Linux Solutions

The upcoming Internet Explorer 8 from Microsoft is to feature a user-created list of websites that aren’t “compatible” with the browser, after trials found that some major websites don’t display properly.

The browser is to aim its list at users that the company feel are not net experts. By agreeing to use the list with IE8 users will be able to view their chosen sites without IE8 breaking them.

Microsoft will compile the list, which is to be based on customer feedback data. To make the list, the website must be “global high-volume sites”, which means ones like bbc.co.uk, Facebook and Myspace. Microsoft’s program manager Scott Dickens wrote on his blog that the company will determine high volume sites on a “market-by-market basis”.

Microsoft said it will contact sites on the list to let the webmasters know that because of IE8’s awful faults – their website experience will be ruined. That’s nice of them. The company will however, tell the webmaster how to do his job and instruct him on making his site compatible. When this happens, the site can be removed from the faulty list.

IE8 Beta has rendered millions of web pages and sites un-viewable because the company has made the first browser that is “standards-compliant”. Much of the Web 2.0 phenomenon will be left in tatters, as IE users perform the upgrade.

But fear not, Microsoft have attempted to soften the blow by allowing users to view a website in two different ways: Default and ‘Compatibility view’. Default uses standards such as CSS 2.1 and HTML 5.0, whereas compatibility view lets users switch to the old standards mode.

The browser comes equipped with a ‘broken website’ button that should be pressed if compatibility issues arise. The problem for Microsoft is that users testing the beta just want to open the browser and view the website. The company noticed that the majority of those non-web-savvy people were not clicking the button like they had hoped, although defended itself with the comforting thought that technologically minded users were happy to use the button.

To add to the chaos that will no doubt ensue, a number of sites have ignored Microsoft’s request to pour man-hours and effort in to making their sites IE8 compatible. And quite right.

Microsoft want hundreds of high traffic sites to test everything with the default standards mode, or to add an HTTP header on the site to instruct IE8 to view the site in compatible mode. Dickens said that the BBC, CNN, Facebook and Myspace still don’t work, and don’t look willing to budge.

What do Microsoft insist on the world revolving around them, and What will be the implications if some of the big sites stand their ground? I for one can’t wait to see what happens.