older versions of Internet Explorer

[Semperfidelis]

Hi

I am just learning about web technologies using a great book that is somewhat dated, and I want to know if I should still be concerned about IE8 and what it supports. I have looked at the browser stats, and the numbers are really small. But I know that even a small percentage number of all the browsers in use today might be significant. So I wanted to ask folks who are actively producing sites today, which browsers and or versions do you cater to? Is there a link that I can read more about this? I mean a good article that discuses which browsers one would have to support and why? 

I realize while IE8 might be out of the picture, the concern of what the browser supports is still out there. I also read a little bit about the idea of shadow DOM, and it might be replacing the use of Polyfills. Not sure if you agree. I am just looking for an up to date strategy of ensuring all the browsers that might load my page, will see the content I want. Another way of looking at this might be to just stay on safe side, and code for all the possible browsers. Is that practical though?

 

Edited December 31, 2020 by Semperfidelis
added more explanation

[niche]

Here's a Dec 2020 link that addresses you question about "working cross browser":

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Cross_browser_testing/Introduction

Here's a quote that stuck out: 

Quote

For example, if the e-commerce site owner wants a WebGL-powered 3D tour of each product built into the product pages, they will need to accept that this just won't work in IE versions before 11. You'd have to agree to provide a version of the site without this feature to users of older IE versions.

 

 

[Semperfidelis]

23 hours ago, niche said:

Here's a Dec 2020 link that addresses you question about "working cross browser":

https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Learn/Tools_and_testing/Cross_browser_testing/Introduction

Here's a quote that stuck out: 

 

Thank you so much.

Edited January 1, 2021 by Semperfidelis