Internet Explorer 7 has arrived

The release version of Internet Explorer 7 is now available for download. The final version has improved since the early CTP versions. Compared to IE6, it has RSS support, page zooming (compared to the text zoom in Firefox and Safari), faster JScript engine and other stuff you expect of any modern browser. Another good thing are the add-ons.

The big thing for developers is the improved CSS support, and we got the list from Markus Mielke several months ago. In short, large parts of CSS 2.1 has been implemented, including alpha transparency support for png images. Microsoft have also got rid of several infamous hacks along the way. Things are looking good, even though there are some strange behavior here and there.

Sp now it’s time to get to work. The CSS support is still not up to the levels of Firefox, but a big improvement and the box model has been updated to adhere to the CSS2.1 specification. Since IE7 still supports quirks mode, the damage to old hacks will most likely not be as severe as previously feared.

Unfortunately, it’s not time to throw out the CSS hacks hacks just yet. If you feel the need, please use conditional comments to detect IE versions.

Example of conditional comments:

Remember that a lot of users will stay with IE6, even after IE7 gets pushed out by Windows Update.

If you want to run IE6 and IE7 together, one way is to first install IE7 (this will overwrite the existing IE6) and then install a stand-alone version of IE6 from evolt.org. However, this solution could lead to issues with conditional comments, since the stand-alone version thinks it is IE7. Another way is to install IE6 on a virtual server.