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Banning Internet Explorer January 22nd 2010, mr.doob
Whenever I work on a html/javascript experiment I usually test it on Chrome. Once I'm done, I test it on Firefox and Opera. There is no Safari for Linux so I don't have an easy way for testing it so I usually assume it works as it's very similar to Chrome. The interesting thing is that the same code usually works directly on the other browsers. Just special cases like adding custom css properties (like -webkit-transform, MozTransform, OTransform...).

Of course, that's not the case with Internet Explorer. And to be honest I never really tried to make anything work on it. I believe that browser has made humanity lose a lot of time and money so making my experiments work will be like helping it to stay alive.

But I wasn't showing any error message. My experiments will just not work and people will mention it and complain. I really didn't want to add Javascript browser checks in each experiment either. However, there was a much simpler and efficient solution, add a rule on the .htaccess to redirect all the request from that browser to this page.

By banning all the request of that browser, not only I'm happier when developing but also I may move some of these users to a better browser, and at the same time, other developers won't have to suffer from these users.

Imagine if all the major websites did this. Wouldn't that fix the problem?

If you find the move interesting and you would like to stop supporting IE too, this is the code you'll need to put in you .htaccess file:

RewriteEngine on

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !/projects/ie/index.html$
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} MSIE [NC]
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /projects/ie/index.html [L]

Just change the /projects/ie/index.html parts with wherever you put your own message/page.

EDIT: After Microsoft released a preview of Internet Explorer 9 some people suggested that I should remove the ban so they could test my HTML5 demos on the browser. That seemed a good idea, so the ban is removed. The bad news is that the browser doesn't seem to be doing too well.
43 comments

So much for "HTML5 will take over the world" :)
January 22nd 2010, Sven Busse
I guess it depends on what you're trying to build. If you're trying to make awesome visualizations/experiments then I guess it's OK to target most advanced browsers and dream of a world without IE, I mean, browser compatibility isn't a required or a good thing to have when building artistic visualizations.
If you were trying to build a tool then I think the approach would be quite different. One important aspect of it is to be usable and useful. Browser compatibility is an issue.
January 22nd 2010, anonymous
IE8 is actually a great improvement over previous versions, as far as standards compliance is concerned. However I don't think MSFT has any plans to implement the Canvas element :( SVG, maybe..

But have you heard of Chrome-frame
http://code.google.com/chrome/chromeframe/
? this lets you inject a Chrome renderer into a IE instance. it still requires user to click OK to install, as it is a plugin, but if they do that then you're golden.
January 22nd 2010, David Wilhelm
Instead of htaccess, this can be done easily using javascript.

if (navigator.appName=="Microsoft Internet Explorer" ){
.........
January 22nd 2010, Erman Haskan
I personally like your approach. Of course, doing certain contract work this won't work - but I think it is a step into the right direction. Think I will implement a proper warning into my personal page, too.
January 22nd 2010, benny!
Heh..let the movement begin..
January 22nd 2010, lobo
Wouldn't it be better to warn the IE users and leave them a choose instead of a total block ?
January 23rd 2010, Kris
Good man
January 23rd 2010, Nicolas Elizaga
Yea, I think you should allow people that have installed Chrome Frame to still view your HTML5 projects, at least to support IE users somewhat.

In every HTML5 project I make I support Chrome Frame.
January 23rd 2010, Hugh Isaacs II
i'd love facebook or ebay blocked IE ;)
I'd course i like doob's idea!
January 23rd 2010, bart
you've got balls.
January 23rd 2010, rauri
Don't mean to be rude but complaining about browsers seems a bit like complaining about bad weather.
Isn't bashing a particular browser the same as bashing a particular plugin?

Cheers, D

January 23rd 2010, Dan
@Erman Haskan: Yeah, as I said, I didn't really want to put Javascript detectors on each piece. Feels dirty.

@Hugh Isaacs II: Good point. Not sure I can detect if the browser has Chrome Frame from the .htaccess tho.

@Dan: Complaining? I think you misunderstood my point...
January 23rd 2010, mr.doob
You are THE MAN. I agree that IE has made humanity lose a HUGE amount of time and Microsoft is still trying to fight against the standards. They are losing the browser "war", they are losing the mobile "war" and hopefully they'll lose the OS "war" soon too, all because of their stupid I'll-crush-everyone-but-me philosophy.
I have soooo much frustration against Microsoft that is hard to describe. Messenger sucks, Windows sucks, IE sucks, Windows Mobile sucks and as you said, they made us lose A LOT of time.
It's time to replace them.

Best,

SP
January 23rd 2010, SP
However, there was a much simpler and efficient solution...
...LOL!

Liked the love website too, btw.

