It
took many years from IE6 to IE7, but this browser is still quite new
and Microsoft is already releasing a first beta version of IE8. MS
unveiled the beta version of Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) for developers
at the annual MIX08 conference in Las Vegas. The beta version of IE8
includes better predictability when designing sites, full support for
cascading style sheet (CSS) 2.1 at release to manufacturing, and
integrated developer tools to quickly debug HTML, CSS and scripts in a
visual environment, Microsoft said. “A lot of the end user or consumer
features are not featured on this build because it really is targeted
at the developers and the designers,” Matthew Lepsen from the Microsoft
IE development team, said on a video
produced by Microsoft’s Channel 9 site. While the consumer version of
IE8 will differ somewhat from this first beta, it will not be a
dramatic change, Lepsen said. The software giant again stressed the
browser’s interoperability. Microsoft on Tuesday announced that it will
make IE8 standards compliant.
The browser will render the
Acid2 browser test correctly, and fully supports CSS 2.1, Microsoft
said. In an apparent coincidence, the Web Standards Group announced the
release of the next-generation Acid3 test on Wednesday. The beta will also include two new features, dubbed Activities and WebSlices. Activities is intended to provide quick access to services from any Web site, Microsoft said. Once downloaded through the IE8 service guide,
users can look up or send certain information from the Web. Those on a
restaurant Web site, for example, can click within the page to get
maps, look up news on the restaurant, blog about it, or share on
Facebook. Activities will also feature partnerships with companies like
eBay and Stumbleupon, which eBay acquired in May. Highlight something
on a Web site, right click it, and see if that item is available on
eBay without ever leaving the original Web site, Lepsen said. It will
be interesting too see a final release, which will probably appear at
the almost same time as Firefox 3.0.
Source: PC Mag
