Okay Geek Farm
How to Kill Internet Explorer with Kindness
Brandon Davenport
Every time someone un-installs Internet Explorer, an Angel gets it’s wings. Every single time someone visits our website (t3chh3lp.com) using Internet Explorer, our confidence in new web technologies diminishes. This needs to stop, and by that I mean un-compliant browsers (IE 6&7) need to go away… forever… very soon. We’re waiting for the day that Microsoft Launches IE 9, which will bring CSS3 support, HTML5 support and all the goodies we expect to the table — but it’s going to be a decade before everyone upgrades. Why? I’ll tell you.
Most people using IE don’t know what a browser is
Listen folks — we are not going to get anywhere if we keep b*tching about how IE sucks, and why everyone should upgrade. We’re preaching the the choir, and nobody that actually uses IE has heard our cries — and I’m talking about non-tech savvy Mom and Dad. They aren’t going to visit a tech blog! They are too busy checking their email, browsing AOL and playing bloons.
Here’s the thing. We won’t get anywhere if we don’t take action — we need to inform and educate non-tech savvy Internet Explorer users about why they are holding us back, and how to update their browsers and here’s the kicker — we can’t be dicks about it. We need to use vocabulary they understand and not treat them like dirt. Their new computer came with Internet Explorer, and in their mind, their set to go!
What T3ch H3lp is doing to help web developers
We are currently developing a brand new landing page for people with out-dated browsers, and we’re targeting people with IE6 and IE7, urging them to upgrade. We have included a brief background on the situation (which Joe Sixpack can understand), and resources that non-tech savvy users can use to update their browser, and understand how to do it. A lot of these people have never downloaded a program, never mind installing one — and we totally get that.
We’re planning to roll out simple, lightweight tools for web designers to point IE users to our new compatibility page (still under development) where they can learn to understand the “browser world”, and easily decide on a new browser. We really want to move forward, innovate, and we figured that you want to as well, so for now, feel free to link to the page using your own methods and we’ll have some tools ready soon. We’re in this together… there’s more to come.
View our Compatibility Page and please leave feedback in the comments!