Stay Doob!
January 25th 2010, IM BACK
Chrome Frame can't be detected from the .htaccess :/
January 25th 2010, mr.doob
Lot of people working in big companies can't install another browser because they don't have the right to do it. They don't need your stupid message telling them that Firefox is better.

They already know that. Your solution just make them more frustrated.

I understand your frustration, but the developpers have to adapt. Not the users.
January 28th 2010, Fardeen
Those people working on big companies shouldn't be wasting the big companies time and money visiting my site.
January 28th 2010, mr.doob
do mr. doob (or me for that matter) is supposed to place pressure on these 'big company' it techs how?
it seems the only way we can is via pissing off enough of their employees with annoying messages/blocked sites/etc. until they make enough noise that someone up the chain might make a change.

We have decided to add 'IE compatability' as an item on invoices to clients.

Every little bit helps, and the best way to act is influence the people you CAN.
February 24th 2010, tonypee
@mrdoob
No I think letting IE people catch a glimpse of you site to see what they're missing might be a better strategy. Rather than completely banning them.

Cheers, Dan
March 4th 2010, Dan
Its just a matter of time to MS add support to all these new features. That's simply the future of internet, and that means money. In the mean while smart companies (Mozzila, Google, Apple ...) are working at all speed to receive this 'boom' of innovation.
MS will wake up soon or later.
March 8th 2010, Paespedro
You site rocks!!!
Thanks for the great read and education.
I am still enjoying Sketchy!
March 10th 2010, Sheila Stahl
I love your site mrdoob. You are very principled too. Except that whilst IE still has the most user-ship, then anyone trying your projects on it and seeing them fail will not blame the browser's shortcomings.

I think that IE is going to slip down the rankings into obscurity over the next couple of years. Rightly so. HTML 5 will hopefully be adopted as an output option by Flash and Flex.
March 12th 2010, Alperian
The effort and time I spend on supporting IE on each project depends on the browser percentage stats for that project. If less than 10% of the users are using IE, I wunt even spend time making it the least bit compatible.

But redirecting them to a message like your's instead of a just a broken site makes much sense, think I'll gonna do that from now on. Haha we can even standardize a line on all these pages, "This website supports the ban IE movement."
March 13th 2010, Ryan
You do the right thing, man.
I didn't know anyone actually still uses IE, lol.
March 13th 2010, Sean
I'm a webdeveloper and I totally agree with you. I wish IE never saw daylight.
March 15th 2010, roh.
hey man, your blog is on my rss (which I read in IE, btw). from time to time I copy/paste your canvas experiments urls into chrome, but if I had no chrome, I wouldn't bother to install it... I mean, this is ridiculous: "yay, html5 over flash, because it doesn't require plugin" yeah, it does not, instead I need to install whole new browser.

but any way, thanks to limiting this rewrite rule to parts of site that actually do not work in IE.
March 16th 2010, makc
Funny you say that just after I removed the ban as I saw IE9 was starting to support some standards :)
March 16th 2010, mr.doob
Way to go! hehe
March 17th 2010, Gui Boratto
amen brother
March 18th 2010, byron
IE9? It's IE7 here and I'm perfectly fine with it. All sites work, except, of course, sites of whiny "I am too lazy to make it work in anything but FF" kind of guys ;)
March 31st 2010, makc
@makc: Yes, you're totally right. Let's all move to IE7.
March 31st 2010, mr.doob
How about let's all allow users to use the browser of their choice?
March 31st 2010, makc
@makc: Yes, you're totally right. Let's allow the users to use the browser of their choice.
March 31st 2010, mr.doob
sounds like canned response to me
April 3rd 2010, makc
Kind of... I respect your opinion and I know you're not going to change my opinion. Case closed?
April 4th 2010, mr.doob
<canvas>
If your browser would support this web standard, you could see that:
<img src="preview.png" alt ... />
But apparently your browser doesn't. In the meantime please use ... or an offline painting app to draw your image.
</canvas>

That works too and is better than a ban ;)
April 5th 2010, QuHno
Hahaha, funny people with funny opinions. As they drive tanks to work and bicycles to war, they would suggest ripping of asphalt and building side walks through the desert.
April 12th 2010, Lars Echterhoff
+1
May 29th 2010, Bob
Yeah developers spend nights working and torturing themselves, and bosses wasting money, just so that an army of lazy users don't have to spend 1/2 hour of their time downloading a decent browser.
June 1st 2010, rolfen
I completely agree with you. I think that, nowadays, Information Technology IS Politics. Because Information Technology is all about standards and about who sets them, and standards are all about money and freedom, for firms but, most of all, for the people. I'll implement your htaccess blocking system at least for my personal websites... and maybe also for my clients ones :-)


federico
June 14th 2010, federico carrara
working much better in chrome
June 30th 2010, Armor
Can't wait to see the day when IE finally dies...
September 3rd 2010, werbeagentur bodense