I somehow happened to visit my own website in Internet Explorer for the first time (I think it was from one of the PC’s in the labs of our college) and was shocked to see how it looked! All my pages were XHTML1.1 validated, but the site looked nothing short of atrocious on IE.
The png images were not transparent, and not a single padding CSS rule was obeyed. I thought I must do something about this, and hence blocked all IE users from visiting the website at all! This was inspired by Christian Weiske, his site does the same too. Just 4 lines of PHP, and I was done.
I do hope that this makes a difference, I would be very happy even if just one person decides to switch to a better browser because they couldn’t view mine or Christian’s site!
Thanks for that. I had to change my user agent to get in :/
IE all the way!
I forgot the most important thing. IE7 users will love you for this as the things you mentioned are fixed there.
It is also not nice to ban visitors becouse of their own choice to use some program you don\’t like.
If you are still reading this, I’d like to counter your points:
IE7 may fix errors and allow tabbed browsing, but won’t give any regard to standards. I just know it.
I ban visitors for their choice of browser, not because I don’t “like” it. My site doesn’t look as it was intended to if you use IE, so I simply ask users to switch to a browser that will show you what I wanted you to see.
My website is completely XHTML compliant but you’d be shocked to know how it looks on IE.
It takes a mere 5 minutes to switch. I urge you do so. Atleast give it a try and if you don’t like it, I guarantee that I will remove the “protection” layer that my website has.
I know how it looks in IE. I’ve seen it in IE. I changed only the user-agent not the browser. browser-checks are good for nothing IMO. They can always be faked. Just like the referrer.
I have both Opera and Firefox but I’ve never liked any of them. Don’t ask why. It is a matter of taste
IE7 want’s to go with the standards (as IE CSS hacks stop working in IE7 which makes sites who use these hacks look odd). It is still in Beta but wouldn’t it be good, for the sake of the whole web, that it will be a bit more compilant?
Standards… it is the ideal thing that everyone want’s to achieve (but the peth to it is infinete by definition). None of the browsers are fully standard compilant. That’s becouse we live in…
The real world… standards tend to not work in this enviorment. I’m prety sure there is/was a W3C page about some standard in which they suggest NOT to code according to it if you want the code to work.
I’d like to ask: How many IE users know how to change their browser string? Browser detection is good-for-nothing only when the person who is visiting the site knows a little about browser detection.
I can’t help but compare the attitude of Microsoft to the web with the attitude of the USA towards the world. Both of them think that they are supreme and rule their respective domains, and try to enforce their own standards on everyone else. Fortunately, they are both sadly mistaken!
Standards may be “ideal”, but atleast everyone should try to reach that level of “perfection”. My point is, IE is not even trying. Leave alone standards, IE is famous in the hacking community for being a “soft target”.
People who don’t want to switch from IE and are unable to see the benefits of switching, probably won’t be interested in my site anyway, which is why I boldly block them. Even if one person switches in a year because of my site, that would make me happy. This is my own way of advertising, much like Microsoft promotes IE by bundling it with Windows.
Anyway, I have nothing against IE or their users, I just feel sad for them. Think of it like this: using a very old car when you can get a brand new Porsche for free!
Bottom line is: You don’t like Firefox, I don’t like IE. Like you said, just a matter of taste.
P.S.: I can’t use IE even if I wanted to, I don’t run Windows on my PC
You think that people who visit your site don’t know anything about browser detection? I’m sure you’re not getting that type of users.
The US/Microsoft comparison is great! Try to convince them they’re wrong. They’ll say you’re not a patriot… or worse.
Your bold plan must be working flawlessly for you… I guess. I don’t know why so many people think that the browser makes your PC secure/insecure. It depends on the user IMO. It requires some common sense from the user. The weakest link is always the user.
Saying you have nothing against IE and it’s users after blocking your site from them is a bit ironic. Should I block FF on my site now?