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IE8: If You Can't Beat 'Em Copy 'Em

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By Bud Kraus
bud@joyofcode.com
Joy Of Code
Creator And Instructor

v5 i13
Originally Published: September 24, 2009

I've become a Firefox user by default. That is probably why, when Microsoft launched Internet Explorer 8 in March, I blew it. The fact that I had missed IE8's debut (yes, shame on me), says something not very good about where Microsoft is today.

I've become so accustomed to the lack of innovation out of MS, that I have stopped paying attention to what they are doing. It's one of the reasons why I believe that within 10 years the company will be in serious financial trouble. Let's hope they too won't need a federal bailout!

Exhibit A in the case that Microsoft just can't develop products that make you love to use them, is IE8 itself. At first glance (and second and third), I just saw more imitation and less innovation. Apparently since Microsoft can't beat Firefox with a product that will make me (and millions like me) switch back, they figured it's just better to surrender and copy what the competition is doing.

Been there and done that.

Here are just a few things that I have to tell you about.

CSS Support

Here IE8's imitation is definitely a good thing. IE has always been the industry laggard in implementing Cascading Style Sheets specifications. The "new" browser goes a long way in the right direction> It's continued proof of what I tell my CSS students. As time goes by each new version of a web browser (and you can include handhelds and other devices) do a more complete and accurate job of following the W3C's CSS specs.

Now - brace yourself for a little innovation - users can now toggle a switch which allows the browser to properly render older web sites - a "backward compatibility button" so to speak.

MS claims to be in full compliance with the current W3C specs in their assessment "CSS Improvements in Internet Explorer 8."

There. I said something nice about IE8.

The Built-In Text Editor

Earlier versions of IE allowed content creators, web designers, and developers to edit pages when the source code was accessed because it used Notepad as its text editor.

But not anymore. Like Firefox and Safari, viewing source code is now in a "read only" environment. This was a terrible feature to copy. The fact that it was easy to edit pages right from Notepad was about the only thing IE was good for. Now even that is gone in their effort to be just like everyone else.

Let's Be Fair About This

Not surprisingly Microsoft has a little different take on IE8. Their article is cleverly divided into three topics - "Reach Beyond the Page," "Faster, Easier," and "Peace of Mind." As you can see it didn't sell me, but I'm a very tough audience.

Here are some of the pages I read over in writing this article: