Say Hello to Microsoft Internet Explorer 8…

Microsoft have today announced the release of their new version of popular web browser Internet Explorer, available for download from 4pm (GMT) today (Thursday).
Version Eight of the browser brings a host of new features and finally a welcome addition of a web standards rendering engine. A full list of features and more information on the browser can be found on Microsoft’s IE homepage or on their development blog

Hopefully this will release will mark the end of Internet Explorer 6, the bane of website developers everywhere, IE6 is almost 8 years old and now 2 versions behind the stable release, so people still running it are compromising their security with outdated software and disrupting their online experience by using a browser riddled with bugs.

I for one am taking this opportunity to draw a line in the sand and will no longer test my site designs in IE6, I will also be adding a small pop-up message to alert users visiting via IE6 that while they are welcome, they are visiting the site using outdated software and the site may not be compatible, I will also be providing a link to upgrade to IE8 (would be rude not to add a Firefox link as well )

UPDATE: (16/04/09 @ 22:04)

True to my word, if you now visit my website in Internet Explorer versions 7 or below, you will get an Information bar pop-up advsiing to update your browser.

Tags: firefox, IE6, IE8, internet explorer, Microsoft
Posted in Microsoft, Tools of the Trade | 2 Comments »

RIP IE

The end is nigh….for Microsoft’s Internet Explorer that is. It has been rumoured that version eight of the popular web browser will be the last in the Internet Explorer line and the brand will be discontinued. Now this may come as good news to scores of web developers across the world, this isn’t the end for Microsoft in terms of its fight for browser dominance.

It is believed that the next browser to come out of the Redmond camp will be based on the new and exciting Project Gazelle, recently announced by Microsoft Research. Gazelle is a completely new browser and has been rebuilt from the ground up. It currently consists of 5,000 lines of C# code, runs with a sandboxed kernal to prevent unauthorised access to the users operating system and uses a multi-process approach to tabs meaning each tab has its own process so if one crashes the whole application doesnt freeze up.

It is also rumoured the new browser will run with webkit (the rendering engine used by safari, opera and google chrome) which is fast becoming the norm for none-IE / Firefox based browsers, I for one hope this doesnt happen as Im not a huge fan of webkit and its many flaws, but then I am an avid firefox fanboi.

Talking of rumours (this being a theme of this post) IE 8 is expected to be released at Microsoft’s Mix 09 conference next week, Microsoft Taiwan has even given a release date of 20th March.

Having tested Internet Explorer 8 from beta 1 I have to say this is definatly the best version yet and I hope this is pushed out via one of Redmonds Patch Tuesdays as a critical update forcing users to upgrade. I will be adding an “Upgrade to IE8″ message to my site for visitors using IE7 or god forbif IE6.

Further Reading

Gazelle White Paper

Tags: C#, firefox, Gazelle, IE6, IE7, IE8, internet explorer, Microsoft, Redmond, webkit
Posted in Tools of the Trade | 2 Comments »

Windows 7 test build ‘turns off’ Internet Explorer 8

Microsoft’s latest test build of Windows 7 comes loaded with an option to delete Internet Explorer 8′s executable file – making it unusable on the OS.

The company has added its IE8 web browser as a component that can be toggled on and off via the operating system’s “Windows Features” dialog box.

According to testers, who are currently playing with build 7048 of Windows 7, IE8 is a new addition to the control panel’s list of customisable options.

However, the feature does not uninstall the browser in the latest build. Instead it simply deletes the “iexplore.exe” file. All other components of IE8 remain intact on the OS.

According to AeroXperience removal of the browser’s executable file takes two reboots and a config step to complete the process.

Many are speculating that Microsoft has added the IE8 “turn off” feature to the upcoming Windows 7 in an effort to satisfy Brussels’ anti-trust regulators.

In January the executive body of the European Union issued preliminary findings in which it said MS had violated European competition law by including Internet Explorer with Windows.

However, Microsoft, which is becoming increasingly good at writing long-winded blog posts about Windows 7 that are bereft of detail, is remaining characteristically tight-lipped about IE8’s inclusion on the Windows Features list. ®

Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/03/05/windows_7_turn_off_ie8/

Tags: IE8, internet explorer, Microsoft, Windows 7
Posted in Tools of the Trade | No Comments »

IE8 vs FF3.1

As microsoft push their latest version of Internet Explorer into RC1, our better more reliable brother Firefox is struggling to get out of beta 3. While the two companies battle it out with who will release the next version first, i thought i would bive my two cents so to speak.

I have been playing with the IE8 betas since BETA1 was realeased all those months ago and i have to admit the RC1 is actually quite good, the progress in the browser since the first beta was releases is very good. When i quickly browsed the net and viewed my sites in B1 they were all over the place, broken css and javascript errors glaor. Now with RC1 freshly installed the majority of sites seem work fine without having to resort to the awkward compliants mode ( switch back to IE7 mode ) they have bolted on for all the lazy designers/programmers who built IE only versions fo websites. I am acually quite excited about the release of Internet Explorer 8 as it marks the start of a new generation of websites that are standards compliant from the go, without horrid IE hacks that a lot of sites seem to use.

Again the hopefully imminent release of Firefox 3.1 as got me excited, not only do we finally get the P0RN mode we have been waiting for we also start to get some CSS3 functionality we can use, most notably the use of web fonts, no more can will we be stuck with the handful of web fonts we have used for so long but with the quick upload of a public font we will be away with great typography and great looking websites.

There are a host of new features coming in FF3.1 and im not going to go through them all but i still think its the best browser you could possible choose to use but here are links to both so you can choose

Tags: 3.1, css3, firefox, internet explorer, Microsoft, mozilla, web fonts
Posted in Tools of the Trade | No Comments »