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End of Life for IE6

Internet Explorer (IE) version 6 was released back in 2001. While IE 6 was adequate when it was first released, over the last 8 years the Internet has become a central target for viruses and exploits that IE 6 simply cannot combat. In response to these changes, Microsoft has since then released two full version upgrades of their IE Browser line, the latest version to the market being IE 8. In the coming months Microsoft will be ending all support for IE 6.

Microsoft’s Official End of Life (EOL) for IE 6 is dated July, 2010.

IE 7 and higher have introduced many needed web page formatting and security enhancements that improve user’s Internet experience and better protect users from web site based attacks more effectively. The level of protection afforded by the newer IE browsers is so significant that many security companies, the US-CERT (US-Computer Emergency Response Team) and security experts, including Microsoft, recommend using other browsers than IE 6 for a safer Internet browsing experience.

In respect to the implications of continued use of IE 6 to our clients and their members, Handmade CSS Design will also be discontinuing support for IE 6. Both formatting and functionality for IE 6 with current and future products from Handmade CSS Design will no longer be supported as of 1st March 2010. We recognize that Handmade CSS Design’s chosen date for EOL support is 5 months ahead of Microsoft’s own EOL date. However, with security experts and even Microsoft recommending users upgrade to IE 7 or IE 8 today due to IE 6’s inability to protect users from attacks which can result in identity theft and financial loss, we feel it best to encourage this adoption for IE users as well.

Having said the above should a client at Handmade CSS Design specifically require support for IE 6 due to a specific need, we will endeavour to provide support for this feature. As this will no longer be part of the standard development packages that Handmade CSS Design offers we will quote separately for this service.

We appreciate your time and understanding.

Will our sites be broken from the 1st March 2010?

Probably not, seeing as though we write standards-compliant code, all Handmade CSS Design sites are usable in nearly every browser in use today — including IE 6 — without resorting to nasty tricks and hacks. In most cases, there may be a column out of place, a solid background on an image that should’ve been transparent, or some squared corners that should’ve been rounded. Most issues will be cosmetic and fairly minor.

More Information

The Internet…

• RIP IE6 – We would like to acknowledge IE6 R.I.P for the wonderful image we have used in this article. We highly recommend browsing their site.

Inside Handmade CSS Design…

• Web Standards