Thu, 09 Feb 2012 02:44:16 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3 Do you support IE6?http://www.leemunroe.com/ie6-design-help/ http://www.leemunroe.com/ie6-design-help/#comments Mon, 29 Jun 2009 00:29:46 +0000 Lee http://www.leemunroe.com/?p=1404

400 Bad request

Your browser sent an invalid request. ]]> Us designers love a good rant about IE6. And why not? Everything looks perfect in Firefox, Safari, even IE7 and 8. Then you open up IE6 and everything is a mess. In an ideal world no one would use IE6 anymore (and all browsers would render websites the same way).

But at the same time I do get sick of IE6 rants and campaigns. This isn’t a rant, it’s more of a ‘be aware that it still exists and some reasons why it still exists‘ post. A recent blog post of mine researching popular design blog analytics showed that there are still 3% of users using IE6. And that’s in the field of design. There is more than likely a lot more than that in terms of the World Wide Web.

Why people are still using IE6

  • They use a company computer and have no control over upgrades
  • They’ve popped into an Internet cafe and have to use what’s available
  • It works for them so why change
  • They don’t realise there are other browsers available
  • They like it

So rather than campaigning to get people to upgrade their browser, shouldn’t we just deal with it and support it?

But what does ‘support’ mean?

I think Andy Clarke hits the nail on the head in his killer contract:

We will also test to ensure that pages will display visually in a ‘similar’, albeit not necessarily an identical way, in Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 for Windows as this browser is now past it’s sell-by date.

I think this is the best way to support IE6: it doesn’t have to be pixel perfect but the content should be accessible and it should look similar.

What I’ll usually do before launching a site is check to make sure all the links are visible and clickable and all the content is accessible in IE6. I’ll even spend 30 minutes to make sure it looks ‘half decent’ with regards to IE6 not supporting PNG transparency, which involves replacing the PNG backgrounds with GIFs via an IE6 specific stylesheet.

Supporting IE6

To specifically target IE6 users with special instructions or styles, use the following code.

<!--[if IE 6]>
Special instructions for IE 6 here, usually including a specific IE6 stylesheet
<![endif]-->

Anything placed between the special tags will only be recognised by IE6.

Interesting IE6 campaigns

Bring down IE6
snap_42.jpg
Dear IE6
snap_43.jpg
IE6 Update
snap_44.jpg
Save IE6
snap_45.jpg
Universal IE6 css
snap_46.jpg

Help with common IE6 problems

Do you support IE6?

Hopefully over the next year or two we will be seeing less and less of IE6, especially if Microsoft encourage users to upgrade to IE8.

Do you ‘support’ IE6? Do you check to make sure your sites work? Do you spend much time fixing it or making it pixel perfect?

]]> http://www.leemunroe.com/ie6-design-help/feed/ 50 Popular Design Blogs Share Their Statshttp://www.leemunroe.com/design-blog-stats/ http://www.leemunroe.com/design-blog-stats/#comments Mon, 08 Jun 2009 09:00:30 +0000 Lee http://www.leemunroe.com/?p=1354 A few weeks ago I posted a blog post analysing my stats. It got a pretty good response as we don’t often see a lot of websites’ stats these days.

To follow this up I asked a few design blogs that I regularly visit to share their stats. No specific numbers, just percentages and interesting tidbits.

The questions I asked

Looking at your stats for 1st April 2009 – 30th April 2009:

  1. What days of the week were the most and least popular?
  2. What was the percentage browser share for the top 3 browsers?
  3. What percentage of IE users used IE6?
  4. What resolution was most popular?
  5. What were the top 3 keywords for your site?
  6. Who were the top 3 referrers to your site?
  7. What was the most obscure keyword someone arrived at your site for?
  8. What was your most popular blog post?

