Microsoft’s MIX09 conference in Las Vegas has started and today the first sharp version of Internet Explorer 8 will be released. The last months have seen a harsh public humiliation against the old version 6 where large sites actually warned users that they were using deprecated software. Campaigns were started and it felt like a crusade.
Since Internet Explorer is the most wide-spread web software in history, it has naturally attracted hackers due to its wide user base and poor update frequency. For instance, read the survey from PC World where Internet Explorer 6 voted #6 among worst tech products of all time. Quote: “Internet Explorer 6.x might be the least secure software on the planet”.
Developers all over the world have been fed up with IE6 for a very long time and several companies have dropped support years ago. Zeldman himself wrote the infamous article To Hell With Bad Browsers over eight years ago and it still rings true today. Also have a look at Christian Heilmann’s excellent article Web Development is Moving On – Are you?.
The biggest things with IE8 for developers is probably the CSS 2.1 implementation and different “standard” modes. If you’re curious about how your design looks in different IE versions, you might be interested in Microsoft’s new SuperPreview for IE Browser Testing.
It’s time to leave IE6 in the dust pile of forgotten nightmares.
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