Employer wants direct, no-hack, ie6 support for CSS. Should I talk him out of it?

Question

I'm currently employed by a website Designer, he gets the clients and sends me a mockup in a fireworks file, and I send him the html/css/js. The problem is that he wants direct ie6 compatibility for every site I build. That is, no conditional ie6 hack, no separate style sheets. A lot of my html has suffered because of it. I just started writing html with him last summer, he took me in as an intern and taught me everything about it. Since then I built 4 web pages, but I haven't yet made anything I'm really proud of.

Should I be trying harder to create stellar code beside my limitations or should I set him down and explain that his demands are killing the code for modern browsers?

Answer 1

Tell him that what he's asking is like asking astronauts to go to space without a suit.

Answer 2

If your employer's clients need to support IE6 (and it's still the browser of "choice" of a significant number of users) then you need to write pages and sites that cope.

However, if the pages/sites are going to be hard to maintain because of his restrictions then he needs to know this.

Explain the situation and how a) you could design better looking sites b) make them easier to change and maintain by doing it a different way.

If, however, he won't change his stance then either do it his way or find another job.

Answer 3

It is possible to write code that works in Internet Explorer 6 without providing any CSS targeted at that browser only … just as it is possible to travel without using any form of motorised transport (you limit how far you can go and it takes longer to get there).

I think this is an unreasonable goal.

Answer 4

The problem is that he wants direct ie6 compatibility for every site I build. That is, no conditional ie6 hack, no separate style sheets.

Supporting IE6 is fine, but not being allowed to use separate style sheets is complete bollocks. Some things will take ten times the time that way, and others will be impossible. I would try to talk him out of it, and if it doesn't work, tell him that the work will be charged by the hour, with no budget limit.

This requirement is not only stupid, it is also totally unnecessary. I can see people not liking hacks, but who cares whether the page uses conditional comments and separate style sheets to achieve the goal of cross-browser compatibility?

Answer 5

Welcome to programmer's world where we have to deal with tech idiots that calls the big shots.

sigh

First try to figure out their requirements.

• Do they only want the site you built works by IE6 only?
• Or do they want it to work with all major browsers?

If they only want IE6, then just build it specifically for IE6, and test it with IE6.

If they want the site look good on all browsers, then try to let them understand that their request is unreasonable and the industry standard is to use css IE hacks.

*edit:

Wait... Misread, they DON'T want a separate style sheet?? Hmm... suggest you change another job. You are wasting your time in that company.