With the upcoming release of Windows 8, Microsoft are also preparing the latest version of their Internet Explorer browser for release to the general public. We look at it’s expected features, downfalls and whether it really will live up to expectations.

How good will the browser be?

In the past Microsoft have been notoriously bad at coming up to scratch on web compliant standards, promising full CSS3 compatibility with IE7, IE8 and even IE9. This meant that many standards compliant websites didn’t render correctly and CSS hacks and tweaks have been required by web developers to fix the problems caused.

IE9 came a long way from IE8 (it even achieved almost perfect performance in the acid3 test) but is still very resource heavy and accelerates processors much harder than it’s rivals, such as Google Chrome.

Microsoft have confirmed that the next version of Internet Explorer, IE10, will continue using hardware support for its rendering while it’s running on Windows 8 using the same hardware acceleration technology. This should in theory mean there’s even less processor power required to run the browser, and deliver a better user performance.

In their keynotes speech at this years Build event, Microsoft’s Chris Jones demo’d the two (yes, two) different types of interface that will ship with Internet Exporer 10 – the Metro interface and the more familiar, touched-up Windows 7 interface:

• MetroThe Metro Interface is similar to the new Windows 8 interface, and allows users to browse the web in full page mode by default, and is the exact same view as people will see running the mobile version of the Internet Explorer 10 browser on other devices.
  One major disadvantage is that Microsoft has disabled all add-ons in this mode, including Adobe Flash and their own Silverlight, to make the browser more compatible across browsers.

• Classic ModeThe more familiar classic mode will come as default in Windows 7 and is basically an improved version of the IE9 interface, with the IE10 engine running the back end. This mode supports all plug-ins, but is more difficult to access from Windows 8 than you’d expect, as Microsoft tries to hide this mode so you use the new Metro interface more.

Pitfalls

Internet Explorer 10 looks like it’s shaping up to be a good browser, with which they plan on fully supporting HTML5, but Microsoft will need to ensure that if they’re taking out Flash and Silverlight support that HTML5 can handle all the functionality that Flash and Silverlight bring to the table.

Infact, Adobe appear to have already preempted this move by striving ahead with a few new features such as 64 bit design, a new interface for hardware acceleration and new codecs to modernise their platform and make sure that internet users can’t live without it.

What does this mean for web developer and existing websites?

Like with all new browser releases, your website development company will need to retest your website thoroughly once the final version has been released. This new browser will render slightly differently (and hopefully for the better) and should only require a few minor tweaks from the way your site rendered in Internet Explorer 9.

Anything that’s been developed with Flash or pages that rely on a plugin however, will need to be redeveloped so they degrade well for Metro mode.

Moving forward

If IE10 was to be released in it’s current state, creating websites for it could potentially be easier as it’s standards compliance is getting better and better with each release. However after listening to the Keynotes speech at Microsoft’s Build event, it’s clear that Microsoft are encouraging people to develop for this platform across phones/pcs/tablets and other devices, which could potentially cut out large sections of the market such as the iPhone, and Webkit browsers such as Chrome and Firefox. Only time will tell whether the community really gets behind this browser, or whether it simply becomes another hurdle for web developers to program for.

If you’d like expert advice on your website development, or need a new website created, contact us at Grafton Media to see how we can help you out! We’re experts in many fields of media, so you know your website is in great hands.