Internet Explorer 8 - Is your Web site ready for IE8?

The Good:

Microsoft will be releasing Internet Explorer 8 to render content in its most standards-compliant way by default.  Giving top priority to Web standards interoperability will help web developers and designers drive toward the ideal of "write once, run anywhere", freeing up more time to innovate rather than modify content for different browsers.  This commitment also addresses several development and design pain points from previous Internet Explorer releases.

The Bad:

Browsing with the default new settings in IE8 may cause content written for previous versions of Internet Explorer to display differently than intended.  This creates a call to action for site owners to ensure their content will continue to display seamlessly in Internet Explorer 8.  As such, we have provided a meta-tag usable on a per-page or per-site level to maintain backwards compatibility with Internet Explorer 7. 

Adding this tag instructs Internet Explorer 8 to render content like it did in Internet Explorer 7, without requiring any additional changes.  Note that in most cases, the immediate workaround can be as simple as embedding the following HTML tag into the top of the HEAD element of your web pages:

<meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=7">

The Ugly:

Notice how even the wildly popular site, www.DotNetTikiHut.com renders today under IE8 Beta 1 below - there are at least 3 issues with visual image overlaps on the home page:

And this is what the site looks like under IE7 Today:

What can you do?

Get your sites ready now for broad adoption of Internet Explorer 8, as there will be a beta release in the third quarter of this year targeted for all consumers.  To learn more and get started, please follow the step-by-step instructions located at the following link:  https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=120024 .

But don't just aim for the IE8 compatibility "low-bar" and rest on your laurels - learn about and take advantage of some of the cool new features like "Web-Slices" and "Activities".  Here are some more links & resources to get you started:

Microsoft:

• Ensure your site is ready for IE8 (symptoms / work-around) - https://support.microsoft.com/kb/952030
• IE8 Compatibility  - https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/ie/cc405106.aspx
• IE8 Readiness Toolkit (also covers the advantages and new features of IE8)  https://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/winfamily/ie/ie8/readiness/Developers.htm

MIX 08

• Advanced Cross-Browser Layout with Internet Explorer 8: https://sessions.visitmix.com/?selectedSearch=CT07
• Develop Cutting Edge Web Applications With Internet Explorer 8: https://sessions.visitmix.com/?selectedSearch=T04
• Integrating Your Site with Internet Explorer 8: https://sessions.visitmix.com/?selectedSearch=T21
• Welcome to Internet Explorer 8: https://sessions.visitmix.com/?selectedSearch=BCT08

IE Blogs:

• https://blogs.msdn.com/ie/default.aspx
• https://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2007/12/05/internet-explorer-8.aspx

I have also up-loaded all the other publicly available IE8 materials & content to my Skydrive folder at  https://cid-e80ea9288abd4452.skydrive.live.com/self.aspx/IE8

Be Ready for IE8!                                                                  

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Technorati Tags: Internet Explorer 8, Web-Slices, Activities, IE8