Trying IE8 (7th March 2008)

Refreshing Sage today showed quite a bit of activity in the blogosphere. I soon noticed IE8 has been released.

IE Blog Entries

From earliest to most recent:

Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 for Developers Now Available
Overview of the main changes developers should be interested in. Along with the smallest possible link to where you download it.
IE Beta Feedback
  • There will be a newsgroup open to all.
  • Microsoft will chose who can transfer that feedback into the bug tracking system.
  • Everyone can view the bug tracking system...if they register with a Microsoft service first.
Why Isn’t IE Passing Acid2?
Because the unofficial copies of the test are incompatible with their security precautions.
IE and IP Licensing
The new features are free to use and the new formats are free to implement.
Activities and WebSlices in Internet Explorer 8
Microformats and Feeds but different.
IE and JScript
More about scripting performance.
IE and CSS 2.1 Testing
Perfect tone making all the right noises. Plus the release of several hundred test cases.
The Default Layout Mode

“Internet Explorer 8 will use its most standards compliant mode, IE8 Standards, as the default when encountering standards content.”

The 3 layout modes are named and given values:

  1. Quirks
  2. IE7 Standards
  3. IE8 Standards

Shortcut

Eric Law has an Enhance IE8 page up already. It includes a quick way of reaching the download links: GetIE.org.

Getting and Using IE8

I’m writing this up as a UI review of IE8 Beta 1.

Looks like this was the perfect month to take time off work!