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Ask HN: IE and my web app: keep trying to support it or give up?

2 points by visualR ↗ HN
Im developing a web application that uses alot of advanced user interaction. I test primarily in firefox and chrome. After reaching a milestone, I test in IE. Of course its broken.

Supporting IE is frustrating. Should I drop IE support (request users use another browser or install chrome frame) - or is it worth the trouble?

4 comments

[ 2.8 ms ] story [ 26.2 ms ] thread
Derferman
The decision to drop IE should be made after consulting your logs. How many users would you be turning away? If a substantial portion of users are on IE, it may be best to just support IE8 (or maybe only IE9) to ease development problems.
byoung2
You probably don't even need to check the logs to know that unless you're targeting only Mac users, you'll have to support IE. Even with advanced UI tricks, it shouldn't be to difficult to support IE 8 and 9. 7 will take an extra stylesheet, but that's about it. It should be safe to ignore IE 6 at this point.
drewbuschhorn
If only ... if you're hoping to get clients with sluggish IT depts, be prepared for them to still expect IE6 support ... even after casually mentioning the huge security issues.

back to ensuring pixel level stylesheet compatibility for IE6-9.

byoung2
back to ensuring pixel level stylesheet compatibility for IE6-9

I don't think you have to go that far. I think it's perfectly acceptable to have a fully functioning app that works in most browsers, has a few hacks for IE7+, and a stripped-down version for IE6. Maybe the IE6 version should have nested tables, a high contrast color scheme, and lots of blinking text.