Microsoft confirms IE 8 will ship this year

By BajiRav
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Grand Master

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Care to elaborate how huge? IE 7 is enough for the mainstream users.

It's honestly massive. The jump from IE7 to IE8 completely re-writes the rendering engine. IE8 now renders things the way the specifications says they should be rendered. They're not also supporting more than they did in the past. This update is going to save web developers LOTS of time and money (assuming most people will upgrade)

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wellofsouls

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It's honestly massive. The jump from IE7 to IE8 completely re-writes the rendering engine. IE8 now renders things the way the specifications says they should be rendered. They're not also supporting more than they did in the past. This update is going to save web developers LOTS of time and money (assuming most people will upgrade)

that's the sad part, there are many people who will still use IE6 after IE8 comes out. So in reality IE8 will probably lead to more work for web developers. Currently I have to check my websites to work under IE6, IE7 and Firefox (and I secretly check them under Opera too, although it's not required by my boss). After IE8 release, it will most likely be that I have to check my websites under IE6, IE7, IE8 and Firefox. And since IE8 still has its own quirks, that just means even more work to do. I'd rather just put a tag to force it to work in IE7 emulation mode. But if IE8 beta 1 is any indication, even the IE7 emulation mode is not 100% same as IE7, I already have an ajax tree builder in one of my websites not working correctly in IE8 even in IE7 emulation mode, and I still have no idea what causes the problem (albeit I'm not really trying too hard to solve the problem since it's just beta 1).

In the end, I think IE8 releasing this year will most likely just mean even more cross-browser programming work for us web developers :wacko:

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primexx

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that's the sad part, there are many people who will still use IE6 after IE8 comes out. So in reality IE8 will probably lead to more work for web developers. Currently I have to check my websites to work under IE6, IE7 and Firefox (and I secretly check them under Opera too, although it's not required by my boss). After IE8 release, it will most likely be that I have to check my websites under IE6, IE7, IE8 and Firefox. And since IE8 still has its own quirks, that just means even more work to do. I'd rather just put a tag to force it to work in IE7 emulation mode. But if IE8 beta 1 is any indication, even the IE7 emulation mode is not 100% same as IE7, I already have an ajax tree builder in one of my websites not working correctly in IE8 even in IE7 emulation mode, and I still have no idea what causes the problem (albeit I'm not really trying too hard to solve the problem since it's just beta 1).

In the end, I think IE8 releasing this year will most likely just mean even more cross-browser programming work for us web developers :wacko:

once IE8 comes out just drop support for IE6 and 7. You don't support Firefox 1 or 2, or Opera 7 or 8, so why should you support outdated IE versions? (Ok, maybe version 7 too since you might still be supporting Fx2)

Grand Master

+Majesticmerc MVC

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In the end, I think IE8 releasing this year will most likely just mean even more cross-browser programming work for us web developers :wacko:

Well given that IE8 should be much closer to a Standards-Compliant browser, there should be less cross-browser programming because provided you script your site to be HTML/XTML compliant, then it should render almost identically in all browsers. That's the entire point of W3C standards.

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ViperAFK

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In the end, I think IE8 releasing this year will most likely just mean even more cross-browser programming work for us web developers :wacko:

Uuummm no, This is a MUCH needed change that will make things much easier for web devs. IE8's Major change is a more standards complaint rendering engine! This is what web devs have been begging ms for years and years.

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wellofsouls

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once IE8 comes out just drop support for IE6 and 7. You don't support Firefox 1 or 2, or Opera 7 or 8, so why should you support outdated IE versions? (Ok, maybe version 7 too since you might still be supporting Fx2)

because I'll be fired if I tell me boss I'll drop support for IE6? I don't know about you, but that sounds good enough reason for me, and my living depends on it. I won't be able to find any web developing job if I tell people I don't code for IE6 :wacko:

Well given that IE8 should be much closer to a Standards-Compliant browser, there should be less cross-browser programming because provided you script your site to be HTML/XTML compliant, then it should render almost identically in all browsers. That's the entire point of W3C standards.

well, there should be LESS cross-browser programming IF people stops using IE6 and IE7 the day IE8 comes out. But since many people will still use IE6 and IE7, and you can't exactly feed the same HTML to IE8 and Firefox, that means even more cross-browser programming :(

Uuummm no, This is a MUCH needed change that will make things much easier for web devs. IE8's Major change is a more standards complaint rendering engine! This is what web devs have been begging ms for years and years.

