Launching status.modern.ie & Internet Explorer platform priorities
At //build 2014, we talked about our commitment to building a deeper partnership with Web developers. We started by launching the beta of status.modern.ie which included a first peek at features in development for the next version of Internet Explorer. The positive reception has been great to see, along with the feedback on what could improve.
This is a big deal. IE is finally opening up. https://t.co/WHhhMTh2Eq
— Domenic Denicola (@domenic) April 3, 2014
Later in April, @IEDevChat kicked off our first monthly #AskIE session, with IE engineers responding to over 100 questions in 2 hours, with a total of 2.4 million people exposed to the #AskIE hashtag. Here’s the team hard at work answering questions:
Launching status.modern.ie with new features
Today, after some of our team members host the Microsoft Astronaut’s Welcome Reception at JSConf 2014, we are happy to announce that we are removing the beta tag from status.modern.ie! We’ve incorporated a number of improvements based on your feedback. Here’s a look at just some of the changes we’ve made:
- Open Sourced – the data in status.modern.IE is useful for many purposes and many developers have expressed an interest in contributing to the project. Starting today, the entire site (including the data that backs it) is available on GitHub under the Apache V2 license. We also expose the IE support data as a service, provided under the Creative Commons Attribution v2 license. Check out our Readme for more.
- Improved Search & Filter – we heard the feedback that the Web platform is vast and finding the features you care about was a bit tricky in the original beta site. The new “Interop” menu lets you easily enter in your browser support interests to find features available in the Web platform.
- Deep Linking – via HTML5 History and Angular routing, status.modern.IE enables you to deep link to a feature you want to share with others. For example, go straight to GamePad API status.
- Better Mobile Support & Performance – nearly 20% of our visitors are from mobile devices. We’ve further optimized the site to make sure you can get at the latest browser status while discussing the Web over coffee or testing out your site in IE11 for Windows Phone 8.1 Developer Preview.
We’re also announcing a new set of features that are now In Development for Internet Explorer, including:
- Web Audio
- Media Capture
- ES6 Promises
- HTTP/2
- And more….
Head on over to status.modern.IE to find the full list!
These features form a part of our commitment to delivering interoperable implementations for the latest features on the modern Web. The current list of features “in development” is not an exhaustive representation of what we will deliver in the next version, but an indication of what we currently have highest confidence in delivering. There are several other features that we realize are very important and are working on a plan to support – stay tuned for more updates in the future.
Looking ahead: our priorities
Beyond the specific features that our developers are working on right now, we’d like to share more about the vision and priorities of the IE Platform team working on the HTML5 capabilities for IE. We’re big believers in the Web because of its broad reach that touches so many people, be they users, developers or businesses. From that belief, we have rallied the team around a simple people-centric and pragmatic vision:
The Web should just work for everyone – users, developers and businesses.
At first glance this is a seemingly simple and obvious goal. Like most good vision statements, though, we use it to shape our priorities as we make inevitable trade-offs and design choices. For example, if a Web standard demands one behavior but other browsers and Web sites expect a different behavior then we implement the interoperable design so the sites “just work” for our users. We then engage with the standards working groups to update the standard to the interoperable behavior. Most of all this goal encourages pragmatism rather than always standing on a narrow principle.
With that mindset, we set our top priorities which reflect the most significant ways that we believe the Internet Explorer platform can help to achieve that vision:
- Get users current. Everyone wins when more IE users are running the latest version of the browser. We will continue to build features (like Enterprise Mode IE) and partner with teams internal and external to Microsoft to enable users and businesses to confidently move to the latest version of IE.
- Security. Users must feel secure running IE and businesses must feel secure deploying IE in their environments. We will continue to invest deeply in security features that provide broad mitigations to potential vulnerabilities.
- Interoperability and compatibility. Everyone wants sites written a decade ago to just keep working, but everyone also wants the latest HTML5 features for great experiences on the modern Web. We will work to ensure that we do a great job at both, ensuring improved backwards capability and interoperability with the latest HTML5 features across modern browsers.
We look forward to sharing more with you on how we plan to make those priorities a reality in the coming months.
We’re confident that this direction will allow us to make a positive impact on the Web and make significant strides towards the vision of ‘the Web just works for everyone.’ We look forward to hearing your feedback @IEDevChat! Be sure to join us for the next #AskIE session, live from JSConf on Thursday, May 29th @ 1PM-3PM EST.
