Microsoft says that IE8 will return to its original standards compliant mode as the default rendering mode — going back on previous statements to the contrary.
Microsoft has backtracked on its previous claim that IE8 will render identical to IE7 by default. Now, the software giant has returned the default renderer to IE8’s ‘improved standards’ mode.
The Internet Explorer general manager, Dean Hachamovitch, confirmed the latest change in direction for the next version of the browser in a posting on the IEBlog.
With reference to Microsoft’s decision on the availability of certain APIs, Hachamovitch said: “Microsoft recently published a set of Interoperability Principles. Thinking about IE8’s behavior with these principles in mind, interpreting web content in the most standards compliant way possible is a better thing to do.”
Hachamovitch conceded that community criticism — one of the more vocal critics being Opera CTO Hakon Wium Lie — had moved Microsoft in its decision.
“In light of the Interoperability Principles, as well as feedback from the community, we’re choosing differently. Now, IE8 will show pages requesting ‘Standards’ mode in IE8’s Standards mode. Developers who want their pages shown using IE8’s ‘IE7 Standards mode’ will need to request that explicitly,” he wrote in the blog.
Despite some initial teething problems, which Hachamovitch said had been encountered on other IE releases, he expects the decision to benefit users in the long run.
“Long term, we believe this is the right thing for the web. Shorter term, leading up not just to IE8’s release but broader IE8 adoption, this choice creates a clear call to action to site developers to make sure their web content works well in IE,” he added.
Some would say that it is a long way from software engineering to journalism, others would correctly argue that it is a mere 10 metres according to the floor plan. During his first five years with CBS Interactive, Chris started his journalistic adventure in 2006 as the Editor of Builder AU after originally joining the company as a programmer. Leaving CBS Interactive in 2010 to follow his deep desire to study the snowdrifts and culinary delights of Canada, Chris based himself in Vancouver and paid for his new snowboarding and poutine cravings as a programmer for a lifestyle gaming startup. Chris returns to CBS in 2011 as the Editor of TechRepublic Australia determined to meld together his programming and journalistic tendencies once and for all.