Uuummm NO, your "will make things much easier" is not relevant to what I have posted here, if you have actually read through it instead of seeing only what you wanted to see yourself.

WILL make thing easier for web devs five years in the future? maybe, that's a good possibility. However when it comes to the internet, no one can really predict what will happen five years in the future. Maybe people will all use Firefox or Opera by that time :p But it surely will make things harder for web devs NOW. web devs wants the whole browser market conforming to open standards, but currently we will more likely to get 20% IE6, 30% IE7, 20% IE8, 20% Firefox, 10% others in next year, which will be a hell for web devs :wacko:

And by web devs I mean those like myself who program for a company to make a living, who are forced to code for IE6. When you are working to code websites to feed yourself and your family everyday, you tend to think less about the ideal future a decade later, but more about what you have to code tomorrow :huh:

I said "In the end, I think IE8 releasing this year will most likely just mean even more cross-browser programming work for us web developers", I'm not talking about an idealized future where people all upgrade to the latest IE and IE becomes fully standards compliant. And sincerely I don't think the adoption rate of IE8 will be too high considering a lot of the IE users tend to just use whatever comes with their OS, IE6 comes with XP, IE7 comes with Vista, those IE users just aren't used to download standalone browser installs as Firefox and Opera users. So I highly doubt many IE users will download and install IE8 when it's not bundled with an OS.

Grand Master

4CxbqFxVnstmA Veteran

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iirc IE8 retains a memory of all the current tabs open so that if it crashes it can reload them. That is huge for end users.

And this is a compelling new feature for whom? Firefox and Opera have both had this feature for donkeys. :rolleyes:

Grand Master

The_Decryptor Veteran

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And this is a compelling new feature for whom? Firefox and Opera have both had this feature for donkeys. :rolleyes:

IE7 does it too.

Safari does it as well, just not automated.

So we have the top 4 most popular browsers all supporting the same feature, and have supported it for a while, Hopefully it'll stop coming up in comparisons.

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wellofsouls

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I think IE8's "new feature" is when tabs lock up (which happens all too often when you have multiple tabs open in IE7/8), after you bring out the Task Manager and kill the iexplore process, it will not close the whole browser, but just the freezing tabs closed and re-opened, which is a feature not found in other browsers. But then at times it's more annoying since those re-opened tabs locks up the browser again and again and again... :wacko:

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jmc777

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I thought that beta 1 felt a bit heavy/sluggish on my old XP2500+ system. :pinch:

And this is a compelling new feature for whom? Firefox and Opera have both had this feature for donkeys. :rolleyes:

A misbehaving tab will lock up FF and Opera, needing a close/restart. IE8 handles tabs better: when one starts locking up, it can close/reopen the tab gracefully without having to close/reopen the entire browser.

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ElliottLan

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A misbehaving tab will lock up FF and Opera, needing a close/restart. IE8 handles tabs better: when one starts locking up, it can close/reopen the tab gracefully without having to close/reopen the entire browser.

Lol, don't get me wrong, i love the ff/ie/whatever 'restore tabs' feature but doesn't it get on your ###### when it tries to 'restore' a tab which crashes the browser!

Back on topic though, does anyone have any info about how ie8 will handle css? is it fully standards compliant? does the beta render sites well seeing as i guess most sites wont have ie8 specific code yet?

/me might try it when he gets home from work

Grand Master

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I really hope it will be possible to integrate it into a Vista or XP install. It has always been a pain in the butt to go thru all that crap with the updating and such especially when I have to reimage a box.

There's a post on the IE blog that details exactly this.

