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Is it ok to redirect IE users to a proper browser?

3:01 with Treehouse

The Treehouse team answers a difficult question about ie, "I've seen that some websites redirects IE users to a sub site with a message telling them that if they want to visit their website, they have to pick another, more proper, browser, such as Safari, Firefox, Chrome, etc. Is it OK for a web designer to do this?" This question comes from Anton Moritz from the Facebook group.

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    [Treehouse - Teacher Q & A] 0:00
    [Question: Is it Ok for a web designer to redirect IE users and ask them to pick 0:05
    another, more appropriate browser, such as Safari, Firefox, Chrome, etc.?] 0:07
    [Jim Hoskins] Is it okay? It's really annoying. 0:09
    I guess it's all right, but I don't see a really good reason for that 0:11
    unless there's a really extenuating circumstance. 0:16
    I think it's just bad form. 0:20
    Unless there's like a really good reason like this feature is so important, 0:22
    and it's just impossible to make it work or anything in IE. 0:28
    I just can't even think of a real example of that. 0:31
    It's kind of just laziness, I think. 0:35
    [Nick Pettit] I don't think you should redirect people to a separate webpage 0:37
    and not allow them to see your page. 0:42
    I think you should just give them some kind of gentle warning, 0:46
    telling them that, hey, your browser's pretty out of date. 0:49
    Maybe it's time to upgrade. 0:53
    If they're just using Internet Explorer, that's not really reason enough 0:55
    to present this kind of message. 1:00
    But if they're using an out-of-date browser, 1:02
    really from any browser vendor, then, yeah, I think it's sensible to present them 1:05
    with a message that tells them they might have a better experience 1:11
    if they upgrade to a better browser, and that should be the case. 1:15
    You shouldn't just be telling people to upgrade their browser for your website 1:19
    just because they need to upgrade their browser. 1:24
    You should tell them that if it's legitimately going to give them a better experience 1:27
    or especially if there's certain functionality that's not going to work at all 1:32
    if they don't upgrade. 1:37
    [Allison Grayce] No, I don't think so. At all. 1:40
    Because it's kind of like saying you're too lazy or incompetent 1:42
    to kind of like solve the problems with IE. 1:46
    I think the happy middle ground is to just maybe provide them with a prompt that says, " 1:49
    To get the full effect of our website, download the newest browser. 1:56
    Otherwise, here is this version of your website." 2:03
    It's kind of giving them that hint without preventing them from viewing the content. 2:06
    [Amit Bijani] No, not if you just want to be lazy about it. 2:13
    I mean, that's just really being lazy where you're saying, 2:16
    "Hey, you know what? You are using this browser, and I'm going to penalize you for doing that." 2:18
    I don't think you should be doing that. 2:23
    Unless the person is using IE 6. You know who you are. 2:25
    So, then you should probably do that. Yes. I agree. 2:29
    [Jason Seifer] I don't see why not. 2:34
    I mean, you're coming to my website. You've got to play by my rules. 2:36
    My rules include using a real browser. 2:40
    No, I don't think that's actually acceptable at all. 2:42
    Unless there's a business use-case for not wanting 2:45
    half a browser market to not be able to use your website, 2:49
    I don't really think that's acceptable. 2:53
    [treehouse] 2:56

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