Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 - Passes the Acid2 Test...

Folks, for anyone who has worked at coding Web sites on HTML and subsequently XHTML + CSS, the advent of Internet Explorer 7 (IE) was a huge step in the right direction.

Coding sites for IE6 quirks was nothing short of extremely painful ... loss of limb levels of pain. :(

IE7 helped that process along by at least rendering Web pages without too much in the way of painful extra coding. Though, it is still a long way from pure coding pleasure.

The litmus test for properly rendering a properly coded XHTML + CSS based Web site is the Acid2 Web Browser Test.

The Acid2 test is brutal. Check it out with IE7 and see just how far away it is.

In my own experience, the only Windows based browser that can pass the test is the current version of the Opera Browser which is 9.

Today, that has changed!

The Internet Explorer team announced that the IE8 will properly render the Acid2 Test!

Since a significant junk of the world browses the Web with IE, this is a huge step in the right direction and a huge relief for Web site coders everywhere.

As long as Web Standards remain the focus of the IE Team, coders will no longer need to keep such a large stable of coding hacks to make sites work on all browsers.

And, with this announcement there is now pressure on the other browser creators that are not Standards compliant to pick it up and get their browser products compliant.

In the end, we are the winners! As Standards are adopted, Web sites will no longer look different or not render at all on the various Web browsers out there.

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists

*All Mac on SBS posts are posted on our in-house iMac via the Safari Web browser.

Coding CSS Resource - CSS-Discuss.org

For those of us who dabble, or work full time coding Web sites, there is an excellent mailing list that can help you work through the many browser hoops needed to get your CSS working!

The CSS-Discuss.org list is one of the best resources I have come across.

There are a number of very helpful people on the list who will help you validate your CSS, work with the Box Model browser hoops, and more.

Happy Coding,

Philip Elder
MPECS Inc.
Microsoft Small Business Specialists