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General discussion (archive)I hate you, IE6!(21 posts)(21 posts)
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This is my favourite topic
Posted August 15, 2010
FU! That version must really die now. :( It sure does make web developers' / designers' job frustrating.
This is the first website ever I'm currently making for my dad's company. Most of the coding/styling is done, the "beauty" stuff and the content are all that's left. Should be finished in a few days.
Too bad most of the companies that my dad's one work with still use IE6, so its making me saaaaaaaaaaaad that I need to do additional work to make the site IE6 compatible... :(
I really love the Metro-like design, so I kind of based this site on that design (its my first site ever, so I wanted to start from there). Yea, it looks crap with the image placeholders and stuff, but it should look quite nice when all the pieces are finished. Note, the site will have only one page per language, I like the minimalistic approach, it fits the company's profile. Professional, minimal, simple design that explains all about the company. :)
(credit to MetroTwit for the little inspiration. :))
Anyway, I need some translation-related suggestions. I was thinking about making a starting page where you choose the language, and then you get transferred to that language's page. Should I do that, or go for a drop-down menu or something?
(long post)
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Posted August 15, 2010
My first translation suggestion would be translating a phrase into 'executive'
English version: "For fucks sake you idiots, upgrade your browser!"
Executive version: "The use of outdated technology marks the company as being behind the times and the inherent security vulnerabilities represent a threat to business continuity"
As for the language selection, a landing page with language selection is a good idea, maybe clickable flags instead of a list of languages though (depends how many you plan to support I guess)
Posted August 15, 2010
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KavazovAngel: FU! That version must really die now. :( It sure does make web developers' / designers' job frustrating.
This is the first website ever I'm currently making for my dad's company. Most of the coding/styling is done, the "beauty" stuff and the content are all that's left. Should be finished in a few days.
Too bad most of the companies that my dad's one work with still use IE6, so its making me saaaaaaaaaaaad that I need to do additional work to make the site IE6 compatible... :(
I really love the Metro-like design, so I kind of based this site on that design (its my first site ever, so I wanted to start from there). Yea, it looks crap with the image placeholders and stuff, but it should look quite nice when all the pieces are finished. Note, the site will have only one page per language, I like the minimalistic approach, it fits the company's profile. Professional, minimal, simple design that explains all about the company. :)
(credit to MetroTwit for the little inspiration. :))
Anyway, I need some translation-related suggestions. I was thinking about making a starting page where you choose the language, and then you get transferred to that language's page. Should I do that, or go for a drop-down menu or something?
(long post)

Force them to upgrade or use another browser. You shouldn't have to deal with the issue.
Also, check out Dot Net Nuke a very friendly platform for development.
Posted August 15, 2010
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KavazovAngel: FU! That version must really die now. :( It sure does make web developers' / designers' job frustrating.
This is the first website ever I'm currently making for my dad's company. Most of the coding/styling is done, the "beauty" stuff and the content are all that's left. Should be finished in a few days.
Too bad most of the companies that my dad's one work with still use IE6, so its making me saaaaaaaaaaaad that I need to do additional work to make the site IE6 compatible... :(
I really love the Metro-like design, so I kind of based this site on that design (its my first site ever, so I wanted to start from there). Yea, it looks crap with the image placeholders and stuff, but it should look quite nice when all the pieces are finished. Note, the site will have only one page per language, I like the minimalistic approach, it fits the company's profile. Professional, minimal, simple design that explains all about the company. :)
(credit to MetroTwit for the little inspiration. :))
Anyway, I need some translation-related suggestions. I was thinking about making a starting page where you choose the language, and then you get transferred to that language's page. Should I do that, or go for a drop-down menu or something?
(long post)
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Lou: Force them to upgrade or use another browser. You shouldn't have to deal with the issue.
Also, check out Dot Net Nuke a very friendly platform for development.

