Posted on 12/20/2007 10:36:06 AM PST by ShadowAce
Standards, standards, standards.
That's the general theme of a video about the next version of Internet Explorer, which will unsurprisingly be called IE8. Details thus far have been scarce, but in a half-hour video with IE's GM Dean Hachamovitch and Architect Chris Wilson produced by Microsoft's Channel 9, the two discuss the importance of standards, compatibility and interoperability with the upcoming browser. We also get a (faraway) sneak peak at a development build of the new hush-hush browser. The key takeaway? IE will finally be able to render the Acid 2 test correctly, which has historically been one of the toughest Web standards and compliance tests around.
Microsoft originally intended to add additional compliance support into IE7 (including the Acid 2 test), but it didn't make it into the shipping build. It was then put in a lower priority on the bottom of a large "wish list" of improvements for future updates, but to no avail as Microsoft focused its resources on building IE8. No version of IE has been able to pass the test, while mainstream competing browsers like Opera, and Apple's Safari have managed to be compliant for the last few years. Mozilla's upcoming Version 3 of Firefox is also set to pass the Acid 2 test, although the current shipping version of Firefox (version 2) won't cut the mustard.
The real importance of standards compliance is a two-party problem: one for developers who have to laboriously make their sites work with as many browsers as possible, and another for the users who simply may not be able to use a site because it's been designed only for a limited number of compatible browsers. The Acid 2 test isn't the final solution, but it manages to put any browser through its paces with a seven-part test.
Still no word on other IE8 user features, or a release date.
In response to competition, or Opera’s suit?
Good question. I don’t know the answer.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
The old joke about how Microsoft deals with standards:
“Embrace, extend, extinguish”
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