IE6 is technically very good
Monday, 17. April 2006, 13:07:50
Over the last year or so, it's occurred to me that IE6, in spite of it's neglect since it was released in October 2001, is really an incredibly capable browser; much more powerful that any other in many ways.
My reasoning is this: how many other browsers at that time could be "upgraded" using client-side scripting to improve their standards support? Current browsers when IE6 was released were: Netscape 6.2, Opera 5.12, IE/Mac 5.0, Konqueror (probably a v1.x). Mozilla, Firefox and Safari didn't exist, not as final versions anyway.
There are many web design features that IE6 does not support. Since its release, smart people have developed scripts to fix many of them: transparent PNGs, :hover on any element, position:fixed, min/max-width/height, <abbr>, SVG, <canvas>, DOM-compliance. Then there's the big-momma of them all: "IE7". The common thing these scripts share is that they are all client-side scripts and download and do their thing without the user being aware of anything; nothing needs to be installed.
I don't think there is any other browser around, even today, that could do that!
Of course, today's browsers don't need to do that! They haven't stood still like IE has. In particular Opera, Mozilla, and Safari have all been striding ahead implmenting fabulous new features for web developers and fixing bugs. They do it smaller, faster, better.
I'm just amazed at how effectively people have been able to drag IE up to even somewhat the level of current browsers! The point of this is how powerful is the underlying infrastructure of IE that allows that to happen!
My reasoning is this: how many other browsers at that time could be "upgraded" using client-side scripting to improve their standards support? Current browsers when IE6 was released were: Netscape 6.2, Opera 5.12, IE/Mac 5.0, Konqueror (probably a v1.x). Mozilla, Firefox and Safari didn't exist, not as final versions anyway.
There are many web design features that IE6 does not support. Since its release, smart people have developed scripts to fix many of them: transparent PNGs, :hover on any element, position:fixed, min/max-width/height, <abbr>, SVG, <canvas>, DOM-compliance. Then there's the big-momma of them all: "IE7". The common thing these scripts share is that they are all client-side scripts and download and do their thing without the user being aware of anything; nothing needs to be installed.
I don't think there is any other browser around, even today, that could do that!
Of course, today's browsers don't need to do that! They haven't stood still like IE has. In particular Opera, Mozilla, and Safari have all been striding ahead implmenting fabulous new features for web developers and fixing bugs. They do it smaller, faster, better.
I'm just amazed at how effectively people have been able to drag IE up to even somewhat the level of current browsers! The point of this is how powerful is the underlying infrastructure of IE that allows that to happen!
