Authors CurseForge

Quote from Squeeg

Could always throw in an "UPDATE YOUR FUCKING BROWSER" Nag if people meander over here with IE6. =p

<script src="http://gist.github.com/21557.js"></script>

I think all of you "IE6 sucks, ignore it" people are missing the point that it does not take a significant amount of time or effort to ensure that people browsing with IE6 can still use your site, or even that your site is displayed reasonably correctly in IE6... if you start with good coding practices. But that's the problem here: the vB/CurseForge/WowAce design starts with the assumption that everyone can (or wants to) use scripted sliding flying popup dropdown menus to access basic site functions. If you start with that, and then try to reduce for IE6 users, it's a losing battle. If you started with the assumption that nobody can use that crap, and then add it for useragents that can, there's not really much extra work to be done.

The same applies for 90% of the things I've complained about in this thread. The initial design assumptions that everyone is running at a minimum of X x Y resolution with normal vision and normal motor skills mean that the site is significantly less usable for people who don't match those assumptions. Using the header graphic as an excuse for fixed width is just silly... there are long-established methods using CSS that could easily handle an elastic layout while preserving the integrity of the header. :(

I'm sorry guys, but the official stance on IE6 compatibility is a degraded support. We're going to fix some of the issues with IE6 on the forums. But the target list of browsers is Safari3, Opera9, IE7, FF3. We go for degraded support with IE6 and FF2. We end up picking up Chrome by targeting Safari3.

Quote from Allara

Although the "web standards" guys would say don't use tables, in reality using tables can greatly help more browsers render your layout correctly.

But that's not the point why they say "don't use tables", it's accessibility.

Quote from Nevcairiel

Also, the "sliding flying popups" are just divs with a absolute position and a z-index, CSS standard since forever, even before IE6 was even deployed, see my previous comment ;)

Yes, but they're still annoying, and they still don't work correctly or at all when JavaScript is not enabled, and they do have a slide-in animation, putting them squarely in the "sliding scripted popup menu" category. ;)

I would love an option to disable the scripted controls for everything but the post editor.

Also, with regard to your comment about the "Quick Links" box... when JS is disabled, following that link simply reloads the page and replaces "Quick Links" with a couple of other links, none of which are tasks most forum visitors are likely to be interested in using frequently or ever (this is an addon development forum, not MySpace). I went into detail about this some pages back, but essentially, when JS is disabled, why force the page reload? Why not just show the extra links in the first place?

Quote from Nevcairiel

Only real issue left, pngs with transparency

// #######################################################################
// # Correctly handle PNG transparency in Win IE 5.5 or higher.    
// #######################################################################
function correctPNG()
{
    for(var i = 0; i < document.images.length; i++)
    {
        var img = document.images[i];
        var imgName = img.src.toUpperCase();
        if (imgName.substring(imgName.length - 3, imgName.length) == "PNG")
        {
            var imgID = (img.id) ? "id='" + img.id + "' " : "";
            var imgClass = (img.className) ? "class='" + img.className + "' " : "";
            var imgTitle = (img.title) ? "title='" + img.title + "' " : "title='" + img.alt + "' ";
            var imgStyle = "display:inline-block;" + img.style.cssText;
            
            if (img.align == "left" || img.align == "right")
            {
                imgStyle = "float:" + img.align + ";" + imgStyle;
            }
            
            if (img.parentElement.href)
            {
                imgStyle = "cursor:hand;" + imgStyle;
            }
            
            var strNewHTML = "<span " + imgID + imgClass + imgTitle + " style=\"" + "width:" + img.width
            + "px; height:" + img.height + "px;" + imgStyle + ";"
            + "filter:progid:DXImageTransform.Microsoft.AlphaImageLoader"
            + "(src=\'" + img.src + "\', sizingMethod='scale');\"></span>" 
            
            img.outerHTML = strNewHTML
            
            i = i - 1;
         }
    }
}

This might help.

Quote from Nevcairiel

Tried, and failed. Something about our PNGs is probably more special then IE6 can handle.

IE6 don't "understand" alpha channel on PNGs. IMO everyone who uses such an old browser shouldn't whine if the page is useable but looks ugly :P

Quote from Marsti

IE6 don't "understand" alpha channel on PNGs. IMO everyone who uses such an old browser shouldn't whine if the page is useable but looks ugly :P

Yarr, the biggest concern has been functionality, not looks, for degraded browsing, so I wouldn't worry so much about the pngs presenting properly, especially when you don't really see them much after scrolling down and reading posts. Sounds to me like most of the IE6 users may just be normal wowace members who are stuck at work with shitty browsers. :p (As mentioned previously). So as long as it works, things are readable, and they don't have menus half a mile away, I presume they wouldn't care much about trivial asthetics.
Would a corner tag mentioning that 'wowace would look much better on an upgraded browser' be too naggy?

Really about the only option is to have a second set of the images as gifs.

All the js workarounds suffer from some issues with certain types of images. (mainly related to css background images)

Quote from Marsti

IMO everyone who uses such an old browser shouldn't whine if the page is useable but looks ugly :P

I did not whine at all. I was only asking...

PS: I'm surfing with Opera on my USB stick now, so everything is fine (for me).

Checking from work this morning, things work much better. Thanks for spending time working to make this crappy browser work.