How to: Kill IE6 on your WordPress blog

Who doesn’t hate IE6? This obsolete browser is a pain for any web developer or designer. If you really hate Internet Explorer 6, read this recipe and you’ll know how to make it crash if someone who uses it tries to read your blog.

Get ready to say goodbye to IE6. Open your header.php file and paste the following code anywhere within the <head> and </head> tags:

<!--[if lte IE 6]>
<STYLE>@;/*
<![endif]-->

Any courageous IE6 user who'll try to read your blog will get an instantaneous crash. Not very nice, but damn funny :p

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36 Responses

Oct 23 2008 21:47

OOh, thats cruel but hilarious! I wish I could see their faces when the blog they’re trying to visit crashes on them.

Oct 23 2008 22:15

For a kinder, gentler way to kick their a…. – check out the Browse Happy link in the footer of many Wordpress sites or d/l the plugin – SaveTheDevelopers from the Wordpress.org/extend

Oct 23 2008 23:52

Hmm…
Won’t this tiny piece of code work inside of a simple post? If so… :-P

Oct 24 2008 08:00

@Tom Ransom: Exactly, the “save the developers” plugin is very nice too. Anyways, it is also possible to write a custom message to IE6 users, or redirect them to another page by using IE conditional comments.

@Enrique P. Machado: Sure, just make sure you’re not using the visual editor.

Oct 24 2008 09:17

That’s just low..and hilarious…when I was in school for webdesign and I had worked all night on this website theme..I went to work and I wanted to show it to one of my co-workers and she had IE6 installed..she opened it up and I was horrified by what I saw. It looked completely wack. That was my first hard lesson in browser compatibility and IE6 Hell. People still use the browser though..I don’t get it but I think some people are afraid of progress. I supported a guy the other day that was having problems viewing his webmail..well no wonder come to find out he was still using IE4!!

How old is this page? http://toastytech.com/evil/index.html (ugliest website ever made but kinda funny)

Oct 24 2008 09:35

@DivaGeek: Exactly. Some weeks ago, at work, I had a support request from a client who said the website we created was messed up. I verified and didn’t see any problem, so I asked him a screenshot: He was using IE4 or IE5.
Damn. Is so SO HARD to upgrade your browser?

The page you linked (funny btw) is 10 years old!

Oct 24 2008 16:53

Evil. I like it. :)

Oct 24 2008 22:20

@jbj Hey you might know the answer to this… how do you set up comments in wordpress to display in the correct order..for example this one under the comment I’m replying to and so on..for example how Live journal works. I might be dreaming but I have a right to dream. :)

Oct 24 2008 23:06

thinking a little bit… if someone has the time to make a plugin with the following features: detect ie6 and below, open a pop-up with upgrade-link and the best wishes from the crash-ie6-campaign, then crash them … would save a lot of time and money on implementing ie6-compability to the world … spread the word!

Oct 24 2008 23:49

@Divageek: I think there’s a plugin which can do that, but I don’t remember the name right now. I’ll let you know when I’ll remember.

@kaiser: That’s easy to do: just put the popup code within IE conditionnal comments. A plugin is a good idea, did you check out if it don’t already exists?

Oct 25 2008 00:03

That’s funny. Actually a bit mean but still funny :)

Oct 25 2008 01:46

@jbj

I think I will make a post just for kidding. lol
Something with “Just click here and CRASH!

The other time the user visit the page with FF or other browser and click on that link, I’ll reveal a page telling some things about IE. :-P

I now that the user may not click anymore, but… maybe I capture some curious one.

Nov 05 2008 01:38

Save The Developers is no more! Here’s a nice alternative:
http://www.pushuptheweb.com/

Nov 06 2008 21:58

thats cool :P

Nov 07 2008 19:04

damn crazy solution :D

i love your idea

Nov 19 2008 09:47

How pity i am!!~~
I will have to keep on writing IE6 hacks for the customs for a long time,my boss make me so, cause over 50% of them are using IE6,and also,I have to do this to my blog,too,it will be very terrible to do the thing you tell,although I really hate IE6!!~~

Dec 04 2008 04:32

It is fun to crash the IE 6. But, the visitor may not visit in future to the blog because it crashed.

Dec 07 2008 02:31

Evil…

I like it!

BTW, your website is not IE6-friendly ;) There’s a problem with the positioning of your sidebar.

PS : thanks a lot for this very useful site!

Dec 07 2008 08:53

@Bobby: Fixing IE6 bugs is definitely boring. As long as my sites can be read with ie6, it’s ok for me. This also show how obsolete IE6 is to people who still uses it :)

Feb 04 2009 16:49

Yes this is cruel.

But when I remember the fuss about IE 6 and WP blog, especially if the client has chosen some fancy premium theme which is not “neat and clean”, even if done by top blog design gurus – then I understand you :)

Mar 04 2009 13:05

Not a good solution for usability. Majority of the people still use IE6 unfortunately, you just have to makes sure your CSS is to web standards. By following this method you will lose a lot of interest in your site..esp. if its a Ecommerce or business one..

Mar 28 2009 16:43

A wordpress plugin witch block IE6 users and ask them to download Firefox http://wiki.nisi.ro/wordpress-platform/antiie6/

Apr 24 2009 12:21

does not work with
Version: 6.0.2900.2180.xpsp_sp2_gdr.050301-1519

maybe MS fixed it by now, Apr 2009

Sep 29 2009 07:35
Dec 11 2009 14:25

This might be funny for you, but not for the reader who came to the blog to gather some infor related to that topic and you risk the visitor not returning to the website anymore. :)

Best,

Alcar

Mar 11 2010 16:28

This is good as a temporary solution if you have better things to do than fixing IE6 css . Tnx

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