Internet Explorer Reverses Death Spiral
Those that see Internet Explorer as an evil blight, bringing ruin and damnation upon all who use it, should check out the words of Chris Wilson, who is a program manager for IE 7, on the IEBlog. Judging from what's on track even in the early beta versions, IE 7 is going to not only make great strides in the area of user security but finally come to grips with its many standards-related shortcomings.
Just read this comment of Chris' in a recent post: "I want to be clear that our intent is to build a platform that fully complies with the appropriate web standards, in particular CSS 2 ( 2.1, once it’s been Recommended). I think we will make a lot of progress against that in IE7 through our goal of removing the worst painful bugs that make our platform difficult to use for web developers."
Now, if IE 7 delivers on its promise of addressing security weaknesses, do you really think that the current blip of popularity for Firefox will continue? Not for a minute. Look for rapid adoption of IE 7 by both corporate users and the general public. Implications for you, as a Web site developer?
You need to get totally on top of 7, because your clients and the visitors to your sites will expect compliance with it. The benefit is that you'll be able to finally use desirable layout techniques that perhaps you avoided before, since they required painful browser-specific workarounds.
On release, 7 will become the instant new standard for PC users, so it's really time to check any outdated "evil empire" thinking at the door and wade right in. I suggest frequent visits to the IEBlog and active participation via commenting on the posts.
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