Internet Explorer 7 finally released
Microsoft released the long awaited new version of their market leading web browser, Internet Explorer 7 on 18th October.
Microsoft released the long awaited new version of their market leading web browser, Internet Explorer 7 on 18th October, and will be pushing it out to Windows users as a "high priority" update as part of the Windows Update system during November.
Internet Explorer 7 was originally scheduled to be released as part of the new Windows Vista operating system next year, but continued criticism from users concerned with the regular discovery of new security holes – leaving the five year old Internet Explorer 6 dubbed as "the Swiss cheese of browsers" by some industry critics – has seen Internet Explorer losing popularity in favour of other browsers such as Mozilla's Firefox.
The situation obviously didn't sit well with Microsoft, leading to the launch date of the new version being brought forward amid much fanfare and promises of unparalleled security.
While it's perhaps too early to tell if Internet Explorer 7 will live up to its promises to users, that is not the end of the story…
Your website and Internet Explorer 7
For many years, it was a safe assumption by web designers and web developers that the websites they were creating would be viewed almost exclusively with Internet Explorer.
At the time this did not really give cause for concern with Microsoft’s near 100% share of the web browser market. However, not all web browsers are created equal; where in an ideal world all web browsers should adhere to set standards, and therefore a web page should look the same regardless of what browser it is viewed in, the uptake of newer "standards-compliant" browsers such as Firefox have highlighted that Internet Explorer is perhaps the least "standards-compliant" browser in the market!
Over the last two years, this has had limited impact, even with Firefox taking up to 15% of the browser market. Site owners have still taken the view that everyone uses Internet Explorer and hence their site is fine, thanks very much!
But here’s the rub: Internet Explorer 7 is now standards-compliant, and this combined with the new security measures introduced in this version (and to a lesser extent the last service pack of Internet Explorer 6) means that sites designed solely around Internet Explorer may now start experiencing problems.
These can vary from simple display and layout peculiarities through to quite fundamental user issues. For example, have you visited a website recently where the designer has thought it would look jolly good if they used a fancy interactive Flash-based menu? You click on one of the buttons – and nothing happens! Now just move your mouse over that button again and you’ll see a tiny popup message saying "Click to activate and use this control". That is just one example of an Internet Explorer security measure, but how confusing is that for a user who is just trying to navigate around your site?
Standards-compliance can no longer be ignored, and if you are commissioning a new website you should ensure that it displays correctly across all popular browsers.
At Samarind, we embraced web standards, and all websites created by us over the past year are standards compliant. We test all our websites rigorously in many browsers before we allow them to go live, including Internet Explorer 5, 5.5, 6 and 7, Mozilla Firefox 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0, and Opera.
In fact, we're so confident that your Samarind-built website will not experience any issues with Internet Explorer 7, that if you do find a problem with any site we've developed over the last 12 months, we’ll fix it for free!
Of course, we're happy to offer our web services, even if your site was not originally developed by us.
Or perhaps you think it's now time that your company had a fresh, modern, and of course standards-compliant, website that will really drive new business to you.
Whatever your web needs, to discover the difference Samarind's web services can bring to your business, call Phil Turner or Matt Worrall on 01244 288281.