My Website Doesn't Work with Internet Explorer!
August 7th, 2019 by admin
Internet Explorer has fallen a long ways from the days when it had over 90% of the worldwide market share. Presently, the combination of IE and Edge constitutes about 8% of browser usage, with around a 50/50 split between them.
But That Sounds Like Internet Explorer is Still Being Used?
While IE11 does continue to receive security updates, compatibility fixes, and technical support, and will continue to do so for the life of Windows 10, it is effectively frozen in time to 2013 as far as active development is concerned.
Like many other companies, Atomic8Ball has chosen NOT to provide support for Internet Explorer any more. Indeed, we have not actively supported IE11 since Windows 10 launched in 2015.
Well, Why Not Just Support Internet Explorer Too?
Simply put, supporting IE, which is below 5% of browser market share, is a waste of time and money. It lacks modern features and standards compliance and gets further behind as time continues to progress. As an agile technology company that continues to improve, adapt and implement new technologies as they come out, supporting Internet Explorer is a drain on resources. A drain that has a significant development cost that would be passed on to all of our clients.
Supporting IE Can't Cost That Much, Can It?
Really, it can.
- We would have to decrease performance for the other 96% of the end-users in order to maintain compatibility with IE11 in one area.
- Our development time would be increased significantly in order to test, maintain, and work around issues that are not present in modern browsers.
- The ability to innovate and implement modern advances would be hampered by Internet Explorer's failure to handle certain methods that are present in the core functions of modern web browsers.
- Writing and implementing tools into our development cycle in order to continuously test and refactor against IE11 adds an immediate and ongoing burden to the entire process. A burden that would be passed on to our clients in the form of higher costs.
As a technology business, it does not make sense to impose a burden that would increases costs by as much as 30-50%, simply to support 4% of users who have the option to simply use something else.
What is the Alternative to Internet Explorer?
Atomic8Ball recommends using a modern web browser. Any of the following will do: Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge.
What if I Have a Special Case?
If you have a special case, then please discuss it with us.
Posted in: solutions