Grand Master

ViperAFK

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because I'll be fired if I tell me boss I'll drop support for IE6? I don't know about you, but that sounds good enough reason for me, and my living depends on it. I won't be able to find any web developing job if I tell people I don't code for IE6 :wacko:

well, there should be LESS cross-browser programming IF people stops using IE6 and IE7 the day IE8 comes out. But since many people will still use IE6 and IE7, and you can't exactly feed the same HTML to IE8 and Firefox, that means even more cross-browser programming :(

Uuummm NO, your "will make things much easier" is not relevant to what I have posted here, if you have actually read through it instead of seeing only what you wanted to see yourself.

WILL make thing easier for web devs five years in the future? maybe, that's a good possibility. However when it comes to the internet, no one can really predict what will happen five years in the future. Maybe people will all use Firefox or Opera by that time :p But it surely will make things harder for web devs NOW. web devs wants the whole browser market conforming to open standards, but currently we will more likely to get 20% IE6, 30% IE7, 20% IE8, 20% Firefox, 10% others in next year, which will be a hell for web devs :wacko:

And by web devs I mean those like myself who program for a company to make a living, who are forced to code for IE6. When you are working to code websites to feed yourself and your family everyday, you tend to think less about the ideal future a decade later, but more about what you have to code tomorrow :huh:

I said "In the end, I think IE8 releasing this year will most likely just mean even more cross-browser programming work for us web developers", I'm not talking about an idealized future where people all upgrade to the latest IE and IE becomes fully standards compliant. And sincerely I don't think the adoption rate of IE8 will be too high considering a lot of the IE users tend to just use whatever comes with their OS, IE6 comes with XP, IE7 comes with Vista, those IE users just aren't used to download standalone browser installs as Firefox and Opera users. So I highly doubt many IE users will download and install IE8 when it's not bundled with an OS.

I know it won't help as son as it is released, but you have to start somewhere. Would you rather they just keep using their non compliant rendering engine making things worse and worse? This is a good step.

Grand Master

primexx

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Lol, don't get me wrong, i love the ff/ie/whatever 'restore tabs' feature but doesn't it get on your ###### when it tries to 'restore' a tab which crashes the browser!

Back on topic though, does anyone have any info about how ie8 will handle css? is it fully standards compliant? does the beta render sites well seeing as i guess most sites wont have ie8 specific code yet?

/me might try it when he gets home from work

still doesn't support XHTML, but is almost as (if not exactly as) good as the other major browsers for HTML and CSS (and JS too, I think? someone verify).

It passes the ACID 2, yay!

Grand Master

The_Decryptor Veteran

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Apparently DOM support is better, but that might only be a few functions are improved (and more standards compliant)

Other things like Cross Site XMLHTTPRequest aren't implemented like the standard are, so that's going to require a standard way and an IE way when people use it.

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zerologic

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I hope it can make some big stides. Firefox 3 is a pretty big hit in my household.

Ditto here. No computer in my household has IE as the default browser - it's Firefox on every PC.

Short of Microsoft sending in their Men in Black into Mozilla Headquarters and doing a 'Netscape' - Microsoft has an uphill road to climb with IE8.

It's time for the EU and US to get themselves organised and demand that Microsoft ships Windows with 'an option' to install IE or not during the Windows install process. I would like not to have Internet Explorer on my Windows PC's.

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sirgh0st

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Ditto here. No computer in my household has IE as the default browser - it's Firefox on every PC.

Short of Microsoft sending in their Men in Black into Mozilla Headquarters and doing a 'Netscape' - Microsoft has an uphill road to climb with IE8.

It's time for the EU and US to get themselves organised and demand that Microsoft ships Windows with 'an option' to install IE or not during the Windows install process. I would like not to have Internet Explorer on my Windows PC's.

And then how do you propose that people like those who are illiterate get on the internet to get firefox, or so you assume we should put firefox on all machines rather than IE making this a fight that people will see the opposite way we see things now?

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portauthority

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It's time for the EU and US to get themselves organised and demand that Microsoft ships Windows with 'an option' to install IE or not during the Windows install process. I would like not to have Internet Explorer on my Windows PC's.

So you want your computer to do nothing but crash. A lot of other programs use the IE engine. :rolleyes:

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