"upgrading" to IE8? ("safer, better...")

decibel.places's picture

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so Yahoo Mail is promoting IE8 - ("safer, better...")

I use IE for Yahoo mail because it permits easier insertion of images and stuff. Opera 9.x tends to crash on Yahoo Mail.. but only when it is in a folder named "Opera" - "Opera9" is fine...

I don't use Chrome anymore (does anybody? - according to http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp 4%)

I assume that, like IE7, IE8 will insist on being the solo IE on my machine (I currently run IE6 in a Virtual PC running XP which is a pain - and interestingly I can also run IE3 on Vista - for nostalgia's sake)

Eventually I shall have to upgrade ... is it necessary now? Should I get another machine just for IE8? Should I install IE8 in my dual-boot Ubuntu os? (just kidding Sticking out tongue )

Can we put an autoinstaller for Firefox (or Opera at least) in all our web sites, when IE is detected?

pr0gr4mm3r's picture

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so Yahoo Mail is promoting IE8 - ("safer, better...")

Yahoo isn't going out of there way to inform the public that IE8 is "safer". That is clearly an advert campaign from Microsoft.

If you are on windows, and use IE to surf the 'net, I would say upgrade.

decibel.places's picture

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pr0gr4mm3r wrote:
Yahoo isn't going out of there way

their way - don't they teach you kids English anymore? Laughing out loud

@pr0gr4mm3r, you're not really addressing the issues...

what if I install IE8 and lose IE7 unless I uninstall it - or I am forced to buy a new box?

In my work I need to check display in ALL the major browsers, and if I lose IE7 that would be a catastrophe.

I do not "choose" to use IE (except for Yahoo Mail which is better in IE - and has been my public email for over 10 years...) But I do choose to ensure that my code displays properly in IE7, IE6, FFox, Opera, Safari -- Chrome? -- and now, IE8?

I have encountered developers who say, "I don't care about IE, I develop for Firefox..." sure, and I develop for African American lesbians who voted for John McCain...

Actually "I develop for Firefox only" was the response of the maintainer of the excellent MySite Drupal module that lost all it's styles in IE - unless displayed as a full page, no sidebars.. now, I suspect it has to do with the known defect when using a lot of stylesheets - but I was not too favorably impressed by the response to my issue...

Like it or not a lot of people use IE, will continue to use IE, many have no choice about it - we need to be inclusive, not snide...

pr0gr4mm3r's picture

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Can't you put IE8 in IE7 mode?

decibel.places's picture

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Good point, if it is actually IE7 mode.

However MS is going to blacklist sites using IE7 mode in IE8

http://www.isolani.co.uk/blog/standards/Ie8BlacklistForcingStandardsRend...

and in that post:

And to spite us, last week I noticed that the IE7 Compatibility mode doesn't render pages exactly the same as Internet Explorer 7 itself.

http://stevenclark.com.au/2009/02/17/ie8-blacklists-domains-to-ie7-rende...

I like his use of "PANTS"

greg's picture

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pr0gr4mm3r wrote:
Can't you put IE8 in IE7 mode?
Year apparently yew can.

It allows for various modes, quirks mode types and full compliance with web standards, xhtml etc.

Although MS did state it would be fully W3C complaint, guess what, from reviews and current comments it isn't.
I suppose only time will tell.

MS were always so far in the lead they could do whatever they wanted, now with some decent competition, and their usage lead decreasing, they are obviously starting to play as a team, rather than "MS owns the world Mwooohaaaahaa" (Said Bill Gates at a recent convention..)

decibel.places wrote:
I develop for African American lesbians who voted for John McCain...
Link?

They have: 18 posts

Joined: Feb 2009

decibel.places wrote:
so Yahoo Mail is promoting IE8 - ("safer, better...")

I use IE for Yahoo mail because it permits easier insertion of images and stuff. Opera 9.x tends to crash on Yahoo Mail.. but only when it is in a folder named "Opera" - "Opera9" is fine...

I don't use Chrome anymore (does anybody? - according to http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp 4%)

I use chrome and expect it to quickly overtake Firefox (a 4% browser share in just 6 months is ominous). It's considerably faster to use, loads instantly and seems better at handling web applications. I only use firefox for it's web dev extension and for buzzword, which won't allow copy and pasting in chrome. I've read that google have struck deals with some manufacterers to pre-install chrome on new PCs - and since google are doing more than anyone else to pioneer new ways of using the web (through their web apps & services) they have a clearer idea of what their browser will need to be capable of, which gives them a developmental edge I think will prove decisive.

I swore by Opera until a couple of years ago, when it began to struggle with web applications. It's lightning fast in all other respects - but this is useless if you are trying to use google reader on a slower machine - where firefox, chrome and safari are all still snappy.

decibel.places's picture

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I noticed that Chrome does not perform well in some situations - particularly in Yahoo Mail, some other problems as well.

It blasted to a 3% share because of the hoopla preceding its release, its market share is not exactly growing quickly, I think Google is in the game for the long run and future hightly publicized releases.

But this thread is actually about IE8 Wink

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decibel.places wrote:
It blasted to a 3% share because of the hoopla preceding its release, its market share is not exactly growing quickly, I think Google is in the game for the long run and future hightly publicized releases.

But this thread is actually about IE8 ;)

Incidentally, the figures from w3schools are only a measure of their traffic. Net applications put Chrome at just 1.15%. But I am much less pessimistic about its chances than you. Chrome has a very powerful developer.

But you're absolutely right about this thread - I have hijacked it a little.

So a word on IE8 - I like it tremendously so far, but its handling of web apps isn't as sharp as FF or Chrome. Web slices are a super feature that will be widely imitated. I just regret I won't be able to use them, because as big an improvement as IE8 is over its predecessor, it isn't a persuasive enough case to leave chrome.

Michael James Swan's picture

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I have many browsers that i use because i have to test and development many sites and having multiple browsers is a great way to know that you have done a great job in making sure that the site works well in various browsers.

Internet Explorer 8 is more of a developers tool than an actual website browser.

It does look nice, but it can be a little slower than previous versions of Internet Explorer.

Install it along side your current version of Internet Explorer.* Please make sure that you install it into antoher folder, otherwise you will be installing it over your current version, thus overiding files and not having the previous version on the PC anymore.

~ Mike

decibel.places's picture

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ms2134 wrote:
Install it along side your current version of Internet Explorer.* Please make sure that you install it into antoher folder, otherwise you will be installing it over your current version, thus overiding files and not having the previous version on the PC anymore.

So IE8 will not automatically remove IE7, as IE7 did with IE6? That is good news...

Michael James Swan's picture

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Not on auto. But if you were to install it into the same folder it would.

I have both running on my Laptop, one in the normal folder that it creates and IE8 in Internet Explorer 8_Mike which runs file because that is what i choose.

~ Mike

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Why not download the older standalone browsers from http://browsers.evolt.org/? You can use them for testing and keep up todate with the latest browser then.

decibel.places's picture

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Gog wrote:
Why not download the older standalone browsers from http://browsers.evolt.org/? You can use them for testing and keep up todate with the latest browser then.

On Vista, IE7 does not allow any other versions of IE (except IE3, and possibly IE8) - so I must use IE6 in a virtual machine running XP...

http://browsers.evolt.org/ is a good resource, interesting repository

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