IE7 this year!

[francis]

So "definitely no IE7 until Longhorn"? So, Firefox "no threat", then? Oh look, there's going to be an IE7 this year! (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2002181436_security16.html). Please, more than anything, fix the CSS and PNG support...

Seriously though, if MS make a good job of IE7, this could be really, really good news for developers.

[David]

I hope you're right but by the sound of it, the big issue is security and not standards compliance. I would not be surprised if the render engine remained unchanged, especially since the release has been brought forward by a whole year.

[francis]

Yep, the more I read, the more it seems to be security focussed, although there is some talk of adding RSS feeds to bring IE in line with every other browser (Sarfari on Tiger (http://www.apple.com/macosx/tiger/safari.html) is adding it and Opera's next version (http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1745349,00.asp) will have it as well (it's already in the mail client).

Hopefully, if they do tackle CSS, they'll make a good job of it this time around; better that than rush it and cock it up again.

[francis]

News and comments from the official MS blog (http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2005/02/15/373104.aspx)

[francis]

Info on the first IE7 beta (http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2005/04/22/410963.aspx). PNG alpha support!! CSS fixes!! Praise the Lord, M$ are listening! Seriously, though, PNG alpha support, if they don't muck it up, is really going to open up design as we won't have to worry about GIF halos ever again. And if they are going through and fixing known IE6 CSS bugs (peekaboo and guilotine are annoying, but there are much worse ones), then IE7 should be great. Now all we need them to do is bundle it as a download as Apple did with Safari 1.3 last week.

[francis]

Tabs in IE7 confirmed (http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2005/05/16/417732.aspx). IE catches up with the rest.

[francis]

IE7 beta screenshots (http://www.flexbeta.net/main/comments.php?catid=1&shownews=13689) showing RSS functionality. Looks like they got some Safari-like RSS search box on the right of the page. It also looks like they've integrated a search box into the top right of the browser just like everyone else has. For my money, these are always too short - I wish it was possible to have the Mozilla (ie not FF) approach of being able to use the address bar instead - it gives a much longer space in which to type. Still, it looks as though IE users will finally be getting the same features as everyone else.

But, what I really, really, really want is CSS rendering news. Oh, and confirmation that PNG support is definitely complete - MS say it is, but...

[David]

How tantalising! But as you say, just CSS and PNG would be great. I hope this isn't another case of Microsoft adding bells and whistles at the expense of getting the basics right. RSS is definately the flavour of the minute but I'd rather do without it for proper PNG alpha transparency and consistent CSS rendering.

[francis]

Even more good news about IE7 (http://www.456bereastreet.com/archive/200509/improving_the_css_21_strict_parser_for_ie_7/). As a side note, the site linked to is well worth an investigation and, if your so inclined, adding to you blog-roll, RSS feed list, whatever. Roger publishes some great content (as was a very nice guy when I met him at @media).

[francis]

More very good news about IE7 (http://www.webstandards.org/buzz/archive/2005_09.html#a000571). FF, Saf, Op et al need to up the ante if they want to be seen as 'better than IE'. Assuming, that is, that these features and bug fixes do actually work.

[francis]

Wow, IE7 is shaping up to be a bit of beast (http://microsoftvista2006.blogspot.com/2005/10/vistas-internet-explorer-7.html). Looks like FF and Opera are going to have to raise their game.

[David]

I like the look of all of that. Looks like MS are taking the recent moved by Firefox and Opera seriously (and just copying all the best features). The article says nothing about the rendering engine - I guess we'll have to wait a little longer for that to be cleared up.

Do you think IE7 will still be released this year? It may be that we'll see just an intermediate version soon and then have to wait for the full Vista version.

[Tom]

Re Vista, I think Bill is onto something with his decision to place security at the heart of his software planning (providing it works!). The big corporate customers who give him is revenue must always treat security as a prime concern and a great number of 'little folk' are terrified by all the stories they read of viruses and identity theft etc.

[francis]

Loads of new posts in the IE7 blog (http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/default.aspx) including ClearType, RSS feeds with the FF RSS icon, info on the beta2 release, some interesting new tabs information and more. Definately worth a read - IE7 could turn out to be really cool, as long as they don't introduce a slew of new CSS and DOM bugs.