The Mission
Old browsers hurt the web! They don't understand modern technologies, lack features, they're buggy, have security holes and prevent you from seeing the web the way it should be seen. Imagine if everyone didn't upgrade their TV or computer? It would mean all the great enhancements like HD, DVD's etc would all go to waste. Imagine what you'd be missing out on!
Using IE8 and below makes the web less than what it is. Potentially holding back the web!
The PlanGo Dark For IE (http://godarkforie.org/)
Our plan: To get websites to go dark on October 26, 2012 to users of Internet Explorer below version 9.
Hi,
We notice that you are using an old/obsolete browser to access this website - [Internet Explorer 6].
We [won't be able to] [or] [aren't able to] support old/obsolete browsers like this, so what you see on your screen may not look very good or may not even be able to show you things like relevant videos or animations. Sorry about that.
If you want to upgrade your browser to its current version for free, please go to this link: http:/etc. When you have installed the current version, come back here and take a look with "new eyes". We think you'll like what you see, and we'd love to have you look around our website - it's been put here for people just like you to enjoy.
Would you like more information or help on this topic? If so, then please take a look at our FAQ ("Frequently Asked Questions") - here [link]
Why not just show a simple upgrade banner? Or why not just fix the bugs and get sites working in old versions?
The problem is some users just don't upgrade! And the reasons is very simple, some just don't care, some don't know how to, and some can't because of their IT department. In any case, as long as old versions of a browser remain the default on a computer, people will use it and developers will be forced to continue to develop for it.
They don't understand modern technologies, lack features, they're buggy, have security holes and prevent you from seeing the web the way it should be seen.
I had this conversation with my boss once. It went something to the tune of why replace what still works well when all you're doing is changing things around and not really adding anything new. At the time we were talking about cars, and how a 20+ year old car did everything a modern car did just as well if not better (It was beating the MPG of newer cars by a lot), but it applies very much to computers as well.-SeraphimLabs (August 18, 2012, 11:41 PM)
Imagine my horror in 2008 when I woke up to find that my main PC had died a horrible death, leaving me with nothing to use but something built in 1997, something incapable of running the latest and greatest. Imagine my horror when I discovered that one of the sites I used for email locked me out because I was using IE6. Imagine my horror when switching to the latest version of K-Meleon didn't help me gain access to my email. Imagine my horror when I couldn't just run out and buy another computer. Imagine my horror when I had to use that old computer for almost a year.
I hate browser bigots. I hate when people propose punishing those that are less fortunate than themselves for their misfortunes.
I kind of put it right up there with the idea of beating up a one-legged man till he "upgrades" and grows another leg. (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/esmileys/gen3/1Small/smile18.GIF)
I don't care what you do, black out sites, cut off users, bomb them with popups and other notices, if they can't upgrade their browser, they can't upgrade their browser. If they can't upgrade their hardware, they can't upgrade their hardware. Nothing you do, short of buying them a new computer is going to change that.
I think a much better proposal, if you hate older versions of IE that much, would be to stick a form in the faces of users of outdated versions of IE that if they fill it out with their shipping info, you will send them a brand new computer. That would go much farther towards eradicating old versions of IE than just being mean to people who might not have a choice.
And why the hell does everyone choose to do these kinds of organized bigoted acts whenever I find myself forced to use an older computer? Anyone that doesn't like the fact I am currently not running the latest and greatest can fix that by going here (http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?oc=bwct565&model_id=precision-t5600&c=us&l=en&s=bsd&cs=04&) and putting their money where their hatred is.-app103 (August 18, 2012, 08:05 PM)
I think the only people who are using old versions of IE as their main browser are the ones being forced to by the fat, lethargic, too-big-to-manage companies they work for. After the Go Dark campaign, those companies will continue to be fat, lethargic, and too big to manage.
This post will be deleted in 24 hours.-daddydave (August 19, 2012, 07:40 AM)
I decided to try putting in "www.google.com";D ;D ;D ridiculous
Seems it worked...
