In 2001 Microsoft launched Internet Explorer 6 and it was met with mixed feeling. It was immediately apparent that it had not been developed with full standards support ((HTML, CSS etc) and immediately presented challenges to developers and designers alike.
The question now is whether the digital industry should turn it's back on it in order to fade it into distant memory?
The answer should be yes but what can't be denied about Internet Explorer 6 is its phenomenal browser market share. Even as it approaches its eigth birthday, Internet Explorer is still the browser of choice for up to half of a website's users. An incredible feat given that Internet Explorer 7 has been around for a couple of years now and was an automatic update for XP users and ships with Vista by default.
The actual answer then is no, Internet Explorer can not be ignored just yet and developers and designers alike will have to take the pain of continuing to support a technology that can sometimes lead to an extra 30% development time being required at the client side development stage of the build process.
As a website owner the best thing that you can do is find an agency who understand the challenges presented by Internet Explorer 6 and that include it as part of their supported browser base - as Sagittarius Marketing do. The simple fact remains that whilst it can add cost to the development process and requires additional time being spent on implementing a website on Internet Explorer 6, with such a market share you can't afford to ignore it.