This was the argument I heard today for why we should continue to support IE8 for some non-government clients. The argument was presented to me by an IT guy for this particular client. He says that because the local government still uses and supports the use of IE8 that everyone building digital products should be supporting it as well. But let me ask you if the government endorsed the use of horse and carriage still instead of using a car as the common way of transportation would we all follow them and do that instead. No because it doesn’t make sense. It’s insane. So why would we continue to support a legacy browser that goes against the mentality of innovation that modern browsers have commit to?

Governments are slow moving and are so filled with stubbornness to change that it would make sense that they would still be using IE8 because they don’t know any better. But this isn’t always the case. Look at the movements that the UK governing bodies and the Obama administration have been making in the last few years. They are showing the world that governments can stay modern and relative. The lack of growth and maturity in the digital age in my local area has always been a challenge. But without leaders in our industry helping to show the way we are just supporting bad practices rather than standards.

I never intended this to be a political rant. In reality, the question is not about what governments are doing in regards to browser support, it’s about what are the users using. Yes, if your audience is the government then unfortunately you will have to continue to support legacy browsers. If your audience is the regular public then it comes down to what is the data saying. Have you been tracking your traffic through analytics? If you haven’t seen a user in IE8 and under for several months then do you really need to support it? The answer is no. Some of the largest corporations in the world have even made this decision. Google, for example, no longer supports the use of IE8 in any of its applications. This should make you stop to think for a second. If a company like Google can justify a decision to stop using IE8 and under then do you really need to waste hours and hours working through the struggles of making IE8 work properly.

What you should support is a practice of progressive enhancement so that if a user does come to your site through a legacy browser they are still able to access everything. They just won’t see the beauty and standards that you’ve carefully crafted to enhance your content. But remember the content still needs to be accessible. I find this is the hardest part for clients who are screaming for the support of legacy browsers don’t understand. They think that all browsers should look and function the exact same way. However, that is never possible. Not with all the polyfills and fallbacks in the world. You can make it look similar and create a flow that still satisfies all your content objectives, but to have the same emotional level of connection with users, it will never happen.

Remind clients that they are in fact not the audience for their projects. If they think supporting a legacy browser they use is the right move, then take a moment to review their analytics with them. If the actual audience isn’t accessing the content through this option then work with your clients to help them understand why it’s would be a waste of their budget. Show them the analytics, make them understand that you aren’t being stubborn because you don’t want the headache. This usually leads to a stronger more trusting relationship with your client. Help them know that just because you won’t support a legacy browser doesn’t mean they won’t be able to access the content. Show them the benefits of progressive enhancement. Heck, show them the benefits from outside of standards compatibility like security.

But please if you can help clients move to a modern browser. Even ask your government rep to push for it in their industry as well. We can be the advocates of innovation that we are suppose to be. We just need to reach out and be heard.