— Sam George, Partner Group Program Manager, Internet Explorer
P.S. Charles Morris and Jacob Rossi from the team also joined Larry Larsen from Channel 9 to talk about today's announcements:
Comments
Anonymous
May 28, 2014
There's a lot of emphasis on the features of the rendering engine. And that's good. But it'd be equally nice to see a place that focused on the User Experience (UX/UI)... for both Modern and Desktop IE. Is there a "best place" for that kind of feedback and forward looking notifications of what you're working on?Anonymous
May 28, 2014
Still nothing on MathML support, much needed by education and for accessibilityAnonymous
May 28, 2014
Nice website! Hope those features will be available soon!Anonymous
May 28, 2014
@pmbAustin - Thanks for the feedback - you're right that we're focused on communicating platform plans for now in order to help developers plan ahead. We are working on some improved feedback mechanisms for both the platform and UX but for now you can just leave feedback here in the comments!Anonymous
May 28, 2014
Considering that status.modern.ie is built with AngularJS, you should really consider pushing Object.Observe() implementation, because that's what AngularJS 2.0 will use, and it would be a shame, that the IE vNext would need to use dirty checking fallback. That would not be a big problem if IE would be on a really modern browser development speed. And yes, by that I mean that IE is not a modern browser, because it's allways behind other browsers.Anonymous
May 28, 2014
I've noticed a few features missing from status.modern.IE, such as date picker. For an alternative, take a look at caniuse.com for a feature-by-feature detailed breakdown of browser support, including polyfill info, prefix info, mobile browser support, and more. Click on "Tables" and scroll to the bottom for a grand total feature support scorecard. Currently, IE11 gets 69%, Firefox v29 gets 84%, and Chrome v35 gets 88%.Anonymous
May 28, 2014
@Paul Topping - Right... MathML is a nice thing, but it's not "much needed", or by education, nor accessibility. We're fine now too without it. @YipYip - It doesn't realy matter how much a browser supports, what matters is how it supports it and if it follows the standards. And IE is doing very well on that. :)Anonymous
May 28, 2014
@Charles Morris [MSFT] and @Jacob Rossi [MSFT] " we talked about our commitment to building a deeper partnership with Web developers. (...) along with the feedback on what could improve. " Let us imagine, just for a minute, that a lot of developers and users ask and request that, say, this comment form in IE blog for posting feedback be fixed so that it would work correctly, so that this comment form in IE blog for posting feedback would function normally, so that this comment form in IE blog for posting feedback would ... huh... just work as expected. For everyone. Now, here's my question: why would it take Microsoft more than 6 years to honor such fairly reasonable request? ... with dozens and dozens of posts coming from dozens and dozens of users, developers, etc about such request? Why?? You ask for feedback and you got feedback. Gérard TalbotAnonymous
May 28, 2014
@Charles Morris [MSFT] and @Jacob Rossi [MSFT] " we talked about our commitment to building a deeper partnership with Web developers. (...) along with the feedback on what could improve. " I personally wrote in an email to Travis Leithead in 2008 indicating that I would not continue to contribute bug reports or reduced test cases or anything unless the connect Microsoft IE feedback would be considerably and significantly improved. You wanted feedback on what could be improved and you got detailed feedback on what could be improved. In emails. And in this blog. Several times. And from various sources, not just from me. Gérard TalbotAnonymous
May 28, 2014
@Charles Morris [MSFT] and @Jacob Rossi [MSFT] " we talked about our commitment to building a deeper partnership with Web developers. (...) along with the feedback on what could improve. " I've asked many months ago why Microsoft submitted CSS2.1 tests that have been reviewed and flagged as imprecise and/or incorrect for more than 3 years ago have not yet been accordingly corrected. I never got a reply on this. I have suggested that this blog should be moderated; abrasive remarks, anonymous posting, name-calling, insinuations, etc ... are not that rare. IE software developers, IE project managers, etc post and ask for feedback in this blog almost every months or so and they get feedback. And some are relevant, constructive, positive feedback. Gérard TalbotAnonymous
May 28, 2014
So if e.g. status.modern.ie/mathml says "Not currently planned" what exactly does that mean? Only not in the next version or in general for the foreseeable future? And is there any venue for lobbying in favor of it?Anonymous
May 28, 2014
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May 28, 2014
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May 28, 2014
Just noticed you even linked to the bug tracker entries of the other browsers, that's great! (BTW: while you are using the short domain for Google Chrome you aren't using the one for Firefox https://bugzil.la/[Number]).Anonymous
May 28, 2014
Great features, thank you for your hard work. I have a question which is bothering me for a few years now. How about enhancing font rendering for cleartype and subpixel aliasing on non-HD displays ? The fonts look worse in IE than in all other browsers, which prevents me from using Internet Explorer, as much as I would like to use it, fonts are not readable, not comparable to text in concurrent browsers. Thank you again.Anonymous
May 28, 2014
Great direction and great to see the site (and the data) open sourced. Now I can be always up to date using RSS with the latest changes - github.com/.../ie-status.json.atom Do you have anything to announce regarding a no-new-vendor-prefixed-features policy?Anonymous
May 28, 2014
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May 28, 2014
Thanks for http://status.modern.ie. Please add CSS resize and outline-offset properties to your backlog: connect.microsoft.com/.../css3-resize-and-outline-offset-properties-missing. Couldn't find them on http://status.modern.ie/.Anonymous
May 28, 2014
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May 28, 2014
