Internet Explorer 9 details unveiled
Microsoft has revealed details of the next incarnation of its browser, just three weeks into its development process. The key promises include making Internet Explorer 9 as fast as rival browsers, and allowing hardware to do more of the work with web graphics.
Steven Sinofsky, who heads the Windows division at the firm, unveiled the prototype of the browser at the Professional Development Conference, a Microsoft-run event aimed at software developers. It’s the same event at which Windows 7 had its first public airing last year.
During his presentation, Sinofsky conceded that Internet Explorer 8 is considerably slower than the likes of Firefox at some tasks: just half the speed in one test. He says changes to the next edition make it comparable in speed to rivals: “We’re getting close to basically being a wash.” The handling of javascript is a particular target in this process.
The most notable change is in graphics rendering. Internet Explorer 9 will be designed to do a smarter job of dividing the processing between the browser itself and the computer’s own graphics hardware.
Another minor tweak is better support of CSS, the stylesheet system used by many sites to control the appearance of their pages. This will allow IE9 to display text boxes with rounded corners: hardly a major breakthrough, but making up a shortfall in comparison to rival browsers.
The browser will also make some tentative steps towards better support for web standards, the principles which browsers are supposed to follow so that web designers can be more confident that their pages will look and work the same on any browser. Microsoft says that IE9 scores 32 on the Acid 3 benchmark (a set of tests designed to measure compatibility with a variety of standards), compared with IE8’s score of 20.
However, when you realize that score is out of 100, and the latest Firefox beta scores 92, you can see that full standards compliance looks unlikely to be a major priority for Microsoft.
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November 18th, 2009
OMG – Here we go again. Microsoft should do us all a favor and quit releasing browsers!
November 20th, 2009
It’s crazy how MS can release something so out of compliance, and most of the computing world will be forced to use it..only because they dont know a better browser exist.