Building a business website... got a big question to ask

[Dustin2128]

I'm on break so I've got quite a lot of free time. I got offered a couple hundred dollars to build/maintain a website for a small business in my area, and since I can't afford/don't want adobe flash, I've decided to build it with some of the new HTML5 standards seeing as I've got plenty of time to work. Since the business in question and 90% of the people in my area use firefox or chrome, I only just thought to test IE8. To my horror I found that HTML5 hadn't been adopted with that particular browser and won't be until IE9. In addition, the non-HTML5 version of the site also rendered quite badly on 8, so I was wondering: would it be acceptable to put a 'your mileage may vary' sticker or even a redirect for internet explorer users?

[Sporkman]

I don't think the business would like to turn away potential customers, even if they have substandard browsers.

You don't need flash or HTML5 to build a good business website...

[JDShu]

I don't think the business would like to turn away potential customers, even if they have substandard browsers.

You don't need flash or HTML5 to build a good business website...

+1

Stay away from the flashy stuff if it isn't essential.

[diesch]

A business web page should work with at least all major browsers.

And things like HTML5, Flash, JavaScript, ... may enhance the website if they are available but the pages should be usable without them.

[Lucky.]

If by chance you only need Flash for a front page photo/banner rotator, I made one with Javascript and CSS. With a little tweaking, it could be resized & have hyperlinks added to each frame. Last I checked it works with the latest versions of:

Chrome
Firefox
Safari
Internet Explorer
Opera

Also works with IE8, and I believe it works with IE7 (I have a version that definitely works with IE7, but I'm not sure if this particular one does...but a little creative CSS will get you there if this doesn't work).

A demo (http://www.ericforyan.com/demos/photorotator/4/) (rotation/transitions stop when mouse hovers over it, resumes when mouse is away - or you can click the arrows).

Tutorial(s) (http://www.ericforyan.com/index.php?node=7) on how to build it (+source code if you just want to nab it & modify).

[Dustin2128]

First of all, thanks quite a lot for the banner thing, that's one of the things I'd like to be 'flashy' but not the only, still it'll help.
I suppose the page wouldn't necessarily have to look that great.. but it's going to take me a lot of time to get the site working at all with IE... ugh, yet another reason to hate it. Once I've got my personal website up I really must put a redirect so I don't have to waste my time. Also I heard somewhere that 10% of people still use IE6 from 2001. Do any of you think it'd be worth my time to adapt the site to it? Also I had a brainwave: what if I had a nice HTML5'd site that it directs firefox konqueror and chrome users to and a site tailored to IE's problem child needs... is there a bit of code I can use to see if a browser is HTML5 compliant?