When I heard the news that IE has dropped just below 50 percent market share on the desktops, I reflected on when I started to develop for the web. When I started web development seriously, I was working for the Davis School District in Utah. We were required to use IE5, but when IE5.5 came out I was so excited. So hearing this news brought back memories (some good and some bad).

To this date I do not use Internet Explorer. I still like Firefox myself, but I do have Chrome installed. I mostly use Firefox out of habit and knowing how to work my tools or plugins with it keeps me happy. But I have not used Internet Explorer myself since IE6. I moved on to a better, safer, faster, and more compatible browser.

I don’t have anything against Internet Explorer like some other developers. I think it is because I have built many PCs, I have worked on even more PCs, and I have had to interact with the owner of those PCs. They use Internet Explorer out of ignorance. You ask them what browser they use and most of them will say “I use Google.” Then if you follow up that answer with “Oh you use Chrome?” they will say no and you will discover that they use Internet Explorer and Google is their home page.

People don’t know the difference between browsers like developers or geeks. This is where we can help educate them. But before you can educate them you need to really know what the problems are. Don’t just hate it cause it is what most developers do. Know or learn why. I used to swear by Internet Explorer, not at it. But as I learned about ‘web standards’ and I started swearing at Internet Explorer.

Now with Internet Explorer falling below 50 percent market share on the desktop and less then 0.2 percent on the mobile, does this mean we need to stop cross browser testing? No. There are still people out there using the default browser that comes with Windows and they don’t know better.

We as web developers need to still provide the best web browsing experience possible to the end user no matter what browser they use. We need to test the site fully to ensure that it will work in Internet Explorer as best it can. This may not be the exact same experience as when a user uses Firefox, Chrome or Safari but we need to support the Internet Explorer users. Even if you don’t like Internet Explorer there are users out there that will visit your site, your companies site, or your own personal blog that use Internet Explorer.

Another responsibility we have as web developers is to educate the users or your clients to the differences the end user will experience when using different browsers. Not only different browsers but different operating systems with different browsers. Fonts render different, colors are different, and at times the code will need to be tweaked to display differently.

Internet Explorer is still here and still the biggest and strongest player on the Internet. On top of that it is job security that we still have jobs fixing bugs. With the growth of popularity of Macs and more people using mobile browsers I feel that Internet Explorer will become just another browser out there, but will not dictate how the Internet should be displayed as it used to. The browser that will become the biggest player on the Internet will be the one that works well on desktop and mobile.

What browser do you use most often? Where do you see Internet Explorer in 5 years?

My favorite conversations with clients are the ones where we discuss browsers and the difference between them. I chuckle every time I hear, “I am using IE6.” I frequently applaud the client who uses Firefox because they have taken the time to educate themselves and while I don’t want to get into the reasons we use the browsers we do, just noticing what browser you use is half the battle. You’ve probably read the post by a Google employee about browsers. If not you can read it here. His post got me thinking about comparing clients to cars.

For those of us in the web industry, we frequently laugh at people who just don’t know how to use the web, but how many people are laughing at us because we don’t know how to do something? You might argue “But we (society) spends so much time online, how can someone not know how to use it?” I would argue the following.

How much time do we spend in our cars? Obviously this number depends on your commute, area, etc., but we spend a substantial amount of time in, caring for, washing, and feeding them that we should probably know more about how they work. How many mechanics laugh at us because we can’t change our own oil or replace our brakes? How many AAA repair men does society employ because society doesn’t know how to change a flat tire?

How much time do we spend in our house, but don’t know how to lay carpet or do any sort of plumbing? How many of us know what kind of carpet we have? What is the brandname of your couch? What kind of pipes do you have? These questions are simple for those who are educated and experts in that industry. Compare that to browsers or websites. How many plumbers laugh at you and I because we have weak pipes? How many painters cringe when they see the paint we have? We might say, “But it works just fine!” True, however, IE7 “works just fine” but how many of us cringe when we hear our clients are using it?

How many times has a client come to you saying their site is broken, only to find out it is a user error? It’s natural to sit back and just laugh, but how many of us have made a user error when we “pushed” instead of “pulled” on the door at a restaurant?

When it comes down to it, we are no different from our clients. We may know more about the web, browsers, computers, etc., but they may know more about neurology, public relations, and even cars. We make the same mistakes, just in a different aspect of life, so please, just be a little more patient with your clients.