Actually I think DotNetNuke is a CMS, not an actual development platform.
Posted August 15, 2010
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Lou: Force them to upgrade or use another browser. You shouldn't have to deal with the issue.
Also, check out Dot Net Nuke a very friendly platform for development.
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michaelleung: Actually I think DotNetNuke is a CMS, not an actual development platform.

Yep - A CMS on Steroids and fully developable by creating and using modules - We have just scratched the surface with it and until about a week ago were running our complete County and all indivisual offices on the free addition. Its great.
Posted August 16, 2010
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KavazovAngel: I need some translation-related suggestions. I was thinking about making a starting page where you choose the language, and then you get transferred to that language's page. Should I do that, or go for a drop-down menu or something?

Ideally you want to use a script to read the browser language from the useragent string and redirect them to their language automatically (although note that some languages have multiple codes, e.g. English can be reported as en-US, en-GB, etc., so the script you use would need to accommodate for these).
Failing that, if this site's audience is almost entirely of a particular language, I'd say you could safely default to that one and have a selector or icons for the other ones. If the site's audience is more evenly divided--such as for an international company--a landing page would probably be preferable. Flag icons are a must for both approaches.
Post edited August 16, 2010 by Arkose
Posted August 16, 2010
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Arkose: Ideally you want to use a script to read the browser language from the useragent string and redirect them to their language automatically (although note that some languages have multiple codes, e.g. English can be reported as en-US, en-GB, etc., so the script you use would need to accommodate for these).

Mind you, for some users, this can be really annoying, especially if there isn't an easy way to override it. For instance, even though Danish versions exist of most major software packages (Windows, Office, Firefox, etc.), I prefer to use English versions, for several reasons. First of all, I'm used to it. Secondly, it's easier to look for help with a problem online if you know the name of the function in English. And thirdly, translations are not uniform. For instance, the menu option for program configuration might, in English, be called "Options", "Preferences", "Customization", etc. In Danish, it might also be called a number of things, but it's impossible to know which of the English words it was translated from.
So much for my reasons, here's my gripe. My machine at work was recently reformatted, and I had to reinstall a bunch of stuff, among others Firefox. Now, when I go to Mozilla's website, I'm automatically redirected to their Danish site, which only links to the Danish version of Firefox. So I edited the URL to take me to the English site, but lo and behold, because of the scripting thing you mentioned, that also linked to the Danish version of Firefox. It didn't say so very prominently, so I didn't notice until after I'd installed it. The installer files alle have the same name, regardless of language, so that didn't clue me in either. So back I go to the site, and notice a link for versions for other languages and operating systems. That finally gave me the English version of Firefox, but I'd rather have the choice up front, than having a website second guess my preferences.
Posted August 16, 2010
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Wishbone: ***
I, too, usually prefer English versions of software/sites (if it's not originally made in Russian), but having to choose language every time you visit the page is much more annoying (for me, at least), than being directed to site with my native language. And anyway, it's possible to store in cookies things like language settings, no? Or make sub domains for each language (like if it's site.com it redirects to sub domain with language from user-agent string, and if it's uk.site.com then it directs to English version no matter what), or use url parameters (or whatever it's called).
Posted August 16, 2010
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Arkose: Ideally you want to use a script to read the browser language from the useragent string and redirect them to their language automatically (although note that some languages have multiple codes, e.g. English can be reported as en-US, en-GB, etc., so the script you use would need to accommodate for these).
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Wishbone: Mind you, for some users, this can be really annoying, especially if there isn't an easy way to override it. For instance, even though Danish versions exist of most major software packages (Windows, Office, Firefox, etc.), I prefer to use English versions, for several reasons. First of all, I'm used to it. Secondly, it's easier to look for help with a problem online if you know the name of the function in English. And thirdly, translations are not uniform. For instance, the menu option for program configuration might, in English, be called "Options", "Preferences", "Customization", etc. In Danish, it might also be called a number of things, but it's impossible to know which of the English words it was translated from.
So much for my reasons, here's my gripe. My machine at work was recently reformatted, and I had to reinstall a bunch of stuff, among others Firefox. Now, when I go to Mozilla's website, I'm automatically redirected to their Danish site, which only links to the Danish version of Firefox. So I edited the URL to take me to the English site, but lo and behold, because of the scripting thing you mentioned, that also linked to the Danish version of Firefox. It didn't say so very prominently, so I didn't notice until after I'd installed it. The installer files alle have the same name, regardless of language, so that didn't clue me in either. So back I go to the site, and notice a link for versions for other languages and operating systems. That finally gave me the English version of Firefox, but I'd rather have the choice up front, than having a website second guess my preferences.