IE only needs one feature for now: auto updates! Firefox and Chrome have it. If IE would finally have it too, then it could be on par with the other browsers much sooner. It wouldn't be so painfully fragmented as it is now and innovation on the web platform would accelarate even more dramatically then it does now, no longer held back by IE.Anonymous
May 28, 2014
How can you say you're committed to getting everyone on the latest version of IE when IE11 isn't even available on Windows 8.0? So much for that 'automatically install updates' option. StatCounter shows that Windows 8.1 hasn't even overtaken Windows 8.0 in usage share yet, and that there's a sizable chunk of IE10 users still around, probably due to Windows 8.0. All other browser makers have the latest version available for Windows 8.0. What exactly is going on there, and can you assure us this nonsense isn't going to happen again in future?Anonymous
May 28, 2014
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May 28, 2014
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May 29, 2014
Please just stop making browsers, pleaseAnonymous
May 29, 2014
The number one most needed UI feature on Modern IE (and Windows Phone IE) is an ability to quickly jump to the top and bottom of long pages. So many sites have "endlessly scrolling pages" (think twitter, Facebook, etc.), and it's frequently desired to "get back to the top" or "jump to the bottom (of what has already rendered, obviously)". Safari in iOS allows you to touch the status bar to do this. For Modern IE, we either need a gesture, or preferably, the implementation of "semantic zoom". If you pinch to zoom out, you should be able to zoom out to see the entire (so far rendered) page, and then be able to touch any spot on it to jump to that spot (top, bottom, anywhere in the middle). Similar to the way the start screen semantic zooming works. This is a HUGE usability issue, as I'm constantly and endlessly flicking to get to the top or bottom of long pages, and it's just tedious and annoying. It's impossible to "grab" scroll-bars with your finger to get it done, so there needs to be some touch-centric way of doing this. This is my number one gripe with the "modern" versions of the browsers (on both windows phone and Surface).Anonymous
May 29, 2014
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May 29, 2014
@Ashley: The same folks who didn't move from Windows 8 to Windows 8.1 are the same folks who wouldn't have installed IE11 anyway.Anonymous
May 29, 2014
Hi, Will still support quirks mode and compatibility view? I kinda need it for my 7 year old project. Thanks.Anonymous
May 29, 2014
@EricLaw - but what about the new "Install new versions automatically" option? Users should be getting the latest version of IE without having to do anything, like Chrome and Firefox, so the web isn't clogged up with old versions of IE holding us back.Anonymous
May 29, 2014
I build web applications and currently have a 13,000 user base in corporate environments. Given that nearly 30% of my users are locked into using IE8 due to "corporate rules", modern.ie, its features and most of CSS3 are just a distant dream... Perhaps efforts should be focused on getting corporates to wake up because us developers can only do so muchAnonymous
May 29, 2014
need to support MathML!Anonymous
May 29, 2014
+1 for MathMLAnonymous
May 29, 2014
IE12 should correspond to Windows 7 succeedingly! Thank you for your consideration.Anonymous
May 29, 2014
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May 29, 2014
Hey IE team, when are we actualy going to see something from the next IE?Anonymous
May 30, 2014
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May 30, 2014
In the Modern IE, I would like to access my current browser history by long pressing or click and holding the left and right arrows on the current web page; just like can now in the desktop IE.Anonymous
May 30, 2014
Another +1 for MathML.Anonymous
May 31, 2014
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June 01, 2014
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June 02, 2014
From this very page, @T, let me quote to you from Charles Morris [MSFT]: "We are working on some improved feedback mechanisms for both the platform and UX but for now you can just leave feedback here in the comments!"Anonymous
June 02, 2014
The article mentions the IE11 developer preview for windows Phone 8.1. When I tried this version before it constantly reloads pages that were already fetched whereas the current browser in IE8 does not. That is a real headache especially if you just travelled onward to an area with a very slow connection (like when you are in a train or bus). Please fix this terrible regression.Anonymous
June 02, 2014
Meant to say 'WP8' of course, not IE8Anonymous
June 03, 2014
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June 04, 2014
@Tom " Connect has decades old unresolved issues for IE. Even leaving comments here, twitter or any other platform doesn't make any difference if they tend to ignore our feedback (super detailed or otherwise) with those canned messages; 'we are looking into it' and after 10 years, 'we are still looking into it'. " Exactly. I entirely agree with you. They make you file bug reports, then wait, but then you have to re-file the same bug reports again later when the next IE is in beta. If connect IE feedback had been corrected and improved accordingly immediately and as soon as 2006 or 2007 or 2008, then the bug reports of the bugs which have not been fixed would be available, accessible, viewable by anyone and everyone. And we wouldn't have to refile the same bug reports again. I'm not talking about feature requests here or some kinds of customizations. Microsoft IE team has not developed good tools and good protocols (certainly has not improved such tools and protocols) like other mainstream browser manufacturers have, therefore it often mishandles the feedback from its users. The same can be said about this blog and its bugs. It never should have taken 6 years and dozens of people complaints just to fix comment posting. Gérard TalbotAnonymous
June 07, 2014
internet is not working please check the error thanksAnonymous
June 07, 2014
Does a desktop also become like this, as for IE12? It should detach succeedingly and should provide. Please correspond also to Windows 7. www.neowin.net/.../internet-explorer-12-will-include-substantial-changes-to-the-uiAnonymous
June 08, 2014
looooking for a video taken 23 May 1014 of Me and '''''''scott cannon dancingAnonymous
June 09, 2014
Is there a way to get IE off of Server 2012?