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MS IE version 8 . . . well?

post #1 of 19
3/20/09 at 7:14pm
Thread Starter 
Sometimes you get what you pay for...

IE version 8 is up on the MS site for download now. IIUC this is the final release version, not a beta.

Any thought so far from any users? Or should I wait until several patches are available first?
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post #2 of 19
3/23/09 at 6:56am

Re: MS IE version 8 . . . well?

As a web developer, I strongly encourage you to ditch IE unless it's your only choice. In my opinion, IE is the single biggest roadblock to true innovation on the web. If you have to use IE, at least upgrade to version 8 since it's stable, and is the most standards-compliant version yet.

To steal a quote from another message board:
Quote:
You know that kid who rushes to the top of the hill, just knowing that he's finally going to win King of the Hill for the first time ever? Then when he gets to the top of the hill, he's elated when he realizes he's at the top... only to realize a few moments later that all the other kids ran up a different hill?

That's Microsoft.
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post #3 of 19
3/23/09 at 7:29am

Re: MS IE version 8 . . . well?

I can't remember the last time I used IE for anything other than work-related tasks (company intranet and time-keeping functions use a web-based application which is not compatible with Firefox or Opera). Other than that, I ditched IE back in the days of Netscape Communicator.
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post #4 of 19
3/23/09 at 12:01pm

Re: MS IE version 8 . . . well?

I use IE... for Microsoft's own website when it forces me to.
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post #5 of 19
3/23/09 at 11:16pm

Re: MS IE version 8 . . . well?

I've been installing it on the computers used be people who are loyal to IE. I never liked IE7 (still keep IE6 as my backup to Firefox on my own machines), and IE8 steps back a bit from the minimal GUI at all costs philosophy of IE7. The restoration of a proper links bar is a huge plus, for instance. There's also quite a few new features that I haven't seen anywhere else yet, at least not outside of plug-ins. I'm comfortable with my routine on Firefox, so it'd take a lot fo rme to switch back.
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post #6 of 19
3/24/09 at 5:48am

Re: MS IE version 8 . . . well?

It would take a lot for me to switch from Firefox, but if I do, it's likely to be for Google Chrome. It looks inviting, especially if they can get a plug-in system in place and an ad blocking extension.
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post #7 of 19
3/26/09 at 7:28am
Thread Starter 

Re: MS IE version 8 . . . well?

Well so far so good. IE8 appears to be more friendly to some sites which appeared to stall-out on accessing using IE7. One interesting feature (is it a bug or a feature? ) is a "compatibility view" button up by refresh and stop. This applies older standards to sites coded some time ago. I got to try it on Digitally Obsessed this morning. At first it came up stretched out and looking funny, but returned to its normal appearance after hitting the cv button.
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post #8 of 19
3/27/09 at 5:54am

Re: MS IE version 8 . . . well?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Dennis Nicholls
One interesting feature (is it a bug or a feature? ) is a "compatibility view" button up by refresh and stop. This applies older standards to sites coded some time ago.
Just to be clear, compatibility mode has absolutely nothing to do with web standards. What it does is take a non-standards-based page that displayed properly in IE7, and make it display properly in IE8. So basically, it allows continued support for poorly authored web pages instead of enforcing standards.
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post #9 of 19
3/27/09 at 9:45am
Thread Starter 

Re: MS IE version 8 . . . well?

So far it's only been evident on Digitally Obsessed. However....

This is really odd. The IE8 treats photos posted here at HTF differently. With IE7, all photos here appear smaller and left-shifted, and move to the center and enlarge when you move over them with the cursor that's a magnifying glass with a + inside, and then click. Now with IE8 the photos start out being 'native size' and just move over.
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post #10 of 19
3/27/09 at 4:25pm
Thread Starter 

Re: MS IE version 8 . . . well?

OK all you firefox boosters....

Let me know how quickly Boise, Idaho news, weather, traffic, jobs, classifieds | Idaho Statesman comes up with firefox. With IE7 it quite often hangs my system, requiring a reboot sometimes. At other times it takes 2-3 minutes to load the front page. Now with IE8 it's slow to load but stable.

