Compatibility with IE - Is it worth it?

[Taylor]

Those of you who have dabbled with CSS will probably know of Internet Explorer's horrible lack of correct rendering for it. After what was possibly three hours of trying to get my new website layout design to work in both IE and Firefox, I think I finaly get things working.

Except for one thing.

I have a 1280x800px resolution, knowing this I attempt to format my site so that it looks good in 1024, and wider resolutions don't feel empty. (I'm not comfortable with variable widths. I've done them efore, but in terms of my personal website portfolio I'm avoiding them.)
The header and footer have white 1px lines that line up with lines in the main div's 1px lines. In Firefox these line up. In IE these line up... about half the time. Resizing the window (or resolution) causes jittery realignment not present in Firefox, and sometimes clearly disconnects the header and footer divs from their layout.

Is there a way to fix this? I doubt it.

This topic isn't about this problem however; what I want to know is how many people still use IE, and those who don't - is it really worthwhile trying to get web designs to display correctly in it? Sometimes I think I should not bother, so when they see my page - broken and difficult to navagate - they might actually go and get a different browser.

The program is buggy (as just proven), and notably full of security holes. I personally wonder about those who still use the program out of choice, but those who are stuck with it (e.g parents nervous about incompatability with other programs) are excempt.

Can anything good be said about the program? :/

 

[Glitchfinder]

According to recent polls, the majority of internet users still use some form of IE, although webkit browsers are gaining ground on it. So yeah, it is worth it, at least for a while.

 

[Tohsaka]

It comes pre-loaded on the computer- That's a plus. Other than that, it's probably the reason why it's dominant.

Safari is preloaded on Macs and iPhones/iPods as well, and the adoption rates of those are increasing. If you're in a Windows dominated environment, I strongly suggest making it IE-compliant. After all, it's not going to disappear soon, especially since MS Exchange Servers still use ActiveX, thus IE being a requirement.

 

[Glitchfinder]

Actually, I still use IE most of the time, because I'm used to it, and there are some sites that I've visited in the past that actually won't work on a browser other than IE. (Then again, I've got Firefox as well because I've also run into a few sites that require a webkit browser)

I don't mind the apparent formatting issues most of the time, and IE still has a few things that trouble me about firefox. For example, I much prefer clicking near the address bar to create a new tab, as opposed to pressing ctrl + T, and I really don't like Firefox's download manager. Since I have enough knowhow to fix my computer if the inevitable happens and it becomes infected with something, I don't really mind sticking with IE.

 

[bluehazed]

Keep the compatibility. Although other browsers with gecko and webkit are better than IE, a good majority of people still use IE out of the sake of familiarity.

@Glitchfinder Firefox uses the gecko rendering engine, not webkit :3 Safari and midori are examples of webkit browsers.

 

[Glitchfinder]

@Glitchfinder Firefox uses the gecko rendering engine, not webkit :3 Safari and midori are examples of webkit browsers.

Ahh, sorry about that. I knew that webkit was one of the competitors to IE, I just wasn't entirely certain which. If I remember correctly, Microsoft has announced that the next version of IE is the last, and that they are actually going to release a browser that formats correctly.

 

[psiclone]

I don't mind the apparent formatting issues most of the time, and IE still has a few things that trouble me about firefox. For example, I much prefer clicking near the address bar to create a new tab, as opposed to pressing ctrl + T, and I really don't like Firefox's download manager. Since I have enough knowhow to fix my computer if the inevitable happens and it becomes infected with something, I don't really mind sticking with IE.

This isn't necessary.. Firefox you can double click near the address bar to make a new tab. Or, you can even click this button that says "new tab" right on it, heh.

http://downloadstatusbar.mozdev.org/ It puts your downloads down on the status bar, and stays there until you open it or remove it. Firefox has TONS of addons that you can put into it from their website: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox Firefox beats the crap out of IE.

 

[bluehazed]

...actually going to release a browser that formats correctly.

This'll be the day... I cant really see this happening :crazy:

As for hotkeys, I hate using my mouse; I'm a keyboard person. So ctrl+t is my best friend. (or a good one)

 

[Taylor]

@Glitchfinder Firefox uses the gecko rendering engine, not webkit :3 Safari and midori are examples of webkit browsers.

Ahh, sorry about that. I knew that webkit was one of the competitors to IE, I just wasn't entirely certain which. If I remember correctly, Microsoft has announced that the next version of IE is the last, and that they are actually going to release a browser that formats correctly.

I find this hard to believe myself, but I have been hearing that Microsoft has stopped trying to do things their way with IE8, being more compatable with the more accepted web standards.

... I'm still not likley to download it though.

 

[e]

If you're going to support IE just concentrate on IE7; IE8 is most likely not going to be popular for a while now, and IE6 is agonizing, so unless you cater to the occasional internet user (i.e.: your grandma), then you'll just be wasting time supporting IE6.

 

[Tohsaka]

@Glitchfinder Firefox uses the gecko rendering engine, not webkit :3 Safari and midori are examples of webkit browsers.

Ahh, sorry about that. I knew that webkit was one of the competitors to IE, I just wasn't entirely certain which. If I remember correctly, Microsoft has announced that the next version of IE is the last, and that they are actually going to release a browser that formats correctly.

I find this hard to believe myself, but I have been hearing that Microsoft has stopped trying to do things their way with IE8, being more compatable with the more accepted web standards.

... I'm still not likley to download it though.

Well, you won't need to download it if you get a new computer when it comes out- It'll probably shipped with whatever OS they have by then.