The results

In alphabetical order…

Abduzeedo

@abduzeedo

Abduzeedo

1. Most & least popular days?

Most – Monday, Tuesday, Thursday; Least – Saturday/Sunday

2. Browser share?

  1. Firefox – 62.51%
  2. Internet Explorer – 14.53%
  3. Safari – 13.53%

3. IE6 users?

3%

4. Most popular resolution?

1280×800

5. Top search terms?

  1. abduzeedo
  2. abduzeedo.com
  3. photoshop disasters

6. Top referrers?

  1. StumbleUpon.com
  2. Google.com
  3. Digg.com

7. Strangest search term?

None given

8. Most popular post?

45 Amazing Type Faces – Typographic Portraits

Andy Sowards

@andysowards

Andy Sowards

1. Most & least popular days?

Most – Monday; Least – Sunday

2. Browser share?

  1. Firefox – 65.89%
  2. Internet Explorer – 15.37%
  3. Safari – 10.30%

3. IE6 users?

3.15%

4. Most popular resolution?

1280×800

5. Top search terms?

  1. twitter profile design
  2. project management cartoon
  3. best twitter profiles

6. Top referrers?

  1. Twitter.com
  2. Designfloat.com
  3. Blog.SpoonGraphics.co.uk

7. Strangest search term?

andrew is a awesome 1 ooo yeah babe

8. Most popular post?

20+ Best songs to Listen to for Inspiration while Developing/Designing Projects

CSS Tricks

@chriscoyier

CSS Tricks

1. Most & least popular days?

Most – Tuesday; Least – Saturday

2. Browser share?

  1. Firefox – 63.87%
  2. Internet Explorer – 14.07%
  3. Safari – 13.25%

3. IE6 users?

3%

4. Most popular resolution?

1280×1024

5. Top search terms?

  1. css tricks
  2. css transparency
  3. css sprites

6. Top referrers?

  1. Smashingmagazine.com
  2. Stumbleupon.com
  3. Google.com

7. Strangest search term?

what computer code looks like

8. Most popular post?

Creating a Slick Auto-Playing Featured Content Slider

David Airey

@davidairey

David Airey

1. Most & least popular days?

Most – Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday; Least – Saturday/Sunday

2. Browser share?

  1. Firefox – 52.49%
  2. Internet Explorer – 24.20%
  3. Safari – 17.29%

3. IE6 users?

5.81%

4. Most popular resolution?

1280×800

5. Top search terms?

  1. design blogs
  2. david airey
  3. graphic designer

6. Top referrers?

  1. PSD.TutsPlus.com
  2. StumbleUpon.com
  3. LogoDesignLove.com

7. Strangest search term?

gear shift sex

8. Most popular post?

Top 50+ graphic design blogs

Paddy Donnelly

@paddydonnelly

Paddy Donnelly

1. Most & least popular days?

Most – Tuesday; Least – Saturday

2. Browser share?

  1. Firefox – 61.71%
  2. Internet Explorer – 16.54%
  3. Safari – 11.72%

3. IE6 users?

3.26%

4. Most popular resolution?

1280×800 – 21.92%

5. Top search terms?

  1. how do you twitter
  2. how do you twitter?
  3. @PaddyDonnelly

6. Top referrers?

  1. StumbleUpon.com
  2. WebDesignLedger.com
  3. Twitter.com

7. Strangest search term?

’80s remix blog’ and ‘Peter Jones’ Socks’

8. Most popular post?

Web 2.0rigami

Pro Blog Design

@problogdesign

Pro Blog Design

1. Most & least popular days?

Most – Wednesday/Thursday; Least – Saturday/Sunday

2. Browser share?

  1. Firefox – 66%
  2. Internet Explorer – 16%
  3. Safari – 9%

3. IE6 users?

3%

4. Most popular resolution?

1280×800

5. Top search terms?

  1. Blog design
  2. RSS icons
  3. Poverty pictures

6. Top referrers?

  1. StumbleUpon.com
  2. SmashingMagazine.com
  3. Delicious.com

7. Strangest search term?

Just that “poverty pictures” has been one of my top keywords for months now!

