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Comment by keltex | Hacker News Reader

I think that you have to look at the client's visitor profile before you make this decision. If a client's site sees 10%+ IE 6 visitors (and many of mine do), you can't simply say we're not going to support this technology.

Often I tell them that we will review the site in IE 6 and make sure that it's "functional" but we don't guarantee it will be pixel perfect unless they pay for the extra work.

Also I don't like the IE banner / alert option. Maybe you want to try to proselytize the death of IE6, but I don't think it's appropriate to force your paying clients to do the same.

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I think you are spot on. But maybe you should not look at the visitor profile but at the revenue profile. Maybe the typical IE6 user has a higher probability of clicking on your client's advertising.

After all, if your gain from supporting IE6 is higher than the cost of supporting it, it makes no sense to abandon IE6.

After all, if your gain from supporting IE6 is higher than the cost of supporting it, it makes no sense to abandon IE6.

Although is you abandon full support in IE6 and users want to stay and so use another browser then you've kept their continued custom and saved your extra dev costs. That is, it's not a given that removing full support will impact your profit.

Also, the improved design that could be purchased with the extra dev costs could net you more customers using a browser made less than 8 years ago or indeed convert more of the same.

People can have a non-profit motive too.

This is a good point. I work for a non-profit and it's my job to maintain the web site. We notice users who click on our banner ads the most are IE6 users and AOL users (who use a newer browser but who you can identify by the IP).

The less savvy users are the more likely they are to click on ads in my experience

This is the same policy we keep at my firm. We support IE6 on all sites, I don't see it as an option.

Part of being an expert is making things look easy. IE6 is frustrating, but its our problem.

The exception is web applications that aren't public facing. In those cases I think its reasonable to specify that the app will be run in a specific browser, and to charge more if it needs to run in many.

Being an expert is about knowing how to do something not about making things look easy. In fact, things that aren't easy take more time so the last thing you want to do is make them look easy because then your customers will have unreal expectations as far as how fast the work can be done and how much they should be charged.

There is a legitimate argument for charging more for IE6 compatibility and I don't see what's wrong with telling a customer that. If it were me I'd offer a basic option for free (no graphics with a link suggesting the user upgrade their browser) and then offer full compatibility for an additional charge.

That's fine, definitely two ways to look at the problem. We charge a higher rate than some shops, because I think our work is worth it, and it includes things like IE6 compatibility. But these are just differentiation points, and there's room in the market for both approaches.

Regarding making things look easy, I've always enjoyed Law 30 of the 48 Laws of Power:

Make your Accomplishments Seem Effortless: Your actions must seem natural and executed with ease. All the toil and practice that go into them, and also all the clever tricks, must be concealed. When you act, act effortlessly, as if you could do much more. Avoid the temptation of revealing how hard you work - it only raises questions.

To each his own.

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