This is by far the worst-responsive website I've seen. Too bad it's for my local newspaper.
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post #11 of 19
3/27/09 at 5:47pm

Re: MS IE version 8 . . . well?

It's taking between 12-20 seconds to fully load that page in Firefox 3- no hangs. I'm running Vista and have a cable connection. I'd say your local paper needs some better technical folks. There's everything on that page but the kitchen sink!

Remember, the first step towards recovery is admitting you have a problem. The Firefox community will welcome you with open arms. Come toward the light... :-)
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post #12 of 19
3/27/09 at 6:18pm
Thread Starter 

Re: MS IE version 8 . . . well?

Dave,

Yeah I have Clearwire broadband so normally things like the NY Times or WaPo load in 3-4 seconds. There must be some high school dropout coding the IS webpage.
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post #13 of 19
3/27/09 at 9:43pm

Re: MS IE version 8 . . . well?

It took about five seconds to open that page on Firefox for me.
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post #14 of 19
3/28/09 at 5:35am

Re: MS IE version 8 . . . well?

Quote:
Originally Posted by dberthia
As a web developer, I strongly encourage you to ditch IE unless it's your only choice. In my opinion, IE is the single biggest roadblock to true innovation on the web. If you have to use IE, at least upgrade to version 8 since it's stable, and is the most standards-compliant version yet.
I have only made one web site and I thought as long as you could pass the W3C validation, things are good to go. My biggest trouble is to get a .WMV to both play and validate. I settled on it playing, and put them on their own page that opens up in a new tab.

What innovation is IE blocking? Even if IE comes out with a new version that fixes everything, there will be so many computers with older versions that we will still have to deal with.

I have been using FF for as long as I can remember, but I think it is slowing down. I use many of the plug-ins, and it seems that at least one of them needs to upgrade each time I open FF. This is getting annoying. I wish they could arrange a 1 time per week upgrade that does all at once, say at 3:00am.

It looks like nobody but Dennis has tried IE8?
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post #15 of 19
3/28/09 at 6:28am

Re: MS IE version 8 . . . well?

If your page validates, you're usually good to go in browsers that fully support web standards.

I'm sorry, but I have no experience serving up WMV files. I suspect your problem may lie in the "object" tag, but there is probably a valid HTML replacement.

I think you answered your own question with regard to the innovation. As long as people are still using IE6 & 7, developers can't take full advantage of all that modern web standards offer.

I agree it seems that Firefox has been getting a little slower over the years. They seem to be addressing some of this in 3.5. I've also got my eye on Google Chrome, which seems to be very fast.
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post #16 of 19
3/28/09 at 9:02am
Thread Starter 

Re: MS IE version 8 . . . well?

Dave,

I'm just concerned about that guy, Mozilo, that wrote Firefox. Isn't he like the world's biggest crook?

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post #17 of 19
3/28/09 at 5:11pm

Re: MS IE version 8 . . . well?

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post #18 of 19
3/29/09 at 2:27pm

Re: MS IE version 8 . . . well?

Quote:
Originally Posted by drobbins
I have only made one web site and I thought as long as you could pass the W3C validation, things are good to go. My biggest trouble is to get a .WMV to both play and validate. I settled on it playing, and put them on their own page that opens up in a new tab.

What innovation is IE blocking? Even if IE comes out with a new version that fixes everything, there will be so many computers with older versions that we will still have to deal with.
This is why Compatibility View exists. IE8 now supports web standards, but as a result has the same problems Firefox and other standards-compliant browsers have with pages designed for IE6 or IE7. When I design websites, I get it working great in Firefox and then go back and tweak it further to work in IE6.
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post #19 of 19
3/31/09 at 3:59am
Thread Starter 

Re: MS IE version 8 . . . well?

I just remembered a second site that used to crash my system with IE7: Mish Shedlock's blog. It now works fine with IE8. So far moving to IE8 has been a good experience.
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