What is the best HTML for displaying an 'Upgrade your browser' banner on your website?

Question

What is the best piece of HTML to put into your website informing certain browser's users that they should upgrade to a different browser?

Answer 1

As far as I am aware, only IE recognizes conditional & targeted commenting done by:

<!--[if lte IE 6]>
<div id="upgrade"><span>Like a growing number across the Web, this site no longer supports Internet Explorer 6 and your viewing experience may be affected. We recommend that you download the latest stable release of <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/windows/downloads/ie/getitnow.mspx"&gt;Internet Explorer 7</a> free of charge by <a href="http://www.microsoft.com/windows/downloads/ie/getitnow.mspx"&gt;clicking here</a>.</span></div>
<![endif]-->

see: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms537512(VS.85).aspx

Answer 2

Quite frankly, this is the user's problem, not yours. In reality, many users are not aware of the problem. I would personally use conditional comments to inform IE6 users that an upgrade is available. You could offer alternatives, but let the user make their decision which browser is right for them.

I don't blame you if you don't want to continue support old browsers. Only the current and previous versions of each popular browser should be supported at most. At the end of the day, as long as your text is readable, you've fufilled your obligations.

Answer 3

Seems like a waste of time to me.

Correct me if I´m wrong but I think the people who are using IE6 are using it because:

1. They´re not allowed to change it (company computers), so it´s not likely they can install another browser (instead of updating).
2. They have an illegal versions of windows that cannot update.

As I have understood, especially the first group is still pretty big so if you want to target these people your web-site should work in IE6 as well. End of story.

Now I realize you are not saying your site does not work on IE6, but annoying messages just turn people away, especially if it´s a message they can do nothing about.

Answer 4

<!--[if IE]><big><blink><marquee>Upgrade to $browser</marquee></blink></big><![endif]-->