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Because of how far certain Web technologies like HTML5 and CSS3 have brought us, many would say thatfrom a Web platform perspectivethe future is now. Sounds like a clich, I know. At the very least, it feels like the future is starting to bubble up to the surface but its just not quite there yet.
When we use new DOM features, HTML5 APIs and the latest in CSS3, the possibilities that open up are astounding. These new technologies help us easily build Web applications with less reliance on hacks, plugins, images, and bloated scripts. This makes life easier not only for Web developers (for both building and maintaining these projects) but also for the end user who gets a faster and stronger overall experience.
But there is a huge road block preventing our future from truly becoming the now. What is this roadblock? Its old browsers. Lets delve into this topic a little bit so we can see why this is a problem and what we can do to help it.
Internet Explorers Usage Share
According to StatCounter estimates, even with the recent mobile explosion, desktop usage still trumps mobile by a large margin. 90% of internet activity worldwide occurs on the desktop. Granted, some reports have mobile shares higher than the current 10% shown by StatCounter. Whatever the case is, the fact remains that a lot of people are accessing our websites and Web apps by using a desktop browser.
Which desktop browsers? Well, lets look at StatCounters usage share for desktop browsers for May 2012, with a specific focus on Internet Explorer:
As shown aboveto the joy of developers everywhereworldwide stats for versions of Internet Explorer prior to IE8 are very low. IE6 is so low that its not even showing up in some of StatCounters charts anymore. If you find similar stats for your own projects, then, depending on the overall traffic numbers, you may be able to drop support for IE6 and IE7 and start using a number of features that those browsers dont support. But what about IE8 and IE9?
As you can see from the image and link above, worldwide usage for IE8 and IE9 is just about 30%, combined. But that might not be the full story. Compare those numbers to the ones taken from two other websites.
First, Net Applications, from April of this year:
Their stats show a whopping 38% of users still on IE6-8, with more than two thirds of those on IE8. In addition, IE9 holds another 16% share. Thats more than 50% of users on IE6-9.
Now look at StatOwls April 2012 report:
Large preview.
Like Net Applications, StatOwl places IE8s and IE9s shares significantly higher than StatCountersthis time about 20% for each. Combined with the 8% on IE6 and IE7, thats almost 50% on IE.
The debate about why these different browser usage stats are showing higher numbers for IE6-9 is something thats been in industry news of late. These details are certainly beyond the scope of this article, but you can check out the links below for more info:
Understanding Browser Usage Share Data (Windows Team Blog)
Microsoft says Chrome didnt top Internet Explorer last weekend (Computerworld Blogs)
StatCounter to Microsoft: Youre wrong, Chrome beat Internet Explorer last weekend (Computerworld Blogs)
Why Does This Discussion Include IE9?
IE9 is a huge step forward from previous versions of Internet Explorer. But its over a year old, and does not auto-update like other popular browsers do.
Thus, although IE9 is a much more stable and feature-rich browser, its already starting to show its age. With each passing month, browsers like Chrome and Firefox continue to roll out new features automatically, and IE9 gets closer to becoming obsolete.
Why Is The Old Browser Problem Such A Big Deal?
Some people might be thinking Whats the big deal? Use progressive enhancement and youll just give old browsers a lesser experience and the users wont know what theyre missing. This might be true with certain CSS3 and HTML5 features for which its easy to provide fallbacks and even some lightweight polyfills. But other more complex features are not that simple.
Lets first take a look at IE8. To give you an idea of how many features IE8 lacks, heres a list of what you gain as a developer when you stop supporting IE8:
Media Queries
opacity (without IE filters)
border-radius
box-shadow
RGBA, HSL/HSLA colors
HTML5 elements (that dont need the html5shiv)
Data URLs
getElementsByClassName
CSS Transforms
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