Efficiency of Internet Explorer 6 Vs. Internet Explorer 8
Internet Explorer 6 was first introduced in Windows XP in 2001. Eight years and two updates later Internet Explorer 8 was introduced in the summer of 2009. During the time between the releases of the two browsers, the Internet had changed dramatically. Both HTML and CSS, which is the code on which the web is based, had been dramatically changed. Users began to expect more and interactivity, which IE6 could not deliver without severe security measures. IE8 has emerged with full Internet and standards support.
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History
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Internet Explorer was introduced in 1995 with Microsoft's Windows 95 operating system. It came integrated with the operating system and email application Outlook. The browser could use Dynamic HTML, and at the time it boasted the latest in Internet development. However, it was not compliant with HTML and CSS standards, which were evolving. When IE6 was introduced, it lacked Internet standards compliance, which forced many web designers to use "hacks" in order to make their web pages viewable across all browsers, including IE6.
Problems
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Because IE6 is not standards compliant, it can take many extra man-hours to design a website that both IE6 and IE8 can view. In order to for IE6 to use the box model, the model of web design in which a website is a series of boxes, it must use outdated and hard-to-update tables or various "hacks" developed. These hacks include separate style sheets for each version of Internet Explorer and other browsers. Special characters, which force IE6 to pay attention to something in the style sheet, can break a page in later IE browsers. These "hacks" are considered unreliable when using IE6 to view a standards-compliant page.
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Upgrades
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Internet Explorer 7 cleaned up a lot of these hacks with regard to web page layout. However, it was not completely standards compliant. Some layouts still needed separate style sheets to adjust margins and padding.
6 Versus 8
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Internet Explorer 8 is more secure, follows Internet standards and current browsing conventions. Like previous versions of Internet Explorer, the browser comes bundled with the Windows operating system. Both Internet Explorer 6 and 8 can be downloaded for free from Microsoft's website. IE6 may not be able to view all modern web pages without help from hacks developed by web designers.
General Efficiency
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While Internet Explorer 6 will still deliver basic web pages designed with IE6 in mind, many companies are reducing their support for IE6. This includes Major League Baseball, Google, YouTube and Facebook. Since IE8 does not require the hacks that IE6 needs to view the web correctly, all major Internet outlets now support IE8. When designing a web page, developers can save time by not designing for IE6.
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