Yeah, I get that as well (for Swedish though), though I actively set the browser to prefer British English "en-GB" (or generic English "en") to prevent that to some degree.
Some sites, however, disregard this and instead looks up which country the IP address belongs to (geolocation), Google seems to be one of them.
Posted August 16, 2010
Wat? They're using IE6?
It's like equipping current army with muskets - while it works, it is still horrible idea.
Posted August 16, 2010
I wouldn't go out of my way to support IE6 unless you were specifically required to. I match the standards (W3, etc), make sure it looks good in the mainstream browsers, and leave it at that.
Posted August 16, 2010
I think you should include in that starting page either a message that they're using a insecure, useless 9 year old browser that is in dire need of a free upgrade. Then include some relevant links.
Or alternatively provide a IE6 compatible version of the site that's just unformatted black Times New Roman on white. Another nice, subtle hint.
Posted August 16, 2010
While IE6 is indeed an age-old piece of crap, you'd be stumped at to which degree it is still in use.
My company has a state-of-the-art web application frontend, I'm not talking about a webpage, I'm talking about every fancy Web2.0 word in use, and we still have to support IE6. Why? Customers use it. Customers are big and hairy and turn around at the rate of superglued slugs.
It'd all be so much fun if it weren't for those goddamn customers.
Post edited August 16, 2010 by stonebro
Posted August 16, 2010
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stonebro: While IE6 is indeed an age-old piece of crap, you'd be stumped at to which degree it is still in use.
My company has a state-of-the-art web application frontend, I'm not talking about a webpage, I'm talking about every fancy Web2.0 word in use, and we still have to support IE6. Why? Customers use it. Customers are big and hairy and turn around at the rate of superglued slugs.
It'd all be so much fun if it weren't for those goddamn customers.

Yeah, I've noticed the general rule is the bigger the company, the slower they are to adopt new technology. Heck, there are Fortune 50 companies that still run DEC machines on their back ends.
The real problem with IE6 is that all the ActiveX garbage MS put into it made it the perfect platform to abuse for making in-house application front ends (especially for interfacing with all-too-common abominations like VB macros in Excel and Word that coagulated into mission critical software). It's actually downright scary how much obsolete technology still clings to life, supporting vital systems in major institutions simply because no one wants to touch it and risk toppling the entire, multi-billion-dollar house of cards.
Posted August 16, 2010
@Auguste, IE6 support is a must because nearly all of the government's PCs still run XP. And I doubt that will change any time soon, and the chance of them having IE8 (or any other modern browser) as the main browser are close to none (lets just say that the IT guys that work for government agencies/organizations/whatever couldn't care less about the PCs).
@Lou, I will check out DotNetNuke later tonight, thanks for the tip. :)
@alexei_net, Thanks for the cookie suggestion. I've messed with cookies before (I usually eat them, not make them), but its a nice suggestion. I'm thinking along the lines, the cookie to remember the user's language choice and to be valid for week-month time. This will maybe create a requirement of Privacy Policy / Terms of Service/Agreement thing, but I can work that out.
@All Others, thanks for the replies. :)
I'll probably put a small notice on the bottom of the site to explain to people that they really need to upgrade their freaking old browsers.
Post edited August 16, 2010 by KavazovAngel
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General discussion (archive)I hate you, IE6!(21 posts)(21 posts)
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