It still boggles my mind (no offense) whenever someone tells me they’re using Internet Explorer, especially version 6, as their web browser. The reason being is that for many, many years we’ve had much better alternatives freely available to us. With options like, Firefox, Safari, and Chrome, all equipped with better features, security, and stability, there’s no good reason to still use IE, but I’ll give you five reasons you should stop.
1. Security
Let me guess, your computer has crashed several times due to viruses, and now you have the best firewall protection out there and pay for a good bit of money for virus protection software, such as AVG or Norton, and you’re still inundated with pop-ups on your desktop and illegitimate security companies warning you that your PC is at risk and insisting you buy their spam removal program.
If any of that sounds familiar, I’m going to assume you use IE. Internet Explorer is like that guy you invite to your party because he seems nice and harmless, but then when the party is in full swing, he lets all of his shady buddies sneak in the back door. IE practically acts as a gateway for viruses. Even Microsoft has acknowledged that there are serious security flaws in IE.
2. Platforms… excuse me, I meant “platform”
IE only runs on Windows, end of story. So if for some crazy reason you fall in love with IE (which actually isn’t that crazy because most people fall in love with the software they use the most) and then you decide to get a Mac, wave bye-bye to Internet Explorer; unless, you want to install Windows on your Mac.
3. Much Better Options Exist
Mozilla’s Firefox is arguably (and in my opinion, unquestionably) the best web browser on the market, and it’s 100% free. There’s also Safari, which comes standard on all Macs and can be downloaded for Windows, and is far superior to IE. And then there is Google Chrome, which I’m not crazy about, but know some people who are, and I would still recommend over IE.
4. Standards
This is of course my favorite reason not to use IE. All web designers have to meet a certain standard by ensuring that the sites they create work on all web browsers. So, what’s that have to do with IE? Well, the site we build you, and pretty much any other company, is going to use a language called CSS (Cascading Style Sheets). In fact, the majority of sites on the Internet right now use CSS, and all the browsers mentioned above have an agreed upon standard for this.
Microsoft, on the other hand, has their own standard for CSS, just because. This creates huge problems for web designers because so many CSS features will not work on IE. Oh, and nothing works on IE6… at all.
5. Microsoft Doesn’t Care About IE
As I’ve already said, Microsoft openly acknowledges that IE has major security risks, yet never seems to really fix them. IE has been riddled with bugs since the get-go and nothing ever improves. Microsoft has even announced that they will no longer be supporting IE6. So in other words, even the company that made the browser you might very well be using, wants to wash their hands clean of it.
Hopefully, I’ve made my case to encourage you to take the (seemingly) courageous step forward to change you Internet experience for the better. If I did, you’ll be thanking me, soon enough.