IE 8 Web Standards Support – exceptional fail

ie_8_chartIE 8 has been a huge step forward for Microsoft in their browser development, and also a step back. But this latest bit of marketing drivel has to make you stop and go “hmmmm.”

So IE now supports web standards eh? Does that mean it passes the Acid 3 test? Surely it must, I mean it has a check mark next to the Web Standards bit. Ummm. No. Not so much.

I think the guys on the marketing team for IE 8 need to stop drinking the bujiboo juice and figure out that they still suck in this department. Check out the results for the Acid 3 test. Not even close.

Now, to be fair Opera only hit an 85/100, and Firefox came in at 72/100 but both Safari (4 beta) and Chrome nailed it with 100/100. I’ve read that Opera should be at 100/100, but even the latest 9.6 download doesn’t get any higher for me.

Developers don’t really need another test to tell them that IE is not all that and a bag of chips, but the average web user doesn’t know any better. That’s the real problem; 67% of all of my visitors still use some version of IE, and that means I still have to code for 3 versions of it now. For all my work, I could care less, if you want to use IE 6 you deserve to a get crappy web display – but from a business sense, IE 6 really can’t be ignored. Now there’s IE 7, IE 8, and even IE 7 compatibility mode (which differs from the real IE 7) in IE 8. Great one there Billy.

At least they’re on board with a new browser test application for Expression Web called SuperPreview, which, while still in beta, makes cross-version testing in IE moderately tolerable.  There’s an excellent write-up on the Expression Web team Blog, where there is also a download link.

Now if only we could get the IE team to follow along and play nice….

4 thoughts on “IE 8 Web Standards Support – exceptional fail”

  1. I think the following comment is justifiably on-topic considering the title of your blog:
    What is with the phrase “I could care less”? I have always used “I couldn’t care less” but I’ve heard your version crop up a number of times. Apparently they are the opposite of each other yet normally the speaker is trying to say the same thing. In your case I do believe that you are saying that you do indeed care about IE6 to some degree, because it’s possible for you to care less (you *could* care less). If you were to say that you couldn’t care less, then it would mean that your care is at zero. What do you think?

  2. Fletch,

    Your pretty much spot on with your assessment. I would like to fully join the traveling Circus saying that IE 6 is the spawn of Satan and we shouldn’t support it as a community; that’s just not possible. The people who use it still deserve to be served up a web page that is usable to them regardless of my viewpoint. For this blog, I couldn’t care less, I do this because I enjoy it. But this is only 1 site, and I should clarify in that I don’t actively test this site in IE 6 anymore, many others I do. But for my day job – I’m paid to care more.

    So while it’s fun to have websites where you can get code to add to your site, or rat out companies that still use IE 6 as their standard, the reality is that it’s still a legitimate browser, and design concessions must be made for it.

  3. I agree – but it is laughable that they praise their standards compliance when they really are not. IE 8 kills previous versions for stability, standards support, and security – but it has a long way to go.

    As a designer, this contempt for what the industry asks for is deplorable. It’s one thing to be the 800 lb gorilla, it’s another thing to act like a 12 year old version of that gorilla.

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