ie issues with ajax apps

AJAX enabled apps and browser Compatibility – A Case study

By Karsh http://arafkarsh.blogspot.com November 13, 2009 - 2:36 AM v1.0 of 27

IE Issues with Ajax enabled Apps A study on issues faced by the developers

Author: Araf Karsh

Contents

1. Introduction .................................................................................................................................... 3

2. Executive Summary ......................................................................................................................... 3

3. Document Scope.............................................................................................................................. 3

4. Web 2.0 Compliance tests ............................................................................................................... 4

4.1 Acid 2 – Web Standards, Wikipedia .......................................................................................... 4

4.2 Acid 3 – Web standards, Wikipedia .......................................................................................... 4

5. Browser Test Results – IE, Firefox, Safari, Chrome and Opera ........................................................... 5

5.1 Acid 3 Results for Desktop Browsers......................................................................................... 5

5.2 Acid 3 Results for Mobile Browsers .......................................................................................... 6

5.3 Acid 2 Results for Desktop Browsers......................................................................................... 7

6. Case Study: Web 2.0 Applications and IE .......................................................................................... 8

6.1 Apple MobileMe Web 2.0 Application – http://www.me.com/ ................................................. 8

6.2 Google dropped support of Google Wave for IE browsers (all version IE 6 to IE 8) .................... 9

6.3 YouTube will be next to kiss IE 6 support good bye ................................................................. 10

6.4 Google tells users to drop IE 6 ................................................................................................ 10

6.5 'Kill IE6' campaign gains force; 30M Web users get switch pitch - ComputerWorld ................. 11

6.6 IE 6 no more ........................................................................................................................... 11

6.7 Microsoft starts serving IE8 upgrade to enterprises – Article in Computer World ................... 12

6.8 News Articles on IE 7, 8 Issues ................................................................................................ 14

6.9 Next Generation Web Apps .................................................................................................... 14

7. Support for HTML and CSS ............................................................................................................. 15

7.1 Compatibility Guide – HTML5, CSS3, SVG, PNG etc ................................................................. 15

7.1.0 Summary ........................................................................................................................ 15

7.1.1 CSS table display ............................................................................................................. 15

7.1.2 CSS generated content - Candidate Recommendation .................................................... 16

7.1.3 Data URIs - IETF standard ............................................................................................... 16

7.1.4 Canvas (basic support) - Working Draft ........................................................................... 16



7.1.5 Independent JavaScript threading (Web Workers) - Working Draft ................................. 17

7.2 Microsoft IE Program Manager: Chris Wilson ......................................................................... 18

8. JavaScript Engine Performance comparison .................................................................................. 19

8.1 SunSpider Test ....................................................................................................................... 19

8.2 Dromaeo with DOM ............................................................................................................... 19

9. Browser market share and Trends ................................................................................................. 20

9.1 Stats by W3Counter.com – October 2009 ............................................................................... 20

9.2 Browser Statistics Month by Month – http://www.w3schools.com/ ....................................... 20

9.3 Net Applications stats ............................................................................................................ 21

10. Conclusion ................................................................................................................................. 23

11. Appendix ................................................................................................................................... 24

11.1 Microsoft HTML Support Matrix ............................................................................................. 24

11.2 IE 8.0 pull down issues with data elements............................................................................. 27



1. Introduction

The objective of this document is to highlight the issues with IE browser with modern Web

Applications and highlight Microsoft’s inability to support open standards (from W3C and IETF) which

the whole world follows.

2. Executive Summary

AJAX apps are developed using Web 2.0 technologies (the next generation web applications).

The technology standards used in Web 2.0 are based on open standards developed by W3C (World Wide

Web Consortium) and IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force). AJAX Apps followed these standards while

building the AJAX Apps Web User interface. There are standard compliance tests for web browsers to

check whether they are compliant with W3C and IETF standards. Acid3 is the latest testing standard

which tests browser compatibility. Microsoft is the only browser vendor which doesn’t follow any

standards and fails miserably in Acid 2 and Acid3 tests. These tests focuses on UI rendering – same set of

issues faced by the AJAX Apps development team.

Apple Safari and Google Chrome scored 100 / 100, while Firefox scored 93 / 100 and Microsoft

IE 8.01 scored a miserable 20 / 100. AJAX Apps performs flawlessly in Firefox, Safari, Opera and Google

Chrome. We spend a lot of time tweaking the external API’s to support Microsoft IE 7.0 and 8.0. Section

5 let you test your browser and you can see the score for yourself.

3. Document Scope

Purpose of the document is to introduce various standard browser compatibility test cases and

see how each browser fares and where Microsoft IE 8.0 standards today when the world is moving

towards Web 2.0 applications. Following section explains these testing standards, test results, case

studies, documentation from Microsoft MSDN discussing about support on various standards etc.

1 Web 2.0 compliance Tests (Acid)

2 Test results comparison of various browsers

3 Case Study: Apple MobileMe doesn’t support IE browser

4 Microsoft MSDN Report on standards compliance

5 Performance Requirement for the Web 2.0 applications

6 Browser market share

1 In my system IE 8.0 scored 13 / 100



4. Web 2.0 Compliance tests

4.1 Acid2 2 – Web Standards, Wikipedia

Acid2 is a test page published and promoted by the Web Standards Project to expose web

pagerendering flaws in web browsers and other applications that render HTML. Named after the acid

test for gold, it was developed in the spirit of Acid1, a relatively narrow test of compliance with

theCascading Style Sheets 1.0 (CSS1) standard, and was released on April 13, 2005. As with Acid1, an

application passes the test if the way it displays the test page matches a reference image.

