Since IE6 was launched in August of 2001, the browser was already plagued with numerous problems that led to a plethora of unresolved browser bugs and security issues. Eight years have passed and the same nagging problems remain and it is now time for us to weigh my options and consider the reasons why it is time for IE6 to go.
Absence of Transparency Support in PNG
IE6 has not been able to resolve the problem about its inability to support transparency in PNG as we end up with annoying gray color displays as replacement to the transparency. We are better off with Firefox, Opera, Safari and IE7 as they support transparency in PNGs.
CSS Float + Margin / Padding Issues
Internet Explorer 6 adds double the amount of margin or padding on DIVs that are floated the same direction as the margin/padding. The easy fix to this problem is using the CSS “display:inline;” attribute:value on the DIV, but it’s easily one of the most annoying problems created by Internet Explorer 6.
Lack of CSS Pseudo-Class & Pseudo-Element Support
Pseudo-classes and pseudo-elements are clearly important to enhance website design and control .Pseudo-elements allow you to control the first line, first letter, content before and content after an element. Pseudo-classes allow you to select elements at specific states (hover, visited, etc.) CSS provides for hover/visited on anchors but no other elements.
No Min-Max Height and Width CSS Support
Min-height and Min-width is a valuable attribute because it allows to set the necessary minimum-maximum width-height of the content DIVs. With Max and Min widht you can control your layout according to your browser resolution.
You can achieve this in IE 6 by using CSS hack and expression.
selector { min-height:500px; height:auto !important; height:500px; }
selector {
width: expression( document.body.clientWidth < 762 ? "760px":document.body.clientWidth > 1002 ? "1000px":"auto" );
min-width: 760px;
max-width: 1000px;
}
Serious Security Issues
Failure to update your browser is tantamount to opening yourself up to all sorts of security attacks. If you insist on using IE6, then you must have to contend with code snippets that are capable of shutting down your IE6. You can learn everything about them at Wikipedia. Read through the information and find out why IE6 is considered unstable.
Facebook, YouTube and Digg are shunning away from IE6
The signs are all written on the wall. Facebook, YouTube and Digg are slowly disassociating from IE6 and they have recently announced plans to scale down their support for IE6. Ultimately, we will reach the tipping point where you will not be able to browse Youtube and Digg using IE6.
