Your thoughts on IE 8

Last month I got my first Mac, and two days ago I purchased parallels to run windows so I could test out my work without rebooting.

Thus I installed Internet Explorer 8 to check it out, since it did pass the Acid 2 test. And I confirm it, it does pass. But all else fails. It seems that they only focused on that particular test, not the actual webstandards.

Both js and layout fails miserably in it, just check out this site in it. IE 7 is a terrible browser, but I dare to say IE 8 is worse than IE 6.

What do you think, even though it is in Beta. Still, what is your experience with it?

22 Mar 08

Stian,

I really decide to give it a try last week so i install it...
It have been in my pc for ..... 1 day!
After open it does not show the adress bar wich force me to restart my pc. After that pages look horrible... So i decided to re-install IE7! ;)

Anyway what can we expect from Microsoft?

Best Regards,

23 Mar 08

I need to get around to installing parallels actually...

Would save me a lot of hassles when checking things in ie.

Everyone I know who has checked out the new ie hated it. They said every site they visited looked terrible.

I am abit scared actually because it means we will have to have 4 sets of css in every template from now on.

1. ie6 css
2. ie7 css
3. ie8 css
4. css for real browsers

23 Mar 08

That really piss me off.
First they make a terrible browser, second they force all Windows users to have it installed, wether they like it or not.

Resulting in a heck of a lot more work for us!

Microsoft own me my sleep! I am so glad I switched, that I recommend it to everyone.

It did raise my productivity to a new level, especially since you can run several OS at the same time.

And because of a must-have software called CSSEdit. You simply can't call yourself a web designer and own a Mac without this nifty program.

23 Mar 08

Stian wrote:

You simply can't call yourself a web designer and own a Mac without this nifty program.

I would have thought those two were mutually exclusive, i.e. owning a Mac, etc., etc..

/me ducks and runs for cover ;)

23 Mar 08

Slightly more on-topic; I wasn't aware that there was an IE8 in the pipeline; I've only just started using IE7 (as a secondary browser) and it's, hmm, well I still much prefer FF but its there for site compatibility etc.

What's the timescale on the "release" of ie8?

23 Mar 08

That's a good question.
I hope it's far in the future.
I prefer them working hard this time around, instead of giving us extra work..

23 Mar 08

Not far enough in the future.

I think they should put more effort into making some patches for ie6 that actually make it work like a real browser.

Hardly anyone took up ie7, people are still on 6 why are they going for 8 at all??

Just fix one instead of breaking more!!!

@Steve

Careful about the mac jokes mate. I recently converted too, and it's the best move I ever made.

If it wasn't for compatibility purposes I would never boot a windows machine again.

23 Mar 08

Daniel wrote:

Hardly anyone took up ie7, people are still on 6 why are they going for 8 at all??

I think most people, myself included have only picked up IE7 because it was bundled with their OS. There's no real reason to use it; I used tabbed browsing with IE6 for years using Avant Browser. IE7's tabbing is still cr*p; what's with having to say "yes please, load my tabs next time" absolutely every time you close the thing??

Daniel wrote:

Just fix one instead of breaking more!!!

indeedomundo

Daniel wrote:

Careful about the mac jokes mate. I recently converted too, and it's the best move I ever made.

No!!??? You didn't did you? ;)

Not a flippant question this, I am genuinely interested; but why?

Bit of a moot point just now because I've just upgraded my PC but I did consider a Mac. I've an interest in photography and video so researched both platforms for this, including an interesting 3rd party review that showed a similarly spec'd PC outperformed a Mac in image manipulation and video editing.

The thought of also having to start building up software from scratch put the heebies up me.

23 Mar 08

Not if you consider the fact that the software works better on Mac.

And the thought of going through Anti-Virus scans, Anti-Spyware scans and Firewall problems really give's me creeps. It's not a mth, Mac is a better option. Why choose one when you can have both?