It’s official, Matt Mullenweg, founding developer of WordPress, posted that WordPress will be ending support Internet Explorer versions 8, 9, and 10 starting with WordPresss 4.8.

Since Microsoft officially discontinued support for these browsers back in January 2016, Matt said “…to continue supporting them ourselves has gotten to the point where it’s holding back development”.

In general, Internet Explorer market share has dropped over the years in favor of more compatible and reliable browsers like FireFox and Chrome. Research shows that the older IE browsers combined is equal to less than 1% – 3% of total users. That number falls below the threshold where it makes sense for WordPress to continue to develop and test for.

So how will this effect your website visitors? In short, it won’t!

The majority of internet users have upgraded to newer computers and browsers that support the latest internet technologies. What website owners should be more concerned about is mobile compatibility.

With 80% of internet users owning smartphones, it’s critical that your website be mobile-friendly. Social media activity, email, and web browsing are happening from the comfort of the couch and not from the desktop.

We have the luxury of information at our fingertips. When a potential customer is searching for that product or service, you want them to find your site and have a great experience while there.

If your website is not mobile-friendly, you need to consider making it a business priority to update in 2017.