8. Most popular post?

35 Awesome user interface design tutorials

Smashing Magazine

@smashingmag

Smashing Magazine

1. Most & least popular days?

Most – Thursday; Least – Sunday

2. Browser share?

  1. Firefox – 60.5%
  2. Safari – 17.1%
  3. Internet Explorer – 13.2%

3. IE6 users?

3.9%

4. Most popular resolution?

1280×800

5. Top search terms?

  1. photoshop
  2. wordpress
  3. css

6. Top referrers?

  1. Digg.com
  2. StumbleUpon.com
  3. Delicious.com

7. Strangest search term?

Can’t tell

8. Most popular post?

Desktop Wallpaper Calendar: April 2009

Spoon Graphics

@chrisspooner

Spoon Graphics

1. Most & least popular days?

Most – Monday; Least – Saturday, Sunday

2. Browser share?

  1. Firefox – 59.03%
  2. Safari – 19.17%
  3. Internet Explorer – 12.88%

3. IE6 users?

2.74%

4. Most popular resolution?

1280×800

5. Top search terms?

  1. Spoon Graphics
  2. SpoonGraphics
  3. Poster Design

6. Top referrers?

  1. StumbleUpon.com
  2. SmashingMagazine.com
  3. PSD.tutsplus.com

7. Strangest search term?

corset designers

8. Most popular post?

How to Create Your Own Single Page Portfolio Site

The Design Cubicle

@behoff

The Design Cubicle

1. Most & least popular days?

Most – Monday/Tuesday/Thursday; Least – Saturday/Sunday

2. Browser share?

  1. Firefox – 65.82%
  2. Internet Explorer – 14.28%
  3. Safari – 12.68%

3. IE6 users?

3.42%

4. Most popular resolution?

1280×800

5. Top search terms?

  1. interactive pdf
  2. social media icons
  3. creative business cards

6. Top referrers?

  1. StumbleUpon.com
  2. Twitter.com
  3. Daily.Creattica.com

7. Strangest search term?

nerd shirts

8. Most popular post?

50 Creative Business Cards of 50 Graphic Designers

Vandelay Design

@stevensnell

Vandelay Design

1. Most & least popular days?

Most – Tuesday; Least – Saturday/Sunday

2. Browser share?

  1. Firefox – 57%
  2. Internet Explorer – 24%
  3. Safari – 10%

3. IE6 users?

5.52%

4. Most popular resolution?

1280×800

5. Top search terms?

  1. photography websites
  2. photoshop textures
  3. church websites

6. Top referrers?

  1. StumbleUpon.com
  2. Delicious.com
  3. Twitter.com

7. Strangest search term?

comentariu nenorocirea secolului

8. Most popular post?

25 Photoshop Tutorials for Working with Textures

Web Designer Depot

@DesignerDepot

Web Designer Depot

1. Most & least popular days?

Most – Weekdays; Least – Weekends

2. Browser share?

  1. Firefox – 64%
  2. Safari – 13%
  3. Internet Explorer – 11%

3. IE6 users?

2.2%

4. Most popular resolution?

1280×800

5. Top search terms?

  1. web designer depot
  2. webdesigner depot
  3. web design depot

6. Top referrers?

  1. Digg.com
  2. Twitter.com
  3. StumbleUpon.com

7. Strangest search term?

girl talk 2009, free sexy, ilastfm css

8. Most popular post?

Operating system interface design between 1981-2009

Conclusions

  • Popularity of the day obviously depends on what day you post but it’s obvious that not as many people are active on the internet over the weekend
  • Firefox average share: 61.71%
  • IE average share: 16%
  • Safari average share: 13.36%
  • 3.55% of visitors still use IE6 (average)
  • The most popular resolution (for every blog but 1) is 1280×800
  • A lot of users do enter your domain name or site name into Google (and don’t just go directly to your site using the address bar) – I used to think it was just my girlfriend did this ;-)
  • The top referrers are:
    1. StumbleUpon
    2. Twitter
    3. Digg
    4. Delicious
    5. Google

    So it’s worth including submit links to social sites at the end of your posts (and tweeting about them)

  • The strangest search terms are:
    1. andrew is a awesome 1 ooo yeah babe
    2. what computer code looks like
    3. gear shift sex
    4. Peter Jones’ Socks
    5. poverty pictures
    6. corset designers
    7. nerd shirts
    8. comentariu nenorocirea secolului
    9. free sexy
  • Giving away free stuff is a good way to get traffic to your site
  • Offering ‘How-to’ tutorials is another good way to get traffic
  • Lists of useful resources are also very popular

Share your stats

Please feel free to share your stats below and how they compare with the above conclusions. In particular I’m a fan of the obscure & strange search terms :-)

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