How important is IE7/IE8 support for you?

[rich]

The subject says it all really - but when building an HTML5 game how important is support for these 2 versions of Internet Explorer to you? Obviously neither support canvas, so are DOM only, but would you expect a game framework to support them natively, or not be too fussed if it didn't?

[botman]

I took the view it'd be nice to support those browsers if I can without too much effort, but that's about the limit of it.

 

I am planning to use explorercanvas <http://code.google.com/p/explorercanvas/> to add IE7/8 support to my game, however, I doubt explorercanvas offers very good performance at all. My game is very basic graphically, though. 

[benny!]

Well, since time is limited and support of IE7/IE8 would mean less time for other features - I would definately prefer a solid / feature rich framework for modern browsers only.

[nem0ff]

I prefer simple framework released now than feathure full never released

[endel]

Using polyfills like explorercanvas or flashcanvas only games that do not require a good frame rate could be done, like something turn based. But I actually don't  worry about obsolete browsers.

[rich]

Thanks for the explorer canvas link guys, I had tried flash canvas and it was painfully slow, but will try that too. We are having to support IE7/8 for a client project at the moment and I wondered if outside of this client it was a request you guys were asked for often/at all?

[Ezelia]

It's not a good idea to make the same mistake with IE7/8 than the one we did with IE6 trying to support it eaven if it introduce bad code and shims.

 

if we want good HTML5 games we accept to upgrade our browser to play it.

 

for me, trying to support IE7/8 for HTML5 games is like trying to play good 3D games on old computers with poor 3D graphic card, the best you'll get is a laggy game with all graphic details turned off and bad textures ... the game can run yes, but you'll not enjoy to play it

[rich]

Yes I understand, my question was more one of 'do your clients ask for this? how much of a deal breaker is it for you?' but I'm getting the impression that it isn't so far

[benny!]

From my experience - most clients I know neglect IE7 already. Some demand support for IE8 though. But I guess this will also change soon (hopefully).

[EmployeeNumber8]

I'll support any obsolete browser, but it will cost the client more.

[gin5eng]

"January 2013 - 14.3% of visitors use IE"

http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp

 

"January 2013 - 6.4% of visitors use IE8 and 1% use IE7"

http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_explorer.asp

 

... not very important.

[rich]

Those stats are useless imho. Always go on the stats from the site who needs the game, and in this case 22% are still on IE7 and IE8 because of all the schools accessing the site. So yes, very important. My question was never how important is IE8, it was do your CLIENTS request it from you or not.

[michalbe]

Did anyone try jebGL (what sounds ridiculus in Polish, because 'jeb' is really close to very popular, informal word for 'fuck' ) to emulate WebGL in IE?

[gin5eng]

Those stats are useless imho. Always go on the stats from the site who needs the game, and in this case 22% are still on IE7 and IE8 because of all the schools accessing the site. So yes, very important. My question was never how important is IE8, it was do your CLIENTS request it from you or not.

 

You're right, always cater to your clients. 

 

I think though, that you should pick a target platform. Build for that platform and then later add support for other platforms. Question is now then; is IE7/IE8 your targeted platform?

[Quetzacotl]

Supporting older browsers depends on your app purpose and your target clients. If you are writing game, forget about old browsers since players are aware of issues.

[martensms]

Well, by concept it doesn't make sense to support old IE variants.

 

I mean, they are too lazy to download a newer browser (which takes < 5 minutes of their life and is completely free) - and expect to run bleeding edge games there? If they are modern and play games on the web, you can guess that they at least saw google.com, youtube.com, facebook.com (or any other popular site on the web) and the hint for downloading Firefox / Chrome already

[rich]

People browsing using an older browser rarely do it out of their own choice. Good examples being school computer labs, offices, banks, etc. Nothing to do with being lazy (that's something you could say about their IT depts. yes, but doesn't change the fact).