If you haven’t seen IE6 Update, check it out at ie6update.com, or read the blog posts here and here.
Whether you are against or in support of IE6 Update, the biggest bone of contention seems to be the wording:
“Internet Explorer is missing updates required to view this site. Click here to update…”
Many people believe this piece of copy is misleading, deceitful, or even a flat out lie. Do I disagree? Well, that all depends on the website it’s being displayed on. Let’s break down the statement into small chunks and talk about each part.
“Internet Explorer is missing updates…”
A technical minded person might argue that it would be better to say “A new version of Internet Explorer is available…”. The distinction made between minor releases (like 6.0 to 6.1) or smaller qualifying as “updates”, while major version changes qualifying as a “new version”. However, the average user doesn’t make this distinction. If I install IE8 over IE6 on my mom’s computer (which is a contrived example, since she uses Firefox 3), she might describe that as either an update or an upgrade. To her, they’re the same thing.
Is using the wording that “IE is missing updates” a misleading lie? Perhaps, but only by our own definitions. Most average IE6 users don’t know the difference, and may not even care. Let’s move on…
“…updates required to view this site…”
Here is the part I think most people would argue against. Are the updates required? Is it OK to use the word required at all? Again, that all depends on the site that’s displaying the message.
If you embed a Flash video on a website, and the user does not have Flash installed, they get an information bar informing them that the site might require Flash. If you choose to ignore the message, your experience of that site ranges from suboptimal to completely unusable.
If you code standards based pages that include 24-bit transparent .png’s, css attribute selectors, z-indexing (without worrying about position:relative issues), floated elements (without peekaboo bugs), etc… your IE6 users will, like in the example above, experience a site that ranges from suboptimal to completely unusable. Is there something they could install to solve these issues? Yes, in the same way that they can install a Flash plug-in, they can install IE8 (or any other browser). So why not alert users through the method they’re already familiar with?
If you’re arguing that developers need to hack their pages to make them work properly for the largest audience of users, then why not argue that Flash should never be used in order to reach those who cannot install Flash? Back when YouTube was getting started, this was a major hurdle to the service hitting the masses. At some point we have to utilize technologies not everyone has in order to satisfy the need of the majority of users. Not alerting users to the fact that they are not experiencing the site properly seems irresponsible to me.
“…Click here to update…”
This one is hard for me to defend, because it sounds more nefarious than it actually is. Perhaps “Click here to learn more…” would be more appropriate since clicking results going to the Microsoft Internet Explorer website, not actually updating or installing anything. However, the wording here was chosen for two reasons.
- In our opinion, it seems more familiar to what IE6 users are used to seeing.
- It lets the user know that there’s something actionable, rather than just informational (even if the bar itself does not perform the action).
Should the wording be changed? Should we document how you can change it yourself? Let us know in the comments!
UPDATE: There is now an FAQ on IE6Update.com that includes documentation on how you can change the wording to better suit your audience.
22 comments ↓
Changing the wording doesn’t make the entire approach any less shameful.
How is it shameful!?
Still haven’t heard any suggestions…
The wording does seem to be the sticking point for most people.
I’ll be updating the WordPress plugin pretty soon exposing all the options available, but will likely include a warning about changing them
I was debating whether or not to do this, but I figure the options are there anyway, and I personally would prefer to change the wording slightly.
Semantics. Fact is that IE 6 is the bane of developers worldwide, and that enterprisey people are stuck with it due to ancient applications that require older tech to run.
As a suggestion, I will probably change:
“Internet Explorer is missing updates required to view this site. Click here to update…”
To something like:
“Updates are available for Internet Explorer. Click here to download these updates.”
Or something like that, similar to the standard OS update notifications.
@Japh - Thanks Japh, that’s exactly the type of suggestion we’re looking for!
Anyone else?
If you do change the wording don’t leave out the context of this site. So you leave the user with an option to upgrade and experience -your- site better, or not. And the owner of the site can decide if it’s worth it to leave out the IE6 crowd, if it’s worth it to be a risk taker.
Definitely keep the word update also, because any unaware user would use that term.
If you want you can change like instead of “Click here to update…”, which would seem “forceful” from the “ethnic” point of view into something like, “Click here for more information.” This might entice the user to read some information on what the “update” is and become inform, and it doesn’t seem as demanding.
So maybe into something like
“Internet Explorer would render this site correctly with updates. Click here for more information..”
Something along those line.
In reference to my earlier comment re: the BarCamp presentation, here is what my own offering (not published) says;
“To view this site as it was meant to be seen please upgrade your browser”
With the link (to FF) sitting around ‘upgrade your browser’.
I’d note that mine is a little grey bar with the famfamfam exclamation icon preceding the text, not a status or update warning.
Side note: this whole thing is making this week so fun AND opening interesting conversation on both sides… All good things!
“an update is available” doesn’t make me feel I need to download it. If it is “required” however, I know I need it. Perhaps the text could be something like: “An update is required to view this website properly. Click here to download.”
