IE10 Platform Preview 1, available for
download today is the first step in delivering the next wave of progress
in native HTML5 support. Web sites and HTML5 run best when they run natively, on
a browser optimized for the operating system on your device.
We built IE9 from the ground up for HTML5 and for Windows to deliver the most native
HTML5 experience and the best Web experience on Windows. IE10 continues on IE9’s
path, directly using what Windows provides and avoiding abstractions, layers, and
libraries that slow down your site and your experience:
The only native experience of the Web and HTML5 today is on Windows 7 with IE9.
IE9’s approach to taking advantage of what the operating system offers – from the
native graphics stack to jump lists in the shell – maximizes performance, usability,
and reliability. We released a fast, clean, trusted, and interoperable IE9 globally
for consumers and businesses four weeks ago with the goal of delivering the best
experience of HTML5. The best HTML5 is native to the operating system, so Web sites
have the fewest translation layers to pass through. The best HTML5 enables sites
to use the same markup – the same HTML, CSS, and script – across browsers. The best
HTML5 respects developers’ time and enables same markup by treating site-ready HTML5
differently from unstable technologies.
The IE10 preview continues what IE9’s first preview began
a year ago:
“When we started looking deeply at HTML5, we saw that it will enable a new class
of applications. These applications will stress the browser runtime and underlying
hardware in ways today’s Web sites don’t. We quickly realized that doing HTML5 right
– our intent from the start – is more about designing our browser’s subsystems around
what these new applications will need than it is about a particular set of features.
From the beginning, we approached IE9 with the goal of enabling professional-grade,
modern HTML5 support on top of modern hardware through Windows.
“At the MIX conference today,
we demonstrated how the standard Web patterns that developers already know and use
broadly run better by taking advantage of PC hardware through IE9 on Windows. This
blog post provides an overview of what we showed today, across performance, standards,
hardware-accelerated HTML5 graphics, and the availability of the IE9 Platform Preview
for developers.”
Native HTML5 and Real-world sites
Native HTML5 support in Windows with IE9 makes a huge difference in what sites can
do. We demonstrated real-world sites from the development community that a year
ago would have been possible only with a plug-in or application. These sites are
live now and show that the technologies as implemented in IE9 are production-ready
for consumers and businesses. Links are available at
www.beautyoftheweb.com for you to try them out. These sites are proof of
progress on the goal of same markup and standards-based Web technologies. They run
in other browsers – just slower. As an industry, we’ve just started to see what’s
possible when sites can take advantage of these capabilities. The experiences may
be new today; they reflect what people will simply come to expect from sites in
the future.
An Early Look at IE10
We’re about three weeks into development of IE10, and based on the progress we’ve
made, we want to start engaging the development community now. At the
MIX conference today, we showed the new browsing engine along with several
new browser test drives that anyone on the Web can try out. You can run these at
www.ietestdrive.com to see emerging standards
like CSS3 Multi-column Layout (link),
CSS3 Grid Layout (link)
and CSS3 Flexible Box Layout (link),
CSS3 Gradients (link),
and ES5 Strict Mode in action. We also demonstrated additional standards support
(like CSS3 Transitions (link)
and CSS3 3D Transforms (link))
that will be available in subsequent platform previews of IE10, which we will update
every 8-12 weeks.
Also available are new test drive samples for today’s production browsers. For example,
Fishbowl
is an update to the original
FishIE tank that now uses more HTML5 technologies.
Paintball is another great demonstration of what fully hardware accelerated
HTML5 Canvas delivers.
Progress, not just activity, in improving the Web
Many of us share the goal of a more powerful, native, and robust Web. We want actual
progress, not just iteration and activity, toward that goal.
The Web makes progress when
- developers can take advantage of new technology
- to build sites that feel and run more like native applications than Web pages
- across production-quality browsers
- using the same markup consistently.
This is how the Web delivers on the promise and value of the standards: when we
as an industry deliver consumer-ready and business-ready HTML5.
The cadence of browser releases reflects how often technologies are updated,
not how much the technologies actually advance from instability to robustness. Higher
cadence just means more frequent releases of incomplete software (and larger version
numbers). What matters is when consumers and businesses take delivery of robust,
production-ready browsers that use the new technology.
Practical developers ask about the stability of emerging standards and when
they can expect the same mark-up will work consistently across browsers. IE9 includes
support for many emerging, not yet final standards (like font embedding, performance
measurement, and privacy) that are stable enough for same markup to work consistently.
Other emerging standards (like WebSockets and IndexedDB) need to stabilize before
developers can expect that. We work with the community on these as part of
HTML5 Labs, where iteration will not affect consumers and mainstream developers.
When browsers prematurely implement technology, the result is activity more than
progress. Unstable technology results in developers wasting their time rewriting
the same site. The gaps in same markup working consistently across browsers are
obstacles to advancing the interoperable Web, not just annoyances.
Native implementations are just better for developers, consumers, and businesses.
They keep Web sites from falling behind applications in performance and other important
ways. While using cross-platform, non-native compatibility layers makes browser
development easier, they don’t necessarily make a better browser. Browsers that
use modern operating systems more directly deliver better experiences. Browsers
that compromise (by spreading across too many OSes and OS versions) face challenges.
For example, building a new browser for the ten-year old version of Windows that
came with IE6 didn’t make sense to us because of the limitations of its graphics
and security architectures. Others have
dropped support on Windows XP for functionality that we think is fundamental
to performance. As Windows 7 usage exceeds Windows XP’s in more and more countries
(link),
the sense in building for the future of the Web rather than the past is clear.
Ultimately, the point is advancing the interoperable Web and making the Web better.
Developers want robust HTML5 implementations that they and their sites can rely
on, in which the same markup works consistently. Our focus has been on enabling
the same markup by delivering native HTML5 to Windows with full hardware acceleration
and working closely with the standards bodies and the community.
Looking Forward
IE9 delivers native support for HTML5 on Windows. Now, your sites can deliver significantly
better experiences in IE9 on Windows today.
IE10 continues several patterns from IE9. In addition to the Platform Preview available
for developers to download at www.ietestdrive.com,
we have posted new test drives and
over 500 new tests we’ve submitted to the standards bodies. IE’s approach
to emerging standards results in less churn and more progress for developers. IE10
builds on full hardware acceleration and continues our focus on site-ready Web-standards.
This combination enables developers to deliver the best performance for their customers
on Windows while using the same, Web-standard markup across browsers.
We look forward to continuing to engage the community and hearing your feedback.
—Dean Hachamovitch, Corporate Vice President, Internet Explorer