Thanks for Industry-Wide Inefficiency, Microsoft IE8
March 20th, 2009 by Frank Piacitelli
We do a lot of web production at Martino Flynn. Microsoft’s browsers, while easily the most popular, are the worst-functioning in terms of properly rendering code that’s written to agreed-upon standards (standards created by an organization that Microsoft is a member of, but standards that Microsoft commonly ignores because they’re a giant). I often tell people that in developing CSS (cascading style sheets) and basic HTML code, we spend 1/3 of the time writing the code properly, then the other 2/3 hacking it apart to make it work in Microsoft Internet Explorer.
Internet Explorer version 8 is to be released soon. A large percentage of the web-browsing population is still using IE version 6. Any time a new version of IE is released all of us web designers and developers hope, “please, let this one work right.” I just got an email from Microsoft that explains that an IE version 7 emulator is built into IE8. But to use it, you have to change the code on your website. What was Microsoft thinking when they took this course of action? First of all, if they build in an IE7 emulator, they should build in an IE6 emulator (IE6 is the real problem child). Second, if the technology behind these emulators is built into the new browsers, why shouldn’t I be able to just switch a preference within the web browser to view in a different mode, rather than changing sites that are already working properly, potentially causing problems?
Bottom line: Microsoft could have implemented this in a way that would have created industry-wide efficiency in browser testing for we designers and developers. Instead, they chose a course of action that creates a ton of unnecessary, extra work for essentially everyone in the industry. This translates into higher costs for web development everywhere.
Thanks a lot, Microsoft. Thanks for nothing.
–Frank Piacitelli
This entry was posted by Frank Piacitelli on Friday, March 20th, 2009 and is filed under Business, Creative, Design, Development, MF, Rants and Raves, Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
March 20th, 2009 at 3:16 pm
Frank, you’re usually spot-on but I have to disagree with you here.
The point of the browser is that the rendering is developer controlled, not user. If you don’t look at the browser as a development tool, but as the window through which users see your site, it all makes sense.
Take, for instance, a large site that was built specifically for IE7. Now IE8 comes out and everything is broken (As IE8, I’m promised, is fully CSS 2.1 compliant.) Now that large company has to scramble to fix everything lest their site appear broken to all users. Now because of the change you can make on the development side, it’s easy to “flip the switch” so IE8 users see the page as it is rendered in IE7. No more broken styles. Now the site can be progressively enhanced and the IE7 emulator eventually removed.
It would be unfeasible to put the onus on the user. “Turn your browser to IE7 mode to view this site” sounds archaic and unnecessary.
The real issue is that there is not easy way to keep older versions of IE installed on a single box. If that was possible, testing would be a lot easier on us.
So here’s hoping IE8 is as good at CSS 2.1 rendering as it claims to be (I’ve heard it even passed the acid2 test) and that since IE6 will now be two versions out, Microsoft will soon stop supporting it and it’s use will fade away.
March 20th, 2009 at 3:35 pm
Justin, I see your point – you’re right, I’m thinking about the browser too much as a development tool. But the fact is that MS is saying they built an IE7 emulator into IE8. Maybe there’s a way they could just give developers access to this without it being available to all. Maybe a plug-in or a “developer version”. I just hate to have to change working sityes to see if they’ll work in IE8. With other browsers (Firefox, Safari), there isn’t an assumption with each new version that it’ll break something or many thgings, and I feel that with IE this is the case. As far as IE8 rendering CSS2 properly, I’ll believe it when I see it. And as far as IE6 fading away, well, that’s a dream, but I don’t think it will happen quickly unless MS forcibly breaks the browser or forces IE6 users to update. Look at how many ASP sites are still out there despite the fact that it hasn’t been supported for a couple years now. But I’ll keep my fingers crossed.
March 23rd, 2009 at 9:28 am
Word on the street is that IE8 fails the Acid 3 test again. Yeah!
http://skipall.com/37.jpg