OLC and Internet Explorer 6

The new OLC Web site has been built using HTML5 and CSS3; because of this, it does not support Internet Explorer 6. If you wish to use the OLC site, you will need to upgrade to a Web browser that supports HTML5/CSS3. ICPSR is making this change for a number of reasons:

HTML5 and CSS3 represent the future of Web development, and allow better support of audio/video files and other forms of rich media. There are a number of long-term goals that ICPSR feels will be best met by embracing HTML5 and CSS3. To that end, we are testing the waters by building some new sites using HTML5/CSS3. When the standard is formalized, ICPSR will already have experience implementing HTML5 and CSS3.
IE6 is currently the least secure Web browser available, logging 473 unpatched publicly known vulnerabilities, compared to 53 issues in IE7, 26 in IE8, 1 issue in Opera and Firefox, and zero issues in Google Chrome and Safari. ICPSR contends that having a secure browser is essential to responsible data use.
Approximately 5% of our overall audience is still using IE6, which represents a small segment of our user base. Regrettably, we cannot justify the additional resources necessary to test within the IE6 environment and adjust code accordingly for this small, declining percentage of ICPSR users. Our policy is to look carefully at any browser that dips below 10% of our user base. When IE9 starts demonstrating a significant portion of our audience, we will begin to convert all of our existing sites to HTML5/CSS3.

We understand that instructors seldom have direct control over the software installed on campus computers. You may need to contact your IT staff and ask that browsers be updated. If you encounter resistance, the articles below may provide more information on why IE6 should be replaced:

Persistent URL: http://icpsr.blogspot.com/2010/11/olc-and-internet-explorer-6.html

2010-11-01

You can also view other OLC announcements.