What to do with customer's request to do a website for IE 6?

Question

Possible Duplicate:
How To Distract Clients From Using IE6

Hi all,

As webdevelopers and probably most of the user of SO will know, Internet Explorer 6 is one of the most nasty browsers to work with if you're developing a website. We developed a webshop for a client which works fine in every major browser, including IE 7 and 8. But not IE 6. This is the way it was planned and the client is happy with that. However, using the statistics gained by Google Analytics the client noted that 5% of the users still have IE 6. We've already implemented a warning for IE 6 users, noting that the site won't function properly in their browser.

Today the customer contacted our office, asking how much it would cost him for us to make the site IE 6 compatible. We (the programmers) are really not looking forward to doing it and have decided that if we have to do it, we are going to rebuild the site in it's entirety. The manager is currently working on a proposal, probably stating that it will take about 40 hours (which could be, according to us (the programmers, again), just enough). What would you guys do in this kind of situation? Would you rebuild the site? Would you just refuse to do it? Or something else?

Answer 1

Seriously, it depends on how much you want the work. If your company needs revenue then you do what the client wants for the agreed upon price. If you want to discourage the use of IE6 then charge a premium for working on an old technology...

Answer 2

Well, the customer always has the final say on things; so if they want to do it, you have to do it.

I'm not sure I'd scrap the entire site and redo it from scratch; but if you think that's going to be the way to go, then go for it.

I'd just have your manager put a nice fat pricetag on it, (you can justify by saying that you're building for an unsupported browser; and utilize that facebook example) but the decision is ultimately up to them.

Answer 3

I would say, if you are in the business of making money, do what the client wants if they are willing to pay for it.

Discourage it by any means possible: Don't offer any discount, and overestimate the time. Most clients will decide that 5% of the clients don't deserve that kind of cost. But if they still want it, at least you'll be making a profit by doing it.