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Referring to this answer from @DA01

Do a significant number of users of your web site use IE8 or earlier and would they be unwilling to upgrade to use your site?

If so, then yes.

Otherwise, no.

Is there a way to find out if users are willing to upgrade their browsers or not?

It could be a problem even for Chrome, Firefox and Opera users where there is an auto-upgrade option, since auto-update feature could be disabled due to some reasons such as

  • Some security process has disabled it,
  • or User has turned it off to support a certain feature,
  • or User has turned it off to reduce network data-usage.

Problem usually is browsers like IE, especially in an corporate environment where auto-update feature is not there.

I want to be able to redirect them towards the download page of that upgraded version so that they can download the latest version of browser.

This is an important information for a product team when they thinking about using a feature of a browser which are available in latest versions but not in older versions and keeping a track of fallbacks for older browsers through multiple releases is not easy.

How do I find out that users are willing to upgrade their browsers?

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    You should give more context to your question. Are you website admin, or browser developer? Users may not want to update their browser for variety of reasons: they don't want to waste time, they're afraid that something may go wrong, their mood. I don't know if you can check if the specified user has updated its browser recently. Thats the only way you can chech something like that.
    – Kristiyan Lukanov
    Feb 10, 2016 at 9:16
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    @KristiyanLukanov It is an area of interest for a product team. Updated the question to add this info as well.
    – gurvinder372
    Feb 10, 2016 at 9:24
  • If this is for an intranet, maybe you could just ask the IT department to upgrade all the browsers...
    – Yvonne Aburrow
    Feb 10, 2016 at 9:45
  • @YvonneAburrow it is not for intranet.
    – gurvinder372
    Feb 10, 2016 at 9:53

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I would have thought it would be difficult to gauge willingness to update browser software, unless you use a questionnaire. Apart from an inability to upgrade due to security restrictions, there is fear of technology, etc. So don't use a questionnaire to gauge willingness.

A better approach: If you are using Google Analytics, you can see how many users are using which browsers. You can then make a decision to use progressive enhancement for those users with up-to-date browsers, and decide which browsers to provide a basic page for.

There are also CSS & jQuery workarounds for supporting multiple browsers, such as Modernizr.

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  • Thanks but what kind of questionaire should I put to gauge this willingness?
    – gurvinder372
    Feb 10, 2016 at 9:36
  • I would not recommend using such a questionnaire, as it won't really help you. Use Google Analytics and Modernizr or a similar tool instead w3.org/community/webed/wiki/…
    – Yvonne Aburrow
    Feb 10, 2016 at 9:38
  • What should I look for in Google Analytics or Modernizr to gauge the willingness?
    – gurvinder372
    Feb 10, 2016 at 9:39
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    That's not what I am saying. Google Analytics will tell you what browser your users are actually using. And Modernizr will let you manage your code so that if users don't have the latest browser, the page will degrade gracefully. That way, you don't need to worry about whether they are willing to upgrade or not. Looking like you are unable or unwilling to support older browsers just makes you look like you are unwilling to support users.
    – Yvonne Aburrow
    Feb 10, 2016 at 9:42
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    Maybe just have a link to a browser upgrade page which has links to the latest versions then, and see how many people click on it (again using Google Analytics).
    – Yvonne Aburrow
    Feb 10, 2016 at 11:07

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