I Told You So...

I hate to say I told you so... but, Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) is finally being criticized publicly (go on, read this article) about security concerns, but there is much more wrong with IE than that. In my opinion, the IE browser is a big steaming piece of crap. This isn't just my opinion of this software though, it's a consensus amongst every web developer I've ever talked to.

Most clients aren't aware that a good sized portion of their web site costs goes into manipulating the html and css code so that their web site will work on IE. Just to put that into perspective, some customers can pay several thousand dollars, just so their web site will work on IE... even though it works fine on every other browser. It's a waste of time, resources and money.

Making this adjustment and 'fixing' standardized code so that sites will work in IE is is not an option as a whole lot of people still use IE - either because the user doesn't know any different or because their IT department hasn't switched them over yet - bottom line is, we have to make sites work in IE.

There is light at the end of the tunnel though - last spring, IE has announced that it will conform to the internet standards (set forth last century and known as W3C) in their next version of IE (IE8). This is of little consolation however as the amount of people that still have not upgraded their IE6 is alarming... I can't believe how many people are stuck in 10 year old software. If experience teaches me anything... IE35 may be on the market long before people install IE8 as a browser.

My suggestion is that people switch browsers entirely, take this opportunity to bring up the IE security flaw with your IT person/department and recommend a switch. Switching over is really easy to do and it's free! I suggest that you use Safari, Firefox, Chrome or Opera... or make your own, it couldn't be any worse than the current IE. And, who knows, perhaps if enough people switch, you may save some money the next time you redo your web site.

Surf's up, hang ten.