There’s no question that Internet Explorer 6 has replaced Netscape 4 as the most reviled browser known to Web development. Just do a quick real-time search to see how Web designers feel.

There’s a lot not to like. To name just a few short-comings:

• It doesn’t render the transparency of Portable Network Graphics (*.PNG files) properly, requiring a browser-specific filter
• It doesn’t render a lot of the latest CSS declarations

(I could go on and on, but why relive the agony?)

This means that Web designers need to invest extra time making sure IE6 renders their creations properly, and that makes us, um… cranky, and rightly so.

Some designers actually seem to be personally offended by people who use IE6, and want to force them to switch browsers by denying them access to their Web sites if they use IE6.

This approach is miguided and does not take into account the fact that many people cannot upgrade because they access the Web from corporate IT environments that only support IE6.

Other designers are bewildered that some people would continue to use IE6 when other options exist. The reason has to do with usability, and is best characterized by the phrase “if-it-ain’t-broke-don’t-fix-it”. In other words, people who use IE6, many of whom are non-technical, get along just fine, thank you, sending email and surfing and purchasing with adequate security. These folks have no incentive to switch.

It’s hard to get angry with people for that.

Designer Andy Clarke recently considered the options regarding the IE6 question and proposed a Universal Internet Explorer 6 CSS file as a solution. Basically, Clarke, says, serve up a plain jane style sheet that allows folks with IE6 to view a Web page’s content, but conveys the message that their browser is not up to par in terms of rendering its layout.

Some top flight designers have adopted this approach, as Jina Bolton did recently when she redesigned her personal site, Sushi and Robots. UIE6 has popped up on a couple of sites here in the Portland area as well.

So, has the time come to employ the Universal Internet Explorer 6 CSS more routinely? The answer depends on the audience for your site as well as its content.

A quick spot check of W3Schools browser stats suggests that roughly 10% of all Internet users view it through IE6 (about 4% of the visitors to this site use IE6).

If your site caters to the general public and traffic analytics show one in ten visitors are using IE6, I’d say the time has not yet come for you to switch. You’re still better off employing progressive enhancement techniques in your CSS to serve up a design that still looks sharp, if not a pixel-perfect clone of what’s seen in other browsers.

If 4% or less are using IE6, and you’re not conducting any e-commerce, I’d say you’re safe giving UIE6 CSS a spin.

But if you do use UIE6 CSS, make sure you check to see that things are rendering properly. Sometimes goodies like jQuery, bereft of the CSS used in other browsers, leave the interface looking a little messy and content unreadable. Yep, I’ve seen that on at least one local site-that-shall-remain-nameless.

Remember, IE6 users are people too. They deserve a great (if not pixel-perfect) user experience like everybody else.

Next week we’ll be talking about Pemaquid’s current approach to handling CSS for IE6.

Have any of you out there used UIE6 CSS? Let us know how in the comments.

Here’s a list of some of the books that I’ve read and referred to over the years that have been invaluable resources for Web design:

Don’t Make Me Think – Steve Krug. Steve shows how people surf the Web, and that should affect how you build Web sites

The Design of Everyday Things – Don Norman. How people use a tool, a door, a switch, a Web site depends upon how it’s built (see affordance).

Designing with Web Standards – Jeffrey Zeldman. What it means to design with Web Standards, and why that’s better.

Bulletproof Web Design – Dan Cederholm. Why it’s smarter to lay out sites with CSS, rather than using <table>.

Transcending CSS: The Fine Art of Web Design – Andy Clarke. A great read from one of the world’s most talented Web designers. Andy explains how to use CSS to render your design visions beautifully and accessibly.

The Inmates are Running the Asylum – Alan Cooper. Explains why you want an Interaction Designer – not a programmer or a graphic designer – to build your Web site.

Designing Web Usability – Jakob Nielsen. An oldie but goodie. How to make Web sites easy to use.

Defensive Design for the Web – 37 Signals. Another book that’s been around for awhile, from one of the Web’s premiere usability consulting groups. The principles they espouse are timeless.

What’s funny is that lately I read fewer books and follow more blogs (that’ll be the subject of a future post).

Do you Web designers out there have any essential reads that have helped you over the years and that we should recommend to Jordan? (We know our short list above is far from complete) If so, please let us know in the comments.

South by Southwest, the annual Super Bowl of Web design, is underway in Austin, Texas this week. If you dropped a bomb on the convention center you’d likely vaporize 80% of the world’s top Web design talent.

It’s a great place to meet the cream o’ the crop. I attended “South By” in 2007 and 2008 and had the chance to meet and converse with Jeffrey Zeldman, Dan Cederholm, Andy Clarke and Ryan Carson, among others. I also kindled new friendships with other designers from the New England region with whom I’ve often been able to bounce ideas around from time to time.

You always hear about the latest and greatest at SXSW. I first heard about Twitter, which has exploded into the mainstream in the last three months or so, at the 2007 event, just a few months after it had launched.

