With an overwhelming share of the browser market, Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE) cannot be ignored. While the final version of IE7 is due later this year, IE7 Release Candidate 1 is publicly available now. This release gives you the opportunity to be proactive and identify any problems that may arise with your applications as viewed in the new browser.
Here's a brief look at IE7. I spotlight areas and features that may pose problems to developers, as well as tools available to help with application development.
Keeping up with the competition
There is no doubt that Mozilla's Firefox turned up the heat on Microsoft to produce an improved browser. A quick look at the IE7 interface provides ample evidence of this, especially when you see these features: the new tabbed interface, RSS support, an expanded viewing area, and enhanced anti-spyware tools. These are great additions to the browser, especially from a user's standpoint, but there are many more enhancements that may have a direct impact on your everyday Web development duties.
Standards
The Web development community has been clamoring for more extensive standards support in IE for quite some time. IE7 does not provide full CSS 2.1 compatibility, but it does include fixes for bugs in IE6. This is evident by its failure to pass the Acid2 browser-compliance test developed by the Web Standards Project.
Microsoft blames backward-compatibility problems for the failure to provide true Web standards compatibility. Yes, developers using older, out-dated Web development techniques are to blame for the lack of true standards support in IE7. Yes, Microsoft disagrees with the Web development community about the fact that CSS is the way to go when developing Web-based interfaces.
There are too many CSS enhancements and bug fixes in IE7 to list in this article, but a good introduction is available on MSDN. It provides details of CSS improvements and any CSS problems that may arise with IE7.
Development tools
Standards support is one area where IE7 seems to fall short, but the tools available to aid development are, at first glance, impressive. Here is a quick overview of the development tools available with IE7:
- Application Compatibility Toolkit: Helps developers view an application compatibility log for IE7. It also provides a wealth of information related to IE7, lists known issues, and details how to handle issues that may arise.
- ExpressionFinder: Locates specific strings across Web pages and referenced files. Microsoft promotes it as a great tool for locating CSS hacks no longer supported in IE7.
- Developer Toolbar: Includes tools for manipulating and troubleshooting Web pages.
- Fiddler: HTTP Debugging Proxy allows you to log all HTTP traffic between a computer and the Internet. It installs as a separate application available via an IE7 toolbar selection.
- Script Debugger: Allows you to debug client- and server-side scripts. (This is actually available today; I often use it to locate client-side JavaScript errors.)
- User Agent String Utility: Allows you to manipulate the user agent string that identifies the browser used when viewing sites. The tool allows you to change the setting and identify any sites blocking IE7 (and report these sites to Microsoft).
The biggest addition is definitely the Developer Toolbar. The following is a list of what you can do via the IE7 toolbar:
- Explore/manipulate a Web page's DOM.
- Locate specific elements within a Web page.
- Selectively disable specific IE settings like the browser cache, image display, cookie support, CSS support, popup blocker, and so forth.
- View HTML object class names, ids, and other details.
- Outline tables, cells, images, and selected tags.
- Validate HTML, CSS, WAI, and RSS feeds. The selected Web page is submitted to a validation site with the results displayed in a new window.
- Display image information: dimensions, path information, and alternate text.
- Resize browser window to a new resolution.
- Selectively clear the browser cache and saved cookies.
- Get links to W3C specifications and IE-specific information.
- Display a ruler to assist with page layout/design.
- Selectively enable/disable CSS parsing.
While I am not a big fan of IE, I do like IE7's Developer Toolbar. It is an excellent addition to the browser. The ability to view the Web page's DOM provides a great view of a page's structure and elements. Another great addition is the Outline feature, which highlights the specific element (table, div, etc.) within the browser window. One last feature to note is the ability to resize the browser window to another screen resolution. It makes it easy to get feedback on your application's appearance within a specific resolution.
Many fans of other non-IE browsers will point out that such tools have been available in other browsers for some time. While this is true, it is nice to have it available within IE.
My overall opinion of IE7
I think IE7 is a major improvement over its predecessor. This is most evident from the user's standpoint because many features -- such as the tabbed interface, built-in RSS reader, and increased browser window space to name a few -- enhance the browsing experience. From a developer's view, I am saddened by Microsoft's inability to fully embrace standards with their latest browser. For this reason, we will be forced to continue to utilise CSS hacks and other workarounds to ensure our Web applications perform as desired in IE7.