(see attachment in previous post (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=31984.msg297174#msg297174))-Stephen66515 (August 19, 2012, 01:34 PM)
People who are still on XP could slap on Chrome or FireFox?
People still using IE6 are probably
a) ignorant that there's better browsers around
or
b) working for some fat, lethargic corporation that could use a little lesson :)
(OK, both the fox and chrome are fatter and slower than IE6, but if you're on a system that's so hardware-limited that it can't drive one of those browsers, it probably wouldn't be very fun to visit websites that are advanced enough to actually require a newer browser...)-f0dder (August 19, 2012, 02:01 PM)
I decided to try putting in "www.google.com"
Seems it worked...
(see attachment in previous post (https://www.donationcoder.com/forum/index.php?topic=31984.msg297174#msg297174))-Stephen66515 (August 19, 2012, 01:34 PM)
Why wait until closer to 10/26 to show the whole list at one time?I suspect that they will try to get confirmations from the people who submitted their sites to the list. At least that's what I'd do before releasing a "final" list.-wraith808 (August 19, 2012, 02:25 PM)
People generally use whatever works for them. Punishing them is not an effective way to encourage them to change. If websites just stop jumping through all those hoops they allegedly do to support older browsers, people will eventually migrate over to what works. That's how it's always worked in the past. Those people who are unwilling (or can't for technical reasons) upgrade will become a new market and income opportunity for those sites that do continue to support their browser versions.well said.
Web developers and hosts need to get over themselves a little. This isn't the 90s any more. The web's era of the child-king webmaster and the techno-elite is largely over. The Internet has already become a commodity. And it will soon become just another public utility - no different than electricity, water, and sewage treatment. Time to get with the new reality folks!
Openness and 'come as you are' has always been the rule of the web. How is this "go dark" initiative any different from the thinking of certain governments when they propose to establish an official web access client? And are these people who propose the web "go dark" the same people protesting closed ecosystems whenever Apple and Microsoft attempt to play that game? Or who rebel against any attempt to dictate to them how they operate their websites?
If so, it's a sad state of affairs.
I can see a time in the not too distant future when I put an old school Fido BBS system on a Raspberry Pi and walk away from all this browser nonsense once and for all. And after talking to a few other folks, I now know I'm not the only one thinking about doing it.
:-\-40hz (August 19, 2012, 08:16 AM)
I can't count how many times some stupid browser detection rules caught me as collateral damage - either too new a version (after a new release), or Opera etc. I typically tweet how lame they are, and never go back.
First, if you are going to block IE 8 then you ought to block older Firefox, early chrome, people who have older smartphones (how dare they not buy a new one every 6 months!) and pretty much every release of Safari. And you probably will end up blocking people on Linux or BSD by mistake - or people using secure/solid IE derivative browsers. And everyone on XP that can't run FF or chrome. That's a lot of people to call names and antagonise.
And blocking people on older computers might make sense if you're selling only to the digital crowd, but even then, be careful. You might be surprised what people are using outside the "i have the latest computer to impress my friends" crowd.
If you can't put in the effort to support ie 6, 7, 8 (or opera) then that is fine. Understandable considering some of the hacks on has to do, the knowledge it requires and all the testing effort. But you don't have to be an ass about it and cast judgment on people and rub their noses in it.
And if it is to put some of the annoying new features of modern web design that make a site hard to use, navigate and impossible to bookmark, well then, I have no sympathy for you.
Websites ought to be designed for their users, not used for their designer to compete in the cool leagues of featuritis...
oops, soapbox alert. getting off-iphigenie (August 21, 2012, 03:52 AM)
Irritates the utter hell out of me...and at the moment, I am highly strung and sleep deprived, so could go on a rant for many many hours, so I shall shush now 8)-Stephen66515 (August 21, 2012, 04:10 AM)