by Jeremy Keith

Proprietary innovations by browser vendors are nothing new. Internet Explorer alone has given us XMLHttpRequest, innerHTML, and colored scrollbars. In each instance, we were free to use or ignore these non-standard extensions. Now Internet Explorer is introducing a new proprietary technology in the shape of version targeting. But this time, the only way to opt out of using the technology is, perversely, to use it.

When I first read about version targeting here in the hallowed pages of A List Apart, one point confused me. At the end of Eric’s heartfelt article detailing his reaction to the proposal, the final section seemed to suggest that IE8 would, by default, behave identically to IE7. “That can’t be right,” I thought. Surely I was misreading Eric’s words. To clarify the situation, I asked Chris Wilson what would happen if IE8 were to encounter a valid, well-formed document with a strict DOCTYPE. My worst fears were realized when he confirmed that the browser would behave exactly as if it were its predecessor.

This is gobsmackingly audacious. Imagine a new version of Word that behaves exactly like the old version of Word unless the document it is processing contains a hidden instruction to unlock any new features. That’s what Microsoft is demanding that web developers implement. Unless you explicitly say otherwise, IE8 (and IE9 and IE10, ad infinitum) will behave exactly like IE7.

My incredulity couldn’t be assuaged by the obvious explanations for this behavior—that Microsoft was being stupid or “evil.” The Internet Explorer team is made up of good standards-savvy developers. They must have a good reason for proposing a solution which, on the face of it, appears so crazy.

Microsoft’s proposal was triggered by a traumatic event: the upgrade from IE6 to IE7. Internet Explorer 6 languished in the doldrums of non-development for many years. Eventually, spurred on by the encroaching market share of rival browsers, Microsoft released Internet Explorer 7 sporting far better CSS support than the previous version.

Because IE6 stagnated for so many years and because it remained the market leader, a whole generation of websites had emerged that were coded to the quirky but predictable vagaries of that browser. These websites appeared to “work.” That is, they looked fine in the most popular browser on the market. But when IE7 was released, these websites were inevitably rendered differently. IE7, with its improved support for Web Standards, rendered these sites in much the same way as any other standards-compliant browser. Despite a concerted campaign to encourage developers to use conditional comments instead of browser-specific hacks, Microsoft received a barrage of complaints from website owners upset at the way that IE7 had changed the game. This is what the Internet Explorer team are referring to when they talk about “breaking the web.”

That’s a loaded phrase that doesn’t stand up to closer scrutiny. Firstly, what’s at issue here is not “the web” but “some websites”. Secondly, rather than “breaking”, it’s more accurate to say “displaying differently.” Finally, it’s important to remember that we are talking about how websites are displayed in one browser: when the IE team talk of “breaking the web,” what they really mean is that their browser will display documents in much the same way as other modern browsers do. Would that really be such a bad thing?

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JEREMY KEITH
Web Developer

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