Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) - Facts and Fiction

Microsoft is well underway with development of their new Web Browser Internet Explorer 8. As development moves ahead into the Alpha/Beta 1, Beta 2 RC1 testing stages this post will attempt to condense the knowns and the unknowns to give you a better idea of what to expect in IE8.

Release Schedule:

• Beta 1: Released March 5th, 2008 (IE Blog post, Download Link, IE8 Feedback (Bug Tracker for IE8 (invite only))
  


• Beta 2: "Later this year" - Chris Wilson [MSFT], Helen [MSFT]


• Beta 2: "August 28th, 2008" - Mary Jo Foley [ZDNet], Helen [MSFT]


• Beta 3: ???


• PR1: Partner Release 1 - A semi-private release was made available on Dec. 10th, 2008



• RC1: RC1 Released Jan. 29th, 2009 (Dean on IE Blog)


• RC2?,RC3?: Q1 2009 (Dean on IE Blog)


• Final RTM: "November 2008" - Mary Jo Foley [ZDNet], Helen [MSFT]

Operating System Support:

• Microsoft Windows
  
  
  
  • Windows XP
  
  
  • Windows Vista
    The User Agent string was confirmed, it will be:
    
    
    
    • Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 8.0; Windows NT 6.0)

Fixed / Implemented:

• Passes ACID2 CSS Stress Test ⁽¹⁾


• CSS display: table implemented ⁽¹⁾


• HTML <abbr/> implemented ^(?)


• Object Fallback ^(?)


• Data URIs ^(?)


• CSS position: fixed ⁽¹⁾


• CSS generated content ^(?)


• WBT (bug 101) - Fixed in IE8 Beta 1


• WBT (bug 152) - Fixed Properly in IE8 Beta 2


• WBT (bug 163) - Fixed in IE8 Beta 2


• WBT (bug 190) - Fixed in IE8 Beta 2


• WBT (bug 229) - Fixed in IE8 Beta 1


• WBT (bug 341) - Fixed in IE8 Beta 1


• WBT (bug 403) - Fixed in IE8 Beta 2




• The following are untested, but according to IE8 DOM whitepapers (here) are apparently fixed! ;-)
  
  
  
  • getAttribute()!, setAttribute()!, getElementById()!, <button> element submits the correct value attribute!,
  
  
  
  

Remains Unfixed (e.g. Intentionally not fixed):

• {nothing confirmed}


• WBT (bug 126) - MSFT Status: Will not fix in IE8


• WBT (bug 193) - Tested, Still Broken in IE8 Beta 1


• WBT (bug 256) - Tested, Still Broken in IE8 Beta 1, IE8 Beta 2


• WBT (bug 263) - Tested, Still Broken in IE8 Beta 1, IE8 Beta 2


• WBT (bug 280) - Tested, Still Broken in IE8 Beta 1, IE8 Beta 2


• WBT (bug 291) - Tested, Still Broken in IE8 Beta 1


• WBT (bug 293) - Tested, Still Broken in IE8 Beta 1

Possibly Fixed?:

• JavaScript and DOM Fixes? Feb 4th post by Web Standards group indicates Microsoft may address many open issues.

Caveats:
?.) Unknown
1.) In "IE8 Standards Mode"

IE8 Standards Mode:
The current trigger for IE8 Standards Mode is under heavy debate over on the IE Blog, A List Apart, WaSP, John Resig (jQuery), Dean Edwards, Robert O'Callahan (Mozilla), and Maciej Stachowiak (Safari). The proposal below *may* be revoked in favor of a more clever approach.

<meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=8"/>

or it can be sent as an HTTP header:

X-UA-Compatible: IE=8

or if you want to live on the bleeding edge, and always render in the strictest mode possible, use this meta tag:

<meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=edge"/>

Information Sources:
MSDN: Channel 9 Video with IE Team on ACID2 Test Milestone
A List Apart: Beyond Doctype
IE Blog: ACID2 | IE8 Standards Mode | User Agent String

WinVistaClub: IE8 Beta release date

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