A beta version of Internet Explorer 8 was released for download last week, and it seems to make major concessions to the development community that are unprecedented. Microsoft’s latest browser, though still working out kinks, has reportedly passed the Acid2 test, a major standards compliance test which most browser releases strive to render correctly. Other features are also specifically geared towards developers, and this version of IE introduces several new tools that are likely to please. As the IEBlog says, “While supporting the features tested in Acid2 is important for many reasons, it is just one of several milestones for the interoperability, standards compliance, and backwards compatibility that we’re committed to for this release.” These goals are a welcome sign for web developers who struggle to optimize their pages for multiple browsers.
One of the most anticipated new features being tested in this beta release is called “WebSlices”, which is a means by which users can get updates from other sites directly through the browser. This means that users can “subscribe” to portions of outside web pages which update frequently, similar to an RSS feed. This will allow IE 8 users to receive information about their EBay auctions, Facebook friends’ activities, etc.
“Activities” is another Microsoft IE8 feature that has been highly anticipated. It allows users to highlight text on a page and use a proprietary button to find information about that text on other web pages. For example, one could read an article about the Nintendo Wii, highlight the product name, and find retailers who have it in stock. Users could also visit the website of a local restaurant, use Activities to find their location on LiveMaps, and email the information to a friend through Hotmail.
On the developer side of the table, though, IE8 promises better support for AJAX web pages and the ability to “run” both IE8 and IE7 on the same machine. Developers who develop websites and applications for large audiences are constantly struggling to make them work in a myriad of browsers, and Microsoft’s IE updates were an annoyance. Some even turned to less-than-stable setups to allow them access to different releases of IE on the same machine. IE8 features a handy “Emulate IE7″ button in the browser which will display a project as it will appear to IE7 users.
Never easily satisfied, the developer community has a lot to say about the “Emulate IE7″ feature. While some appreciate the option, they have strong opinions about how the feature was executed. One of the most common complains is that it forces you to end your browsing session and restart, possibly losing your footing in your project. One user comment on IEBlog regarding the “Emulate IE7″ function, says it nicely: “With all respect, Microsoft seems to be still putting bandaids on bandaids.” Another commenter jokes, “An ‘Emulate Firefox 3.0′ would be cooler.” Microsoft is undoubtedly listening to this harsh criticism, and developers are being cruel to be kind. IE8 is a beta release aimed mostly at developers, and many of these kinks will be taken into account for the 1.0 version.
Though I’m no developer, I downloaded IE8 and explored the new features. I found it incredibly slow to respond and load content in the feeds, though I did appreciate being able to import bookmarks and favorites from other browsers and drag-and-drop them within the toolbar. It has much of the same look at IE7, so there won’t be a steep learning curve for current users. It did crash on me when I tried to access WebSlices for the first time, and it seems to attempt a “restore session” feature, though it crashed again when I tried to take advantage of it. Some webpages displayed badly, with photos overlapping type, etc. Another user testing out the new browser says, “Unfortunately, I experienced plenty of browser crashes and hanging in my use of the IE8 beta, as installed on Windows XP with Service Pack 2 with Google and Yahoo Toolbars installed.” So it wasn’t just me, a poor Vista user.
As blogger Sarah Perez, who was at the MIX08 conference, put it, “this launch shows that Microsoft is not taking Firefox’s creep into browser market share lightly.” Many of IE8′s new bag of tricks are aimed at mimicking the Firefox features that users and developers love. Now let’s hope that this beta launch is just the tip of the iceberg that Microsoft has planned for IE8.