Browser compatibility

[wesblog]

Currently my blog, http://wesblog.com , works fine on Firefox and IE 7.0, but the theme is broken on IE 6.0.

Only 20% of my viewers use IE 6.0 and I assume that number will slowly shrink to nothing.

Do you think I should take the time to update my theme for IE 6.0 viewers? How hard do you think it would be to make the css compatible?

Thanks,
Wes

[Bloggeries]

If that % of your viewers is IE don't worry about it so much. For future reference try and make sure it works in IE b/c it ALWAYS seems to work in Mozilla.

That being said part of my directory looks like crap in IE and I have a large portion of viewers in IE! Argh!

[wesblog]

Thanks. That is kinda what I wanted to hear because it means I don't have to start redoing everything

[Bloggeries]

Totally. Don't waste your energy changing it. Use that energy to build further. We all have "issues" on all our sites. If you strive for perfection you'll never finish. Good enough is good enough

[cipals15]

Dont worry about backward compatibility, IE is prompting their users to upgrade. They will surely upgrade based on my experience. I visit alot of computer shops and they tend to click update.

[Michigal]

I beg to differ. 20% is a lot of your visitors (One fifth to be precise). If you don't care to provide them with a good experience, then you shouldn't even be blogging.

I know, that's harsh, but there are a lot of people that can't update. Mostly because they can't afford to update their hardware, OS, or whatever.

My percentage is far less, but I still make sure everything works in IE6, and you should also. It's not that hard.

[wesblog]

I did make sure that the 20% who use IE 6 can at least read the posts... but the widgets don't work correctly for them.

If this was a static or growing number I would probably take the time to fix things for them, but it doesnt seem worth is since time will kill off the IE 6ers eventually.

[Michigal]

Putting it another way:
Because I
Say you owned an electronics store. You're standing at the door turning away every fifth person that comes in, even though they've got cash in hand, and want to buy the most expensive plasma tv you've got. But who cares if they're rich, they're old, right? They will soon die off anyway.

In the meantime, word of mouth is spread, and pretty soon no one is coming to the store, because you haven't made it very welcoming. In fact, you've annoyed them and insulted them.

I'm sure you have your mind made up, but accessibility for all is the goal of all good bloggers. Or store owners if you want to continue the analogy.

And yes, it's a very simple fix to get it to work right in IE6. But I'm curious why you posted the question if you have no intention to take the time to fix it? Oh, and it's not your "widgets." It's your sidebar that's broken. Down below the posts. Like I said, a VERY simple fix.

[wesblog]

I didn't say I had no intention of fixing it -- just that I would prefer not to, and I wanted someone else opinion on the matter.

Since you think it might be an easy fix I'll take a look at what CSS I am using that is not compatible with IE 6.0. Hopefully it will jump out at me quickly.

[Michigal]

All it is is a case of IE6 "adding" margins. It's well known as the IE Double Margins Bug.

Here is more information about it and how to fix it:
Position Is Everything: IE Double Margin Bug
and
Position Is Everything: Floats, Margins and IE

There are other ways to deal with it, but try the above fix first and see if it works.