IE7 critical update, more users moving browser

Microsoft released a critical out-of-band patch for IE7 causing panic updating in IT departments around the globe. Some took advantage of this update to encourage users to make the switch to a more secure browser like Firefox or Google Chrome.

This prompted me to take another look at the figures for browser usage on some of the sites I maintain to see if there is a shift from IE after this update. I was expecting to see the usual 60-70% IE dominance split almost evenly betwen IE7 and IE6. However, it seems IE6 usage has significantly dropped off in the last few monts across a range of sites. The users don’t seem to have all shifted to IE7 either as overal IE usage has dropped to around 50%. The increase has been seen in Firefox 3, Safari and Google Crome. Safari seems to have gone up from an average of 2-3% to 3-5% depending on the site. Google a new entry is around 2-3% and Firefox is enjoying 30-35%. Dare I hope that soon I will no longer have to support IE6!?

Well I expect I’ll have to wait until Windows XP is no longer supported by Microsoft before it finally dies or an unpatchable security hole is found and users are forced to upgrade.

In any case if you haven’t done a windows update today do it now and get IE7 patched even if you don’t browse with it.

Will check browsers stats in a couple of weeks to see if there is a dip/change after everyone has update panic.

Microsoft make a desperate push for IE7

With uptake of the latest Internet Explorer browser being slow compared to that of main rival Firefox, Microsoft have started a big push to encourage more users to make the change.

The first big advantage Microsoft had was having it pre-installed on it’s latest OS - Vista and not allowing the obsolete Internet Explorer 6 to be installed (which would undermine vista security anyway). However, with Vista uptake being slow and with the tech savvy already using firefox, opera or other browsers IE7 is struggling to make much ground.

Latest figures I have from various sites I run/developed show that on sites for web developers or tech savvy users Firefox now has the majority over both all other browsers combined.

On consumer sites it is about 30% IE7, 28% IE6, 40% Firefox and the remaining 2% using other browsers. So although overall Internet explorer has the majority users still, IE7 alone has not caught up with firefox.

On business sites the weighting is slightly more in favour for Internet explorer but then the figure is increased for IE6 rather than IE7.

In a bid to convert more users to IE7 this week we’ve seen them <a href=”http://news.zdnet.co.uk/security/0,1000000189,39289859,00.htm”>remove the validation requirement</a> to download it.

Now they have sent out a newsletter promoting Internet Explorer 7. It seems to be targetted at IE6 users as it focuses on the improved security in IE7 and the fact that it doesn’t render correctly in Firefox:

<em>”The Internet is a vast place–and not every site is friendly. How do you help protect yourself online? With Windows Internet Explorer 7. Already, the Internet Explorer 7 Phishing Filter prevents nearly one million visits per week to known dangerous websites. In just a few clicks, see how the latest version of the world’s most popular web browser can help you be safer online.”</em>

The latest version of <strong>the world’s most popular web browser</strong> may not be a statement the internet explorer team can use for much longer…

As a developer I am happy with this push to IE7 - the sooner we get rid of IE6 the sooner I will stop having to support it. It is currently holding designers/developers back in what can be done as we have to ensure whatever we do is supported it. Binning IE6 will mean - less hacks, more advancement, less development time - resulting in savings for everyone.

Hacked to Death iii

While testing Krugle for my pending review I was able to find a Safari hack that works.

You may already have heard of the Safari Stokely Hack. It’s not as straight forward as most IE hacks but it works on even the latest versions of Safari and can be a real life saver.

View details on the Stormdetector website.

Now IE7 is here hacks have to be more specific in their targeting. Some Beta versions of IE7 ignore * html hacks and some apply them (The final release ignores them).

To be sure which browser will be affected by your styles you can use conditional comments.

e.g.
<!--[if lte IE 6]>
(html for IE 6 or older goes here)
<![endif]–>

This goes into your html not your css file. The version(s) of IE you specify will read the code you enter within the comments while other browsers will ignore it. This means you can link to a seperate style sheet with your IE hacks in and it will not affect other browsers.

Selecting versions to affect:
To affect just one version of a browser (e.g. IE7) simply start your conditional comment with <!–[if IE 7]> replacing 7 with whatever browser version you want to target. If you want to target a range of browsers you can insert an extra word before IE.

• lte - less than or equal to
• lt - less than

Because you have targeted a specific set of IE browsers future releases should be happy viewing your page without the hacks getting in the way.

These conditional comments can be used to hide any other html from non-IE browsers too, such as an IE only feature you may have on your page.

Hacked to Death

Everyone working on the front lines (building for the front-end) will have likely encountered a page that despite being a coding piece of art looks great in one browser but falls apart in another.

If you don’t work for Microsoft you’ll know the problem is usually with the Internet Explorer browser. A lot of the time tweaking a style sheet a little can solve things but sometimes there is no other option but to add a hack.

No one likes hacks, in fact I go to insane lengths trying to find an alternative before I will use one. However, if it is necessary to ad a hack is there a good way, or is a hack always going to be ugly and we just have to face it?
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