Microsoft.com updated

Bink and others are reporting that Microsoft have updated their main website, Microsoft.com.

The site features a new layout, with more focus on directing users towards security and feature updates like service pack 2 for Windows XP. The navigation also appears clearer, allowing easier access to the many parts of Microsoft's site.

One problem that still remains, however, is the site's lack of standards compliance. It doesn't validate to the very basic (and somewhat aged) 4.01 HTML standard. Also, the site appears quite different in non-IE browsers - Firefox users don't see all elements of the site, and they also enjoy 'poor' images due to DHTML image rendering filters. See this post for more information.

StopDesign has an interesting piece on the new design, pointing out that Microsoft have moved away from tables, towards css, the effect being to reduce page size massivly. They've also moved away from "bulky javascript" that previously dominated the code.*

Screenshot: MS.com, IE | MS.com, Fx