The following table outlines current browser usage across several sites for which I have analytics access. This represents the trailing 30 days, ending yesterday, 2008-06-25. While not a full cross section of the Internet there's a reasonable spread between the sites in terms of age and technology experience, so this sample should be reasonably interesting to those of you who care about such things. It's interesting enough for me to post about

As you can see, while it's now third, Internet Explorer 6 is still hanging on with unfortunate tenacity. Which means we still have great pain to deal with when trying to develop cross-browser web sites in this rich, interactive era.

I also means there's demand for people like me who know how to handle the beast, so I guess I should look to that as a silver lining…

Still, die IE6 die.

So sayeth the IEblog:

IEBlog : IE Automatic Component Activation Now Available

The IE Automatic Component Activation (IE ACA) update is now available as part of the April 2008 Internet Explorer Cumulative Update. The "click to activate" behavior, formerly required for ActiveX controls embedded in some webpages, is now permanently removed from Internet Explorer. For detailed information on IE ACA, see our blog post from last November announcing this update.

This update replaces the IE ACA previews released in December 2007 and February 2008.

Which means I can stop using SWFObject and just dump Flash into the page like I used to way back when. SWFObject is really a nice piece of code, but I'm a lot happier when I'm not relying on JavaScript for something as basic as getting Flash embedded into a page. It's just an added layer of complexity and an extra download* that I don't need in my life and I'm damn glad to be rid of it.

Want an example of the complexity I'm talking about? check out this post I wrote a few months ago:

Belt and Suspenders- Flash Embed With SWFObject and Conditional Comments

While it works, it's WAY too complicated for anyone's good.

*although I do wrap all JS into a single file now, just appending SWFObject to the bottom of the file. Even doing that it adds a few KB to the download, so even in a single file situation it's overhead I'd rather be rid of…

SaveTheDevelopers.org :: Making The Web A Better Place

Say no to IE 6! Our current campaign focuses on assisting users in upgrading their Internet Explorer 6 web browser. This campaign will result in former IE 6 users having a more enjoyable experience on the web while (hopefully) creating a less stressful and complicated environment for web developers by hastening the retirement of an outdated browser.

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If you're using Flash and you want the best possible coverage (meaning it works with users who don't have JS turned on) while still using something like SWFObject where possible to get around the "click here to activate and use this control" ActiveX message in Internet Explorer, then take a look at the ridiculous pattern below.

Warning- not for the squeamish…
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Hallelujah. Bravo Microsoft! I really don't like using JS to embed Flash into a page, so this is good news for me. No more SWFObject for me

Don't get me wrong, SWFObject is a great piece of code. I just hate having to think about Flash at all. Unless there's actual communication between the SWF and the page, I just want to dump it into the doc like any other element and be done with it. I can't tell you how many problems I've had over the past year with Flash and JS embed techniques and bizarre bugs… Pain. Great pain.

IE Automatic Component Activation (Changes to IE ActiveX Update)

Back in April 2006, we made a change to how Internet Explorer handled embedded controls used on some webpages. Some sites required users to “click to activate” before they could interact with the control. Microsoft has now licensed the technologies from Eolas, removing the “click to activate” requirement in Internet Explorer. Because of this, we're removing the “click to activate” behavior from Internet Explorer!

It’s important (and cool) to note that this change will require no modifications to existing webpages, and no new actions for developers creating new pages. We are simply reverting to the old behavior. Once Internet Explorer is updated, all pages that currently require “click to activate” will no longer require the control to be activated. They’ll just work.

IEBlog : IE Automatic Component Activation (Changes to IE ActiveX Update)