While any improvement to the wording is welcome, the fact that you still think it’s OK to spoof a system message is highly disturbing.
Everyone, thank you for all your great suggestions! We’d like to continue this dialogue and get as many ideas together as we can before we make any decisions, so keep them coming!
@Matt Hill - Thank you for continuing this conversation with us. I understand your viewpoint, and spoofing a system message is not my favorite choice either. We know full well why that’s a bad thing to do. However, please keep in mind that the intended purpose of the Information Bar is to alert users to browser updates (which still doesn’t make it completely right, I know). But here’s the thing…
We didn’t break the rules without good reason. The approach IE6 Update takes is out of desperation. Everyone has tried education, and it’s not working. Everyone has tried graded browser support, but that just encourages people to continue using IE6.
Web standards are a two way street. Both browsers and web sites must support them, and IE6 hasn’t kept up its end of the bargain to a reasonable extent.
IE6 Update doesn’t force users to install or do anything. It’s about building awareness in a way that’s consistent with what IE6 users are familiar with and are thus more likely to respond to.
It’s becoming clear that we’re not going to change each others’ minds on this. However we do acknowledge the wording as being an issue, and we’d love to hear your thoughts on that.
@Nick Pettit: I understand why you think IE6update is the best way to go, but I can’t agree with you — changed wording or not.
It’s true that IE6update doesn’t FORCE the user to do anything, but the intent behind it IS to force them to upgrade. Since that’s what you’re trying to achieve, it’s disengenuous to imply that you’re giving the user a choice. You’re not really, at least not with the way it’s currently presented.
As a developer, you’re paid to solve problems for your clients and your clients users. All I’m seeing in these discussions is that developers want to make their lives easier by simply ignoring IE6. You’re trying to avoid that burden by asking USERS to make your life easier! That’s just arrogant.
If developers feel this way because it’s “too costly” to cater to IE6, then they are either not selling their skills at the right price, or failing to explain to clients why supporting IE6 is still good practice. How do you tell your clients that you build sites that won’t work for a % of their audience, or do you just ignore the issue and hope they won’t notice? What if the next best customer of your client is using IE6 but doesn’t follow up with a purchase because your client’s website was broken in IE6? I really think you’re missing the bigger picture.
The fact remains that there is a large audience out there who can’t or won’t upgrade. Shoving a ‘desperate’ spoofed message in their face isn’t going to make a blind bit of difference to them. They are still web users and are still entitled to view the web the way they choose, not the way YOU choose. Graded browser support is the right choice for these users, since they aren’t going to upgrade anyway, regardless of what methods you use to try and educate them to do so.
Do the right thing and cater to the IE6 audience instead of looking for shortucts to make your life easier.
Something else to consider: Have you asked Microsoft what they think of this? I think you should.
If they agree that your method is a good one, I will definitely have to acknowledge that the world has gone completely mad.
@Matt Hill: You are referring to ie6update as ‘bad’, but it’s the choice of a developer to use the script. This way, ie6update should be described as ‘nice’ or ‘useful”. At least, if you WANT to use it…
The wording on http://browser-update.org/ is:
“Your browser (Firefox 2) out of date. It has known security flaws and may not display all features of this and other websites.
Learn how to update your browser”
With some words highlighted. The part of “learn how to update your browser” has a nice feeling, what do you guys think?
@Tijn: “You are referring to ie6update as ‘bad’, but it’s the choice of a developer to use the script.”
I don’t see how IE6 Update being optional makes it any more acceptable.
You’re saying that developers are not being forced to use this, as it is their choice to develop as they will. Do you not similarly think that users should not be forced to upgrade browser, as it is their choice to browse as they will?
Sounds to me like double standards… but *obviously* developers take precedence.
@Aneurin The user does have an option of not upgrading if they do not want to, simply look for an alternative site that supports their browsers. This is quite true in BlackBoard awhile back.
If the user wants to use the site very bad what is the detriment of upgrading to IE8? the pluses outweighs the minuses.
It’s like on a ride you must be certain height to ride it. If the person wants to go on it badly enough they’ll come back when they’re taller, or look for another ride that suits their height.
No one is forcing anyone by doing this.
Maybe the method of the system message is wrong legally, but I don’t see it wrong ethnically if worded correctly.
@Douten it doesn’t *matter* how it’s worded. IE6 Update imitates a system message. That in itself constitutes lying. Therefore, it is unethical. End of, as far as I’m concerned.
There are many different type of lie and that goes too much into a different topic, but I’ll tell you that if I have to make up a little lie for my younger brother to eat broccoli I wouldn’t mind it.
Indeed Douten! Also, the goldbar looks familiar to most people, and it directly tells you there is SOMETHING you have to do or read before using the site. Other than that, it’s simple, small and thus way better than a custom nag popup.
http://code.google.com/p/ie7-js/
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