Developers Celebrate, IE6 Nearly Extinct!

Reports today from web analytics firm StatCounter indicate that, at last, the dreaded IE6 is finally on its way out – with now just 5% of browser usage in the EU and US coming via IE6.

IE6 has been problematic for so many users – causing headaches for developers and designers for years. Despite its instability and the slow, outdated platform, websites and other online interfaces always needed to be optimised for IE6 because so many consumers were still using it. Up until 2003 it had a market share of approximately 90% – which has been gradually (and slowly) waning every since. Several high profile security scares involving IE6 over 2009 and 2010 forced the hand of many dedicated IE6 users and Microsoft encouraged the migration of users over to IE7 and IE8.

StatCounter now say that just 4.7% of the US browser market share now comes via IE6 – dropping from 11.7% in the past year. Check out our news section for a full breakdown of the worldwide browser share during May 2010.