Internet Explorer 8 is Coming!
So, Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 was released back in March - targeted at the web developer audience. Beta 2 is approaching a bit later this year, intended for a broader base of users (enthusiasts and the like). It's great to see that we're not standing still in browser innovation, as has been the charge in the past (as I understand it, the long time between IE6 and IE7 wasn't so much due to lack of desire to innovate, as it was about reprioritization of resources focusing on security - but I digress). Interoperability and standards compliance are the name of the game in many areas within Microsoft these days, and IE is no exception. As such, we want to provide some early warning to our customers as to the changes coming with IE - web page displays may well be affected by the modifications. Read below for the official message from the IE team - and please ensure that your web content owners are aware!
Consistent with our efforts to promote further interoperability across the Web, Microsoft will be releasing Internet Explorer 8 to display content in its most standards compliant way by default. Enabling Internet Explorer 8 to display web content in its most standards-compliant way by default is the right way to help move the Web forward. Giving top priority to Web standards interoperability allows us to:
• Help web developers and designers drive toward the ideal of “write once, run anywhere”, freeing up more time to innovate vs. modify content for different browsers
• Address several major development and design pain points from previous Internet Explorer releases
• Partner closely with Web standards working groups to be a key contributor in Web standards evolution
However, browsing with this default setting may cause content written for previous versions of Internet Explorer to display differently than intended. This creates a call to action for site owners to ensure their content will continue to display seamlessly in Internet Explorer 8. In order to maintain backwards compatibility with Internet Explorer 7, we have provided a compatibility meta-tag usable on a per-page or per-site level. Adding this tag instructs Internet Explorer 8 to display content like it did in Internet Explorer 7, without requiring any additional changes.
We are encouraging site administrators to get their sites ready now for broad adoption of Internet Explorer 8, as there will be a beta release in the third quarter of this calendar year targeted for all consumers. To learn more and get started, please follow the step-by-step instructions located at the following link: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=120024
Additional Resources
The following links provide additional information you may find useful:
· Compatibility Knowledge Base article: http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=120024
· Internet Explorer 8 main site: http://www.microsoft.com/ie/ie8
· Internet Explorer Team Blog: http://blogs.msdn.com/ie
· Internet Explorer Developer Center: http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/ie/default.aspx
· Internet Explorer 8 Readiness Toolkit (for web designers and developers): http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/ie/ie8/readiness/default.htm
· Microsoft Interop Principles: http://www.microsoft.com/interop/principles/default.mspx
