Why doesn't this site look right in IE6?

[probedb]

Nooooooooo, stop using hacks!! If you want to separate something for IE use IE conditional comments. It really isn't the 'professional solution', it's outdated and very bad practice.

You're even showing a hack for the IE5 box model which IE6 doesn't use if you use a Strict doctype...which is all you should ever use unless you really are transitioning a website from one version of (X)HTML to another in which case a Transitional one is acceptable.

If you build websites well there's actually very few CSS changes you need for IE6. You also need to remember that trying to make websites pixel-perfect in every browser is not sensible.

 

[MajesticMix]

Nooooooooo, stop using hacks!! If you want to separate something for IE use IE conditional comments. It really isn't the 'professional solution', it's outdated and very bad practice.

You're even showing a hack for the IE5 box model which IE6 doesn't use if you use a Strict doctype...which is all you should ever use unless you really are transitioning a website from one version of (X)HTML to another in which case a Transitional one is acceptable.

If you build websites well there's actually very few CSS changes you need for IE6.

Good point, and perhaps my 'hack' shouldn't have given parameters as an example. But I would argue that accepting the situation and presenting hacks is a widely accepted solution. Creating strict/transitional documents is subjective again, and I will not derail the topic by talking further on that; but my advice *was* given presuming that the OP is happy using Transitional standards, as was indicated by the source code of the website.

You also need to remember that trying to make websites pixel-perfect in every browser is not sensible.

Well said.

Majestic~

 

[Adnams Drinker]

Nooooooooo, stop using hacks!! If you want to separate something for IE use IE conditional comments. It really isn't the 'professional solution', it's outdated and very bad practice.

...

If you build websites well there's actually very few CSS changes you need for IE6.

Agreed - in the course of my web work I find that almost without exception if I write the CSS to work in Firefox then it'll also work without modification in Opera, Safari, Chrome and usually in IE7.

More often than not, if something needs fixing in IE6, you can bet it's normally relating to margins and/or padding, which is dead simple to fix with a conditional comment.

I used to put CSS styles directly inside the conditional comment, which stopped pages from validating, until I found out that calling an IE6 specific stylesheet from insde the comment instead achieves the same result with the added bonus of a page that validates.

You also need to remember that trying to make websites pixel-perfect in every browser is not sensible.

Amen to that - something that developers have known for years, but something that is surprisingly difficult to hammer into the thick skulls of designers, particularly designers who come from a print background ...