The Daily Llama

Microsoft says IE8 is fully standards compliant. I beg to differ. As soon as I found out IE8 beta 1 was released, I downloaded it, installed it, and stuck it next to my other browsers (see left). I found it strange that a web browser would try to search for malicious programs while installing. I also was uncomfortable because the installer, unlike Firefox’s, asked me to restart my computer.

After I got the browser installed and restarted my computer, I pulled out the browser and looked at my test blog. Uh oh! I know instantly, IE8 is not all that Microsoft told us it would be.

• No CSS3 support (this can be expected)
• Any page with javascript on it gives an ActiveX warning that sounds like your computer just blocked a nuclear missile.
  • Even XML pages with no scripting on them at all give the alert.
• The “write a new post” page in the WP2.5 admin does not load unless you have the rich text editor disabled in your profile.
  • A “popup blocked” alert displays if you click on the dropdown menu on that page.
• Floated elements on a page don’t float correctly. They run on past the clear:both/clear:left/clear:right items and into the content of the next item on a page.
  • IE8’s new “developer” interface tells me that the floated items are inside an item that is three inches away.

Now, let’s look at some screenshots of WordPress 2.5’s new attachment upload interface. Try to spot IE8, Firefox 2, and Safari 3 from these:

Can you tell which one is IE? It should be pretty obvious. IE has no transparency support.

Here’s another test, have you heard that IE8 passes the acid2 test? It’s a lie, even though it’s better than IE7:

If you want a good browser, don’t go to Microsoft. Get , Safari, or Opera.