From Internet Explorer 7 to Internet Explorer 9, HTML 5 for all

This is a very important twist that Microsoft is doing with Internet Explorer 9, adding support for HTML 5, including Canvas, which nevertheless competes with Silverlight, as well as SVG and CSS 3.

Let's start with a retrospective ...

От Internet Explorer 7 до Internet Explorer 8

The move from version 7 to version 8 improved the classic browser usage.

  1. ARIA W3C Standard
    It takes into account availability in Ajax applications.
  2. XDomainRequest object
    XDomainRequest was supposed to be the successor to the XMLHttpRequest object and allow asynchronous communication between different sites, but it was left in IE 10 and replaced by XHR 2.
  3. Activity
    These are menus that will allow the web page object to call services from other web pages. These services will work in connection with the object they reference. A simple example is the ability to insert part of another page into the current one. To do this, the service or text you want to call must be encoded into an XML file in exact format.
  4. Web pages
    This is the equivalent of an RSS stream. This allows the user, when visiting a page, to be aware of changes in it, if the page supports the format.
    Web pages will appear in your favorites as a page thumbnail, with updated content... The example shown is shown below.
  5. Magnifying glass
    Firefox 3 feature: enlarge or shrink a page while preserving character smoothing
    6. .
  6. Extension Manager
    Another FF3 feature that will be resumed IE8.
  7. Resumed session
    When the browser is accidentally closed, it can be restarted and you can find those page tabs on which we worked. Another recovery.
  8. CSS и DOM
    Changes in CSS selectors, DOM methods are countless. All this goes towards the standard and partially compensates for the gap with HTML 5.
  9. Modes 7 and 8
    You can switch between Internet Explorer 7 and Internet Explorer 8 mode for sites that are not compatible with a particular version.

Finally, let's clarify that the IE8 passes the Acid2 compatibility test.

What version 8 lacked

  1. HTML 5
    The new format is partially implemented by other browsers. It is designed for web applications. Microsoft must meet some of the requirements of the standard, including for offline applications. The lack of full support for this format can cause the Microsoft browser to decline.
  2. Canvases
    Canvas is defined in HTML 5, it is even an important element, it allows you to draw using commands on a web page, so it creates a graphical interface, game, graphs... It is implemented in other browsers.

Despite the desire to get closer to standards, Microsoft is primarily looking to protect its monopoly by banning the emergence of a standard for web applications, probably the most active market in the coming years. Therefore, the firm relies on Silverlight, which is very average in portability, and still ignores HTML 5.

Version 8 to Version 9

IE 9 is a completely different browser that looks more like Chrome and meets the standards of the Web, according to a test site created by Microsoft for demonstration and according to major interested Microsoft partners.
In addition, compatibility measured with the Acid test increases to 95% compared to 21% for IE8. It is interesting to watch the evolution of Microsoft browsers between version 7 and 8, and then from version 9.

  1. CSS 3
    The demo site shows the effects long expected by webmasters, including rounded corners in boxes, forcing them to use images as a replacement.
    Gradients and new selectors are also included.
  2. SVG
    SVG is only partially implemented, but it is planned to develop and approach full compatibility, with exceptions.
    Microsoft has no plans to implement filters and animations .
    She prefers to use True Type fonts with SVG and has no plans to support SVG fonts.
  3. Canvases
    IE9 recognizes the integration tag of a picture on a web page and, in addition, allows you to Direct2D graphical acceleration on its content, as well as on the <video> tag.
    Extended support for the standard can be tested on Canvas Tutorial online (in the HTML 5 section).
  4. Video
    HTML 5 video and audio tags are supported, but Microsoft has announced that only the H.264 codec will be supported by Internet Explorer 9.
    This is a patent and paid codec, but Microsoft is among those who get the rights to this codec. It is built into Windows 7 and is free for users. This is not for those who post videos in this format!
    Google created an extension to add WebM support to Internet Explorer 9 (and Microsoft responded with a Chrome extension, adding H.264 support!).
  5. Tracking Protection
    In order to prevent advertising regulations from collecting information about the navigation history of Internet users, therefore, the center of their interests will be the ability to block the servers usually used for these services.
    This could hurt companies like Google, whose Adsense ads use this principle to satisfy personal life activists, but above all will lead to ads not being interesting.

Indicators

As shown by the SunSpider comparison graph, a JavaScript-aware navigation comparator, the display speed for a JavaScript application has increased 6.5 times from 3,800 to 600, it remains lower than Opera and Chrome, but surpasses Firefox.

The browser uses graphics acceleration Direct2D thanks to the interface with Vista and Seven graphics, and for this reason it will be compatible with them, but not with Windows XP.
It also uses multi-core processors for simultaneous treatment.
All types of computers, including netbooks, will be able to use this technology. It is there that IE 9 gains an advantage over other browsers .

Graphics acceleration is applied to HTML 5 and Canvas video tag.

Silverlight

Despite support for HTML 5, video and canvas, which make Silverlight optional, Microsoft will continue to develop Silverlight as an alternative web application platform with XAML and multiple programming languages, while HTML remains limited to JavaScript for now.
2013 update: Silverlight is no longer supported.

What else is missing from Internet Explorer 9

See the compatibility test articles at the end of the page.

Conclusion

The vice president of Microsoft said so:

"People go online for sites, not for a browser. As on PCs for apps, not Windows."

That is why the firm decided to release a browser that supports the application language, HTML 5, albeit with a backdated idea that it should work better on Windows than anywhere else.

(Update 2014: This statement needs to be brought closer to that later in the IE10, and features added to allow apps to dive into the browser!)

In addition, with the advent of the Google Chrome Frame plugin, which brings support for HTML 5 and the JavaScript V8 compiler to Microsoft browsers, the firm is at an impasse.
To get out of it, she decided to move forward and make better her competitors. It is possible that Internet Explorer, whose market share will be blurred, will not be chosen in the future, since it is installed by default in Windows, but in terms of its qualities!

References and Demos