This is pretty old news, but the fact of the matter is that, while an overall terrible browser to use, it is still used by the majority of internet users, so therefore, HAS to be accounted for. I just consider it an extra challenge when I'm feeling bored.

Yes, IE 6 is an awful browser, maybe not as bad as Netscape 4.7...Depending on your audience, programming for IE 6 may not be an issue. The bulk of IE 6 users are probably big corporations as they are usually slower to adopt new browsers.

Below is a link to the browser stats from w3c
http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp

From w3 schools (same link posted above me):

2009 IE7 IE6 IE8 Firefox Chrome Safari Opera
July 15.9% 14.4% 9.1% 47.9% 6.5% 3.3% 2.1%

So no, IE 6 is not used by "the majority" anymore. Even in the IE world, IE7 has the lead, but wait 4 or 5 months, and you'll see IE8 jump right up ahead. In fact, IE7 had a very clear lead over IE6 back in January, and the only reason why it's going down to a comparable figure is because the 9% of IE8 users came out of the original IE7 users who upgraded.

2009 IE7 IE6 IE8 Firefox Chrome Safari Opera
February 25.4% 17.4% 0.8% 46.4% 4.0% 3.0% 2.2%
January 25.7% 18.5% 0.6% 45.5% 3.9% 3.0% 2.3%

Firefox is still used by the clear "majority" of internet users though. They had a 25% share as early as their first year, and have stayed around half the market share for years after.

Personally, I don't mind ignoring IE6...

I had to laugh today. I created a SWF from an Indy file with page transitions for a client, just testing stuff out. I opened the .html file to peek under the hood. Fully 3/4 of the code was If/Then/Else garbage about IE versions and ActiveX, testing versions of AX And IE. That's really sloppy and sad.

The w3c stats only reference that site. How many people you think visit w3c schools who aren't involved in web development to some capacity? So that those stats are relatively useless.

^^^ exactly. The w3c site is NOT a good reference for browser usage. I read recently that IE6 is still used by something like 26% of users. I'll have to track down the link to verify. Regardless, many companies built proprietary software around IE6 so may cost hundreds of thousands if not millions to upgrade. It's not that they're stubborn or naive, it's that it would be a huge investment to break away from it.

That said. I've resolved to never bug test in IE on Mondays for fear of starting my week of on a bad note. f*****************ck IE6.

My corporation has 10,000 plus employees. We only have ie6. nothing else. I am willing to bet a lot of companies like ie6 and do not want to upgrade anything that is working.

steve