Why on earth would you want to support anything less than IE6? IE4 and IE3 have only a .04% and .01% marketshare, respectively. It's not economically feasible to even bother. IE Sick.0 is down to 17.5% and fading (but not *fast* enough, IMHO).

Why on earth would you want to support anything less than IE6?

Yes I know about the market share figures. Maybe it is a mental disability on my part, but sometimes I find that once someone sets me a challenge it is difficult for me to turn the challenge down even if it is bad for my physical, spiritual and financial well-being. I have also considered the possibility that the only people still using IE4 are web designers validating their web pages.

Anyway I was not thinking of making the pages look pretty in IE3&4 -- just useable.

You are a much better person than I. I tell my clients. flat out. that I will not support IE6 presentation-wise. As a full-time Web guy, I detest IE with every fiber of my being, but readily admit it is the 800 lb. gorilla and here to stay. IE8 is looking better from a standards point of view, but if IE6 is any indication, it could take decades for Window's users to make the change.

—Brad
"The important work of moving the world forward does not wait to be done by perfect men." George Eliot

Take a look at evolt.org, Test Web pages in multiple browser versions and Testing Web applications with multiple browsers. browsershots.org may be worth a look also.

That said IE4 is 12 years old, and was designed for windows 95. IF anyone is still running either this version of the browser or the OS I'd be concerned from a security perspective.

Hope this helps

Martin

Update: browsers.evolt.org archives old browser installers, all the way back to ie 1.0.