Jaimie Dobson Internet Consultant

Microsoft has taken its browser Internet Explorer version 8 out of beta and released it for download by the general populous; but what does this latest version bring in the form of benefits to the small business owner?

Over the last couple of years or so, Internet Explorer (IE) has been steadily losing market share to upstarts such Firefox, Apple’s Safari and more recently Google’s Chrome browser, all of which are able to offer a more feature rich, secure, faster and easier web browsing ‘experience’ than Microsoft’s ubiquitous IE.

Figures published by Net Applications, a company that monitors the different number of browser types that are being used at any one time; tell us that the various versions of IE being used dropped to 67.4% of the market in February from 74.9% the previous year.

Mozilla’s Firefox leapt to a 21.8% share from 17.27% in the same period whilst Apple’s Safari rose from 5.7% to 8%. So clearly the “playing field” is being levelled as far as browser usage is concerned, if not the method of distribution (IE comes bundled free with the world’s most popular operating system, unlike other browsers).

From a business user’s perspective, what does this latest version of IE8 offer?

Well according to Chris Wilson, Microsoft’s chief architect for IE in an interview with the BBC; IE8 is placing a lot of emphasis on speed, a USP of the current Firefox and Chrome browsers. This means that Users will be able to download and view pages quicker any previous version. However I suspect that the average business User will not necessarily notice any difference and as such will not list it amongst a ‘must have’. The ‘tabbed browsing’ feature from IE7 is still in there and is a useful tool that we Firefox users have enjoyed for sometime. Tabbed browsing does allow one to keep the desktop tidy when surfing multiple websites simultaneously which in itself is a useful, but not new is has been adopted in some form by many other browser types.

IE8 does however, feature something called “The Accelerator”, which lets users highlight text on a page and automatically search for those terms on sites such as Facebook and eBay, or blog them straight into Microsoft’s blogging services. What the benefits of this are remains to be seen, from the perspective of the business User. The feature can be “turned off” so I suspect that IE8 Users within an office network will have the feature disabled by their network administrators rendering it pointless.

Security improvements over IE7 are stated to be one of the major benefits for all Users in the form of a feature called SmartScreen Filter which will block web pages that may contain malicious spyware, a feature which will be welcomed by network administrators and stand alone desktop users alike. This assumes it works as it should. Having downloaded IE8 on Thursday, I’ve already had an issue trying to access this blog’s editing interface which IE8 perceived to be a malicious web page. Which it isn’t of course!

The new Web Slices feature could be useful, particularly if like me, you have hundreds of regularly visited web pages in your bookmarks. Web Slices allow the User to add a self-updateable ‘snapshot’ of a webpage to a toolbar, thus allowing the User to keep track of the site without actually visiting it. However this feature seems to rely on a particular website being “compatible” with “Web Slices”. What’s wrong with RSS feed technology which is now common place and accepted technology which does a similar thing?

IE7 and its predecessors are notoriously poor at rendering W3C standard web pages. What this means is that a web developer will design and build your company’s website according to the accepted coding standards of the W3C consortium (the international body that tries standardise standards of production across the web), but because IE isn’t standards compliant, the web page will display differently to IE Users. A big issue since 67% of web surfers use IE. This in turn makes the job harder for your web developer to build your web site that can be viewed correctly in all browsers.

Some even say that IE forces web developers to build websites that are below internationally accepted standards.

So the big question with IE8 that will help everyone, developers and Users alike; is IE8 W3C standards compliant? Or have Microsoft decided yet again, to go their own way?

Here are some comments I’ve pulled from other IE8 review blog posts over the last couple of days, which illustrate the industry’s concerns on this matter:

“… lots of browsers on the market may be “good” for users’ choice, but it’s an absolute pain in the proverbial backside for us web developers, who not only have to test, retest and rerereretest our pages in not only several different browsers, but several different versions of several different browsers….. it’s a nightmare!”

“It would be nice if Microsoft actually adhered to the W3C standard. Pages rendered in Firefox, Chrome and Safari often differ when viewed in IE. If Microsoft can fix all the little ?bugs? in IE it would make web development a lot easier.”

“Biggest problem with IE – lack of standards supports. MICROSOFT – YOU DO NOT MAKE THE STANDARDS – you should adhere to them like everyone else – once that happens, the standards can be progressed and then we really will see internet application technology progressing rapidly.”

“Firefox, Safari, Chrome and Opera are all superior browsers that work to standard-compliance (thanks to the three engines from Mozilla, WebKit and Opera). Microsoft would rather ignore standards to push for dominance, then set their own standards.”

“Thankfully the majority of the web development community are wise to this and program for standards, then fixes for IE later. Shame they don’t ignore the fixes though. It would force users to use better browsers and Microsoft to meet standards compliance.”

So, will I be sufficiently motivated enough to switch my default browser from Firefox based upon what I’ve seen to date in IE8? I think not! Ultimately though IE8 it’s still going to be the browser of choice for the average business User as many people will just accept what comes preloaded on their computer, what gets downloaded in their next Windows Update and what their IT manager gives them to use.

That’s the battle Firefox and Chrome have to win.

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Tags: IE, Web Browsers, Web Design