That’s usually how it is with SXSW. One year it’s blogs, the next, online video, then social networking. What’ll be the new wave in 2009? I recommend keeping an eye on innovations involving the mobile Web.

This year I opted to do other things, but now, as I follow the Tweets (SXSW has been the most-popular-tweeted-topic for the last several days), I’m wishing I was there.

I’m not sure why. At Pemaquid, while we’re not perfect, we always build a high degree of accessibility – at least Level AA – into every site we develop. (Go ahead, check out the sites listed in our Portfolio and run them through your favorite accessibility checker – as long as you don’t bother w/some of the ancient table-based sites towards the bottom of the list.)

Accessibility is only going to become more important as time goes by. You may recall that Target recently settled a lawsuit brought against it by a blind man whose screen reader couldn’t weed his way through the hideous code soup Target’s development team put in front of him.

Companies and governmental organizations are only going to find it more and more important to build accessibility into their sites. Web designers should be up to the task.

Fortunately, when you add accessibility to your Web site, it doesn’t have to ruin a good design concept. It doesn’t have to add cost or overhead to your project either. You just have to take the time to learn about the core issues and build it into your design process.

More Web designers should understand the issues around accessibility and become accustomed to being a problem solver regarding them. The ingredients: an understanding of Web standards and the Web Accessibility Guildelines. A solid understanding of CSS can go a long way towards helping designers deal with accessibility challenges to their design concepts.

One person who uses the latest CSS techniques to create sites with amazing visual designs along with a high degree of accessibility is Andy Clarke (@malarkey on Twitter).

I hope to get back to my roots a bit and start writing and speaking more about accessible design and how the two don’t have to be mutually exclusive. I’d love to know what issues you’ve faced regarding accessible design.

To begin a story about Web design in Portland, Maine, I’ll start in the Atlanta airport.

That was where, while I was waiting to board the connecting flight that was to take me to the 2007 SXSW Interactive conference, that I found myself standing next to Andy Clarke. He isn’t exactly a household name, but in the world of Web, Clarke – an expert on CSS and a member of the Web Standards Project – is a rock star (he even actually looks like a rock star, a cross between someone from the British Invasion and Austin Powers. He’s got style).

Clarke was on his way to be a speaker at SXSW. We struck up a conversation, and he inevitably asked where I hailed from.

Portland, Maine, I told him, was where I ran my little Web design outfit, Pemaquid Communications.

Clarke was polite, but shot me a look of surprise that seemed to say ‘Portland, Maine? They build Web sites in Portland, Maine? I thought you guys were all lobstermen and lumberjacks.’

But really, why wouldn’t you want to build Web sites from Portland? You’ve got great geography (the sea, the mountains, the lakes, the woods) and great meterology (it’s a four-season town, you don’t bake in the summer and I don’t mind the snow in the winter, though your mileage may vary on that score!). It’s a great indoor-outdoor town. Oh, and there are plenty of great coffee shops with free wi-fi.

In short, the scene here is very conducive to creative thinking!

In the wonderful world of Web, it’s pretty easy to set up shop anywhere, and collaborate with Clients and team members hither and yon. There’s Basecamp for project management, Adium and Skype for real-time collaboration, Facebook, LinkedIn and a little thing called Twitter for networking (I found out Justin was looking for guest bloggers via his tweet on the subject).

A decent foundation has been laid in Portland for a vibrant Web community. Joe Michaud built MaineToday.com from scratch into a cutting-edge hotspot for online journalism, winning awards against much larger media companies. MaineToday alumni have gone on to make an impact. Justin Davis’ group at Portland Web Works manages VisitMaine.com, the site of the Maine Office of Tourism and one of the best tourism sites in the country. Frank McMahon is now a successful photographer and podcaster whose products include the popular Rumor Girls. (Full disclosure: I’m also one of those alumni).

There are also pockets of creativity at the University of Southern Maine, if you know where to look, and the Maine College of Art is cranking out great graphic designers who now have a keen sense of digital media and who are making an impact. That’s just the tip of the iceberg – apologies for all the things I’m leaving out.

So what do we need to make Portland a hub for Web creatives? We need community. To build community, I think we need to do two things:

Strengthen the skills of the people who are already here. Local Web heads should do what they can to support improvements in the digital media programs at USM, MECA and Southern Maine Community College. We should also develop “continuing education” programs – think regular meetups, BarCamps and labs.

Attract the techies who aren’t here. Right now that’s a big challenge for P-town. Sure, we’ve got loads of fresh air and our fair share of culture. Heck, they say we’ve got more restaurants per capita than anyplace outside of San Fran – that ought to count for something! Even so, though top flight Webslingers can work from anywhere, but there’s still a desire to get together with like-minded individuals in meatspace, and right now Portland is rightly seen as a little isolated in that regard. So we need to “connect the dots” in terms of the folks who are already here (see previous paragraph) so we’ll be able to more noticeably display visible signs of Web life to those viewing Portland from afar.

Can we connect the dots and build a world-class Web community? I think we can. I see subtle signs that the cells are coming together. What do you think?