I am sure you have heard it. Sitting down with your developer, explaining that your site looks terrible in Internet Explorer (IE) 6, or worse yet, it doesn't work at all.
You see the lines on his/her forehead start to wrinkle, they start fidgeting in their seat, the frustration in the room becomes palpable. Then the explanations begin flowing forth. Words like "Can't", "Shouldn't", "Archaic" are mixed in with a ton of technical jargon that you couldn't hope to understand... and you think "I use IE6 and I just want my site to work on my computer!".
Ok, maybe this is exaggerating the situation a little bit, but if you are in any type of corporate environment, chances are you have had a somewhat similar experience. As much as developers, like me, hate to say it, IE 6 is still a very prevalent browser within the corporate community. The reasons for this are valid in many ways. Your IT department knows that upgrading to a more modern version of IE is costly in time, in software upgrades and new hardware. There is a lot of training that will need to happen, new virus software will need to be updated, older software that may have been built for IE 6 is still in use and could blow up on any other browser. Whatever the reasons, IE 6 is taking a lot of time to be eradicated from public use.
The latest overall percentages of IE 6 use in the United States is around 2.9%, meaning that only that percentage of the internet users in the United States are using IE 6 to browse the internet. Thus the reason for your web developers irritation.
Developing a user experience based upon a browser that is over 10 years old and only 2.9% of the population is using, restricts the programmer from making that experience what it could be. Most times there also a lot of work that must go into retrofitting a website to work correctly in IE 6 while still looking good and working correctly in the other, more modern versions.
I know what your thinking ... "But I still want my website to work on my computer!".
There is nothing wrong with you, as the client, requesting to have your developer provide a working model in IE 6, no matter what their own reservations. However, you should be prepared to fairly compensate them for the extra work that it will take them to accomplish this. Make sure this is clearly spelled out in your original contract, and if it isn't request an addendum to the contract. Understanding the extra effort that this takes and coming to a fair agreement will make your project go much smoother and give you an online experience that not only works for the majority of internet users but also ... works on your computer.
If you are not in a corporate community that requires you to use IE 6 or some other older browsers, don't wait, don't hesitate, go upgrade your browser immediately. :)
