Microsoft have today announced the release of their new version of popular web browser Internet Explorer, available for download from 4pm (GMT) today (Thursday).
Version Eight of the browser brings a host of new features and finally a welcome addition of a web standards rendering engine. A full list of features and more information on the browser can be found on Microsoft’s IE homepage or on their development blog
Hopefully this will release will mark the end of Internet Explorer 6, the bane of website developers everywhere, IE6 is almost 8 years old and now 2 versions behind the stable release, so people still running it are compromising their security with outdated software and disrupting their online experience by using a browser riddled with bugs.
I for one am taking this opportunity to draw a line in the sand and will no longer test my site designs in IE6, I will also be adding a small pop-up message to alert users visiting via IE6 that while they are welcome, they are visiting the site using outdated software and the site may not be compatible, I will also be providing a link to upgrade to IE8 (would be rude not to add a Firefox link as well ;-))
UPDATE: (16/04/09 @ 22:04)
True to my word, if you now visit my website in Internet Explorer versions 7 or below, you will get an Information bar pop-up advsiing to update your browser.
Tags: firefox, IE6, IE8, internet explorer, Microsoft
note to self: add id10t filter to blog… :p
hello internet explorer 🙂