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Microsoft unveils IE9

Internet Explorer has a bad rep. It’s seen as something of a dinosaur, sluggish and unstylish, and a barrier to the progress of front-end web development. In short, it’s always struggled to be the cool kid in the browser wars - but with the recent Beta release of the super-sleek and super-fast IE9, opinions might be about to change.

In recent years, the little blue ‘e’ has seen its popularity wane in the face of fierce competition from Firefox and more recently Google’s Chrome browser, which in a relatively short time has secured an impressive 7.5% share of the market. In contrast, Microsoft’s share has dropped to a mere 60% - with its credibility for producing standards-compliant and secure browsers at its lowest ebb. This is an important time for Microsoft: the launch of IE9 is a chance to win back users and give the browser’s image a much-needed boost within the industry.

And for web development companies and their clients, IE catching up with the rest of the web is welcome news. For years, developers have spent countless frustrating hours trying to work around the rendering quirks of IE6, and even after three incarnations this nine-year old browser is still clinging on by its fingernails. However, Microsoft appears eager to finally release the shackles of IE6; it’s urging users to upgrade away from the ancient browser, declaring it as obsolete. It’s also restricted IE9’s supported Operating Systems to just Vista and Windows 7, showing similar determination to move away from the outdated XP Operating System. All the signs point to Microsoft finally catching up with the market and embracing new web technologies.

So, looking beyond the glitzy Gorillaz-endorsed launch of IE9 last Thursday, what benefits can developers and users expect from this new browser?

User Interface - IE9’s interface is far cleaner and more simplified than previous versions of IE. Borrowing from Google Chrome, the page tabs are moved up out of the main viewing pane allowing for a larger page area. The default navigation has been pared down to the bare essentials, with only buttons for Home, Favourites and Tools remaining.

Website pinning - One of IE9’s most useful new features utilises the pinning functionality of Windows 7 and treats webpages like Windows applications. By dragging the webpage tab onto your taskbar you can revisit your website within one click. Once pinned, the browser takes on the colour scheme of the website, changing the back and forward buttons and switching the default home button for the website’s favicon.

Notifications - Warnings and dialogue boxes have been toned down. Instead notifications appear in a subtle yellow box at the bottom of the viewing pane. Though potentially too subtle for some users, it’s preferable to the intrusive dialogue boxes of previous versions.

Performance - Improved speed has been touted as one of the biggest advancements for IE9, and browsing certainly feels much faster. It’s difficult to directly compare to other browsers but tests have shown similar performance levels to Chrome and Firefox 3.6 with Microsoft declaring that the new JavaScript engine Chakra runs 11 times faster than its predecessor.

Web standards - Perhaps the most exciting advancement though, at least for front-end developers, is IE9’s focus on web standards. It reaches 95% in the Acid3 test – a test used to gauge a browser’s support of CSS and HTML standards, including CSS3 and HTML5. Although it’s still pipped by Chrome and Safari, it’s come a long way from the 20% score of IE8.

Microsoft isn’t working to a definite timetable and there are clearly still a few issues that need ironing out before this Beta version progresses to general release; most notably, the rather unpredictable rendering of Flash and JavaScript.

However, despite any shortcomings all the signs are promising. And if the manufacturer of the world’s most popular browser is showing such commitment to standards compliance and browser compatibility, perhaps front-end web development can finally concentrate more on innovating and less on pandering to the quirks of outmoded browsers.