More to come
The release of a new version of IE may be an event you would like to ignore, but its market dominance makes intimate knowledge of it necessary for all Web developers. While the current release candidate provides a review of what the final IE7 release should look like, there may still be changes incorporated into the product -- albeit there will probably be bug fixes. A good way to keep up with IE7 developments is via the IEBlog hosted by Microsoft.
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1
Paul Cantwell - 15/09/06
Maybe people should be looking at the big picture. At the last figures I saw IE and Microsoft had a 95% share of the market. It may be time for the " standards " to come into line with the majority.
From my point of view I have yet to see a web site that presents better on minority browsers.
It is time to join the real world. And as an aside I do not like MS domination but you have to respect what Bill has done in 15 years. (20?)
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2
Rex Alfie Lee - 18/09/06
To Mr Cantwell I guess that because the majority think someone's a murderer because they look all wrong then they should be gaoled immediately.
What a rediculous thing to say. Just because MS can't do it properly & the majority use it then the W3C should modify a perfect model which can actually be followed to the typical MS model of shaky quirks.
Of course it's pretty on IE but it won't even run on another browser because it's wrong.
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3
Rex Alfie Lee - 18/09/06
To Mr Cantwell I guess that because the majority think someone's a murderer because they look all wrong then they should be gaoled immediately.
What a rediculous thing to say. Just because MS can't do it properly & the majority use it then the W3C should modify a perfect model which can actually be followed to the typical MS model of shaky quirks.
Of course it's pretty on IE but it won't even run on another browser because it's wrong.
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4
Joe Louis - 21/09/06
Cantwell: I guess the majority of people should be white, too... and maybe everyone should just trash the environment since that's what the majority of people do.
You are an idiot.
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5
Brendon Chase - 21/09/06
Hi Paul,
The figures from the Builder AU audience show that almost 50% of visitors are using non-Microsoft browsers. The largest percentage of these other browsers is Firefox, followed by Safari, then Opera.
We're looking to build upon standards because that's our audience.
It might make sense within the walls of an organisation to standardise on IE -- I can see the argument to support that. I don't necessarily agree with it but I can see why it is easier to support IE instead of Safari for example.
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6
Joe Ortenzi - 21/09/06
Not only Is Paul Cantwell dead wrong, he is using incorrect information, and bogus, well out of date statistics. C'mon Paul, get up to date!
He is too dim to separate "standards" from "endemic". The point of standards is to create a common ground, INDEPENDENT OF ANY SINGLE PROVIDOR for the common good, user chouce and flexibility, and cross-providor interoperability. Therfore, even if IE could have 95% of the marketplace, it is still not a standard, just endemic.
IE has not been 95% for at least a year and today's stats show at BEST, all versions of IE under 70% ccombined. many sites show IE as low as 55% !
In addition, many non-IE browsers can set the user agent to IE in order to trick shoddy developers like Paul who simply block non-IE browsers because the can't be assed to either test on other platforms / browsers NOR develop according to the common ground. So the IE numbers are a bit of a smokescreen. In terms of Government sites, they have an obligation to not be tied to any specific browser/platform on accessibility grounds, not to mention the security problems inherent in MS systems out of the box.
So dinosoaurs like Paul are welcome to me who runs a very thriving business fixing problems from the likes of him and consulting organisations on how not to exclude a sizable proportion of their potential client-base by listening to MS lemmings.
BTW: Firefox 1.5.0.7 (which, YES, Paul, is bleeding edge, but 60% of my clients have FF installed on their systems and like it far better than IE)
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7
Paul Cantwell - 31/05/07
It was interesting re reading this post after such a long time.
I don't recall what prompted me to comment in the first place.The extreme reaction of one reply refering to murder has got to make you concerned about the writer.
The second comment from Joe is hardly worth the space.
Brendan at least was happy to make mature discussion. His figures were interesting. More later.
For Joe O's information I run a computer repair business and in the last 5 years I have only met 1 customer who uses a non IE browser. I have tried Firefox and Opera but gave up because of non acceptance with Banks etc and amaturish interface.
Some facts and figures.
I have a couple of web sites that I track user history on.
This information is accurate as of 11:30 AEST 31-5-2007 for recent activity on 1 site.
MISE 6 -- 431
MISE 7 -- 361
Safar1 1.2 --- 40
Firefox 1.5 ---31
Firefox 2.0 --- 15
Firefox 1.0 ---13
Mozilla 5.0 --- 5
MSE 5.5 --- 3
Other --- 1
I rest my case
Paul Cantwell
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