The IE6IFY site proudly proclaims: “After years of observation and reverse engineering I am proud to say I have been able to reproduce the IE6 algorithm to break even the most standards-compliant websites.”

Before I show you the results, here’s the piece of code that does the damage:

javascript:(function(){var i=0,r=function(n){return Math.floor(Math.random()*n)},f=document.getElementsByTagName('body')[0].getElementsByTagName('*'),o=function(e){return typeof(e.style)=='object'&&e.tagName!='SCRIPT'},s=function(){while(!o(e=f[r(f.length)])){}return e.style};while(i++<5){s().display=r(2)?'block':'inline';s().position=r(2)?'absolute':'relative';s().margin=r(2)?'0':'1em';s().padding=r(2)?'0':'1em';s().width=r(2)?'':'auto';}})();

Whack that into your browser's toolbar and then hit it repeatedly when viewing your (least) favorite web site.

Here's what happens to Forever Geek:

And Gadzooki:

And of course Microsoft can't be allowed to get away with it:

Anyone tried it in IE6?

Internet Explorer 7x is close behind, with Firefox version 3 claiming one in ten users and the rest straggling behind.

It’s news that’s sure to wind up web developers, like those behind the Kill IE6 project.

These results come from Stat Owl. Other web measuring tools might get the numbers slightly different, but there’s no denying that a lot more needs to happen to eradicate IE6 from the world.

Part of the problem is corporations that haven’t upgraded their systems, as well as home users who aren’t very computer literate and just don’t know or care about web browser versions and the like. It’s just the Internet, right?

Unsurprisingly, you Forever Geek readers are a web savvy lot – well over half are using Firefox. The 6% or so of IE6 users probably arrived here by mistake.

Though Microsoft has recently announced that it is to roll out Internet Explorer 8 via automatic software upgrade, I’ve still got a nasty feeling that IE6 could take some time to eradicate.