I have a dream somebody once said. We have a dream too, maybe it’s naïve or too ambitious but as long as we’re allowed to dream, we’ll never give up.

All of us can fight together to get a better online world, a better web, where the standards are there to be respected, where surfing online is a pleasant experience, where web professionals develop rich online applications that users enjoy just exactly as they were conceived, with no need for hacks, tricks or workarounds. Finally, we dream of an online world where people know they have the power to choose.

For this dream to become true, what is needed is that everybody understands the urgency of switching to a real modern browser, because still using IE6 or previous damages you as a user and all the people who work to create online contents.

IE6 should be put in a museum, along with all of its previous versions, because it's way too old. Its release date is August 27, 2001. Yeah, you got it right. 6 years ago!

For technology, this is a whole geological era.
Would you ever date a mummy? I bet you wouldn't, as long as you're sane. Nevertheless, there are people out there still using it, or even worse IE5.5 or 5. Sad to notice that you're one of those! Don't want to sound offensive, but this is seriously raising some doubts about their and your sanity.
There is not a single reason today to keep using one of the old versions of IE, really.
They're prone to severe security vulnerabilities, they're not standard compliant, they're buggy, they don't have all the features that all modern browsers have (one for all, native tab browsing). Moreover, they compromise your web experience as a user, and make a hell of a web-developer life. That's why it's time to say goodbye to IE 6 or less, and go and get a new, real modern browser.

There are many out there to choose among. I'm not going to suggest you one or another, though, because they're more or less equally good alternatives. You will never read anywhere in this site that IE is evil just because it's IE or it's M$, because this is not the truth. There are too many sites that just urge you to switch to another browser, none of them though reminds you that using another browser is not enough to keep you safe from online threats. So, whichever browser you're using, keep it updated to the last available version!

First of all, you as a user.

If you’re a Linux guy, I know you’re with me, ‘cos trying to stop IE6 can be misinterpreted as trying to damage Microsoft. You don’t have IE under Linux anyway, so you’re a natural supporter of this campaign.

If you’re a Mac guy, chances are that you’re surfing the web with either Safari, Camino or Firefox. I really hope you’re not one of those guys using IE for Mac –if there are still some-, cos in this case, really, and I'm saying it from the heart, you don't deserve a Mac.

If you’re a Windows guy and have Windows XP, ok, it's a fact that IE6 came with it pre-installed. But with IE7 having been released, there are really no more excuses left to justify you. If you still haven't upgraded to IE7, we both know why you didn't, besides laziness.
UPDATE (October 5, 2007): Microsoft now offers IE7 as a free download to all
If you just can't install IE7 then, as I already said before, go and choose among the many browsers out there.
The same suggestion applies if you’re using an older Windows O.S., like e.g. Windows2000, which has, by the way, been officially discontinued.
Sorry, but technology is something you have to keep up with.

Then, you as a web developer.

How many hours have you been spending trying to fix that line of code which worked perfectly in all browsers except IE6 ? How many weird hacks did you have to learn? How much hair you tore and how many headaches you suffered from for IE not following the rules, despite all of your efforts?

Gone are the dark days, where the only MS browser available was IE6.
IE7 is here finally and although it’s reported to still suffer from some bugs, it’s way better than its predecessor. Don’t you think it’s time to say stop to IE6? Would you ever care about compatibility issues with Firefox 1.5 at this time? I believe you don’t, and you do just right, because the old version is known to be buggy and is not supported anymore.
Did you ever buy a PC software? Ever had any trouble? I bet if you asked the tech support, their first answer would be go and get all the O.S. available updates, then try again.

There is no point in supporting old, discontinued browsers versions.
Do spend your time better, and educate your customers to upgrade their browsers to the last available version. This is the best thing you can do as a professional, apart from developing the last 2.0 killer application.

Here it comes the crucial part.

If you’re a user, it’s quite easy.
Go and get a new browser. Upgrade to IE7 or just get another one. These are the main ones you can choose among:

If you’re a developer, before the release of IE7, not supporting IE-at least 6 wasn’t just practicable. You had to write code that worked seamlessly with IE6 and all the other more standard-aware browsers. But today, IE7 is available.

If developers and designers stop to support the old IE versions, it will force people to take the two minutes process to update to IE7 or get an alternative browser.
But you can do more: actively force your users to upgrade. How?
By injecting the following javascript in all of your sites homepage, users still using IE<7 will be informed that they are not welcome.
If you think this means limiting someone else's freedom, try to see it this way: we don't want to limit them, we want them to get their freedom back. And this is just all this site is about.

How to use the script:

Depending on how incisive you want to be, you can choose between two modes:

no mercy: IE<7 users will be prevented from visiting your site. A warning in-page message will be shown explaining them why they are not welcome, with a link to this site where they can fully understand what’s behind.

tolerant: IE<7 users will be warned, but they still will be able to visit your site.

Now, grab the following files and put them in your js directory (or any other, just remember to change the path in the <script> tag):

• Detect.js (1.6 kB) - browser detection
• StopIE6.js (no mercy | tolerant) (3.3 kB) - automatically injected by detect.js, only if IE<7 is found

Then, add the following code to the <head></head> section of all your site pages (or at least your homepage)

<script src="js/detect.js" type="text/javascript"></script>

<test this code (as seen by IE6 users)>

That's it. You're part of the movement!