Comments on: Microsoft to Release IE8 Today

By: charlesp

charlesp — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 17:43:55 +0000

It might have been a coincidence but after I installed IE 8 I couldn’t open FireFox 3.0.7

By: Craig Buckler

Craig Buckler — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 08:59:15 +0000

What do they mean by “allows websites designed for older browsers to be “fixed” using the Compatibility View button”?

Please take a look at "IE8: Standards Mode Opt-In is Back From the Dead". If enough people press that button (whether it's accidental, out of curiosity, or spite), your IE8-compatible site may appear in IE7 mode.

By: FaridHadi

FaridHadi — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 19:30:55 +0000

What do they mean by “allows websites designed for older browsers to be “fixed” using the Compatibility View button”?

Does it mean that IE8 can render pages like in IE7 and IE6?

If that is the case I’d actually be excited about IE8. I still haven’t upgraded to IE7 because of not being able to check IE6 support in a simple way.

By: MauiMan2

MauiMan2 — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 17:25:07 +0000

“Did you miss that you can render the page in ie7 mode via the developer tools built into ie8?”

Yes, I missed that. Maybe they should also work in an IE6 mode.

By: MikesBarto2002

MikesBarto2002 — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 16:23:35 +0000

Is there a plugin out there that will ask users to upgrade their IE version without having to actually put a message into the HTML? Like a popup or a message where the ActiveX message usually pops up?

By: FastLionDesign

FastLionDesign — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 13:23:09 +0000

You can also test different versions of IE at: http://ipinfo.info/netrenderer/index.php Netrenderer tests IE8, 7, 6 and 5.5. It is a free service. Many of you may already know about this, but I figure I'd mention it for those who don't.

By: perpetual_dream

perpetual_dream — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 12:54:19 +0000

IE8 is now available for download http://freedownloads.be/downloaddetail/2414-Internet-Explorer-8.0

By: Stevie D

Stevie D — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 12:44:00 +0000

jef2904:

Finally, now i can start to drop default support for ie6. I probably won’t include it in my web projects by mid September.

The launch of IE8 will make pretty much no difference to IE6. The vast majority of people using IE6:
* are using Windows 2000 or older, so can’t install IE7/8
* are using a locked-down corporate network and can’t choose what browser to use
* could have upgraded to IE7 but don’t know or care enough to bother.

How many of those people do you think will download and install IE8 now? Globally? You could count them on one hand…

From my own website, there are almost as many people using IE6 as are using Firefox (all versions), and more people using IE6 than are using Safari, Opera, Mozilla, Chrome, PDAs, mobile phones and all other unknown browsers put together.

Anyone who builds sites for general use that don’t work in IE6 is grossly unprofessional and a disgrace to the industry, and that isn’t likely to change in the next year or two.

By: jgd12345

jgd12345 — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 10:58:15 +0000

MauiMan2 Says:
March 20th, 2009 at 4:03 am
“Yes, it will overwrite IE7″

“That makes soooo much sense, Microsoft! Thank you for making it extra hard for developers to test for all your different versions.”

Did you miss that you can render the page in ie7 mode via the developer tools built into ie8.

By: Tybe-O

Tybe-O — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 09:59:51 +0000

I'm a bit worried about the 'Compatibility View' feature. It might be tempting to use it as it minimizes effort to make a website compatible with both IE7 and IE8. If a lot of people keep doing that, IE webdevelopment as a whole won't evolve. Besides that, it's automatically turned on (part under 'Compatibility View and the enterprise') when visiting intranet pages. Which can be circumvented from the IE8 settings but that's something you don't have control over as a developer...