Last year I was discussing the idea that as web designers and developers are the poeple who suffer most from IE6's continued usage, we are responsible for doing what we can to educate users into upgrading.

37 Signals also announced that they would no longer actively support IE6, a step in the right direction but it doesn't actively encourage users to change their browser unless a change is made which actually stops the software from working in the offending browser.

Today I was alerted to Web developer, Thom Shannon's latest website update. He has taken a new approach and one which I applaud.

If a user visits his blog with IE6, the page displays in black and white. The page also shows a message pointing out that the browser is outdated and suggesting some alternatives.

That's the genius part, and like all great ideas, it seems so obvious. If you want IE6 users to upgrade, simply ask them to and provide them with links to the alternatives. This surely will convert more users than a gradual dropping of support for the old browser.

Thom Shannon's Blog showing IE6 view compared with the normal view