Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) was launched 7 years ago on August 27th 2001. This shouldn't really be of that much interest any more as Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) has been available for over 2 years, giving internet explorer users plenty of time to upgrade, right? - apparently not!
It looks like IE6 is still the most popular browser in the world with about a 35% market share, putting it just in front of IE7. www.counter.com
This is bad news.
IE6 was a poor improvement on it's predecessor (IE5.5) with major security issues being one serious issue, but most apparent from a developers point of view was it's lack of acceptance/adherence to web standards.
As every good developer will know, this means that having gone to the trouble to code a website to meet web standards as recommended by the World Wide Website Consortium www.w3.org (the controlling body for the internet), it is necessary to 'hack' the code to get the website to display and function acceptably on IE6.
IE7 still has not met the same level of standards that other browsers such as firefox and opera meet (yes there is an alternative to internet explorer - try one you might like it!) but it has got a bit nearer.
There is now increasing talk in the web development world of dropping support for IE6 in an effort to force users to upgrade and with Internet Explorer version 8 which is already in beta testing and promising to be the first ever standard compliant web browser from Microsoft - joy of joys! this would seem to make sense.
In simple terms this means not bothering to 'hack' the code and leaving the website to display with all its shortcomings as a way to force users to make the change.
Dropping support for IE6 may force users to upgrade, but I feel it may prove detrimental to our clients success.
It is easy to say 'if the user does not update his system what should he expect' until you consider that the user may not be aware that there system is the reason for your websites poor appearance or the reason why they can't make an online purchase or complete a contact form enquiry.
Generating business is why you have a website. Like it or not, first impressions count, so it makes sense to look good to the widest audience and if you have a product to sell online you will want to take every chance you get to sell it.
This means that whilst IE6 remains so popular, we have to reluctanly continue bastardising good websites so they work for the masses.
Wednesday, 27 August 2008
Monday, 25 August 2008
Gold at Olympics creates huge interest in our clients website.
Congratulations to Ben Ainslie for winning his third gold medal at the Beijing Olympics in the Finn Class Sailing event. His achievement is truly outstanding and ranks him as Britain's most successful Olympic Sailor of all time.
Naturally, interest in Ben's Olympic progress in the Finn Sailing event and his eventual success at winning the Gold medal would create a lot of additional interest, both in Ben as an athlete and also in sailing.
As web developers and hosts of the British Finn Association website www.finnuk.org.uk we were able to watch at close hand the effect that this had on the Finn UK website.
Even we were not prepared for the scale of interest - or the effect that external links (links from other websites that 'point' to your own website) had on it's Google Ranking.
For those of you who are starting out on the road to understanding Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) principles, the areas that make a difference to your SEO success fall into two categories; Optimisation on your own website (internal optimisation) and inbound links (external optimisation) .
Whilst internal optimisation of your website is essential and is rewarded to a certain degreee, Google (and other primary search engines) put a lot of importance on inbound links.
The reason for this is simple. To generate inbound links to your website, other websites are required to link to you. Consequently it is far harder to fake external interest in your website.
Remember - Google is interested in providing the most relevant websites for the search engine terms that have been used. If other websites suddenly start linking to your website (inbound links) for a particular search term, Google will view your website as more important than one that does not get linked to. Additionally, if the links are from well respected and high ranking websites the effect will be amplified.
A case of quality not quantity is in some cases more effective.
With the BBC website (One of Britain's most important websites in the eyes of Google), and other prominent websites linking to the www.finnuk.org.uk website it was great to see the Google effect at work.
We hope that the British Finn Association goes from strength to strength and that interest in Finn Class Sailing continues to grow. Particularly with the London Olympics getting nearer by the day!
Once again, congratulations to Ben for winning his third Olympic Gold and in a indirect way, for helping the British Finn Association website to achieve a higher prominence with their Search Engine Rankings and more success as a result.
Naturally, interest in Ben's Olympic progress in the Finn Sailing event and his eventual success at winning the Gold medal would create a lot of additional interest, both in Ben as an athlete and also in sailing.
As web developers and hosts of the British Finn Association website www.finnuk.org.uk we were able to watch at close hand the effect that this had on the Finn UK website.
Even we were not prepared for the scale of interest - or the effect that external links (links from other websites that 'point' to your own website) had on it's Google Ranking.
For those of you who are starting out on the road to understanding Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) principles, the areas that make a difference to your SEO success fall into two categories; Optimisation on your own website (internal optimisation) and inbound links (external optimisation) .
Whilst internal optimisation of your website is essential and is rewarded to a certain degreee, Google (and other primary search engines) put a lot of importance on inbound links.
The reason for this is simple. To generate inbound links to your website, other websites are required to link to you. Consequently it is far harder to fake external interest in your website.
Remember - Google is interested in providing the most relevant websites for the search engine terms that have been used. If other websites suddenly start linking to your website (inbound links) for a particular search term, Google will view your website as more important than one that does not get linked to. Additionally, if the links are from well respected and high ranking websites the effect will be amplified.
A case of quality not quantity is in some cases more effective.
With the BBC website (One of Britain's most important websites in the eyes of Google), and other prominent websites linking to the www.finnuk.org.uk website it was great to see the Google effect at work.
We hope that the British Finn Association goes from strength to strength and that interest in Finn Class Sailing continues to grow. Particularly with the London Olympics getting nearer by the day!
Once again, congratulations to Ben for winning his third Olympic Gold and in a indirect way, for helping the British Finn Association website to achieve a higher prominence with their Search Engine Rankings and more success as a result.
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