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Microsoft Introduces Internet Explorer 8
May 06, 2009
You may have noticed an update to your web browser recently, or heard about Microsoft's most recent browser release. Yup, the long-awaited Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) has been launched. It was officially released on March 19th of this year, and started being included in Automatic Updates around the beginning of May.
So what's changed? Well, visually, the new browser is slightly more refined and a little less shiny. But the visual change from IE7 to IE8 isn't quite as drastic as the change from IE6 was. However, "under the hood" some big changes were made. Internet Explorer is gradually becoming more and more in line with other modern browsers, like Firefox, Safari and Opera.
If you've ever tried to use a different web browser than usual, say on someone else's computer or because you upgraded or changed computers, you may have noticed that every browser displays websites slightly differently. In fact, you may have noticed some websites appear to be completely broken in different browsers. This is because of how they work "under the hood". While all browsers interpret the basics of website structure the same, there are some subtle differences that can translate into large problems.
This morning, I took a survey of some of the browsers used by visitors to a cross section of our websites. Internet Explorer is, by far, the most popular browser, with nearly 80% of visitors using some version. In just a little over a month since the launch of IE8, only about 3% of users have adopted it. That number will, of course, rise over time, as users update their browsers or upgrade their computers.
At RKD we've always strived to ensure the websites we create work and look good across as many browsers as possible. We currently test in various versions of Firefox, Safari, Internet Explorer, and even text-only browsers. Now we've added IE8 into the mix, so you can be sure that the websites we're building for you will work in the latest and greatest version.
Dawn Wentzell
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