Acid2 tests aspects of HTML markup, CSS 2.1 styling, PNG images, and data URIs. The Acid2 test page

will be displayed correctly in any application that follows the World Wide Web Consortium (w3c) and

Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) specifications for these technologies. These specifications are

known as web standards because they describe how technologies used on the web are expected to

function. The creators of Acid2 were dismayed that Internet Explorer did not follow web standards, and

that because of this, Internet Explorer was prone to display web pages differently from other browsers.

When such a discrepancy between browsers is encountered, web developers spend time tweaking their

web pages in order to make the pages be displayed correctly across different browsers.

On October 31, 2005, Safari 2.0.2 became the first browser to pass Acid2. Opera, Konqueror, Firefox,

and others followed. With the release of Internet Explorer 8 on March 19, 2009, the latest versions of all

major web browsers now pass the Acid2 test. Acid2 was followed by Acid3.

4.2 Acid 3 – Web standards, Wikipedia

Acid3 test displays a gradually increasing percentage counter with colored rectangles in the background.

The percentage displayed is based on the number of subtests passed. It does not represent an actual

percentage of conformance as the test does not keep track of how many of the subtests were actually

started (100 is assumed). In addition to these the browser also has to render the page exactly like the

reference page is rendered in the same browser. Like the text of the Acid2 test, the text of the Acid3

reference rendering is not a bitmap, in order to allow for certain differences in font rendering.

Acid3 was in development from April 2007,[1]

and released on 3 March 2008.[2]

The main developer

was Ian Hickson, who also wrote the Acid2 test. Acid2 focused primarily on Cascading Style Sheets, but

this third Acid test focuses also on technologies used on modern, highly interactive websites

characteristic of Web 2.0, such as ECMAScript and DOM Level 2. A few subtests also concern Scalable

Vector Graphics (SVG), XML, and data URIs. Controversially, it includes several elements from

the CSS2 recommendation that were later removed in CSS2.1 but reintroduced in W3C CSS3 working

drafts that have not made it to candidate recommendations yet.

2 Acid - http://www.webstandards.org/action/acid2/guide/



5. Browser Test Results – IE, Firefox, Safari, Chrome and Opera

You can do this test by typing the following URL in your browser

Acid 3 - http://acid3.acidtests.org/

Acid 2 - http://acid2.acidtests.org/

5.1 Acid 3 Results for Desktop Browsers

Apple Safari and Google Chrome scored 100 / 100 and Firefox scored 93 / 100 while Microsoft IE 8.0

scored a miserable 20 / 100 (in my system IE scored 13 / 100).

Desktop layout engine progress for the Acid3 test

Layout engine Major browsers Screen shot of latest release

at time of Acid3 release Screen shot of current release Screen shot of preview release

WebKit

Safari

41/100

Safari 3.0.4

100/100 (passing)

Safari 4.0.2

(WebKit 530.19.1)

None

Google Chrome None

100/100 (linktest failed)

Google Chrome 2.0.172.37

(WebKit 530.5)

100/100

Chromium

Presto Opera

46/100

Opera 9.27

85/100

Opera 9.64

100/100

Opera

Gecko Mozilla Firefox

52/100

Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.12

93/100

Mozilla Firefox 3.5.1

94/100

Mozilla Firefox[24][25]

Trident Internet Explorer

14/100

Internet Explorer 7.0

20/100

Internet Explorer 8.0

None



5.2 Acid 3 Results for Mobile Browsers

Layout

engine Major browsers

Screen shot of latest release

at time of Acid3 release Screen shot of current release Screen shot of preview release

WebKit

Iris Browser None

100/100

Iris Browser 1.1.7

None

Mobile Safari

40/100

Mobile Safari 3.0

97/100

Mobile Safari 4.0

(WebKit 528.18)

100/100

IPhone OS X v3.1 Beta1

(Non-Passing)

Android browser None

93/100

Android 1.5

None

Nokia Mini Map

Browser

47/100

S60 5th Edition

None

Presto

Opera Mobile

2/100

Opera Mobile 8.65

2/100

Opera Mobile 8.65

100/100

Opera Mobile 9.7b1[27]

Opera Mini

80/100

Opera Mini 4.1.1.11320

None

Gecko Fennec None None

94/100

Fennec[28]

BlackBerry BlackBerry Browser

54/100

None

NetFront PSP Browser

11/100

NetFront 3.5

None



5.3 Acid 2 Results for Desktop Browsers

Test URL http://acid2.acidtests.org/

Chrome 2.0 Firefox 3.5.1 Safari 3.2

Opera 9.6 IE 8.0 IE 7.0



6. Case Study: Web 2.0 Applications and IE

6.1 Apple MobileMe Web 2.0 Application – http://www.me.com/

Apple stopped the support of IE with the launch of MobileMe application in the net. Internet Explorer 7 has known

compatibility issues with modern web standards which affect Web 2.0 applications such as MobileMe. You can use Internet

Explorer 7, but you will not have access to all MobileMe features and will experience slower performance.

IE 8.0

Apple’s MobileMe Web

2.0 application is

supported in all modern

web browsers except IE

Chrome 2.0



6.2 Google dropped support of Google Wave for IE browsers (all version IE 6 to IE 8)

Chrome Frame – Article in New York Times

When Google launched Chrome Frame, it's Internet Explorer plugin that can replace the IE rendering engine with

Google Chrome, the Wave team already announced that it would support this feature. And indeed, when you go to

the Wave homepage with IE, you will now be prompted to install Chrome Frame. As Lars Rasmussen told us, the

team is very enthusiastic about Chrome Frame, as it allows the developers to focus on features instead of making

sure that Wave runs in Internet Explorer.

In our own experience, Wave definitely works best in Chrome. It will work just fine in Safari and Firefox, though for

the most fluid experience, Chrome is currently the best browser.

Following screen shot shows the support of Chrome plugin in IE browser and using open tests to test the compatibility.



6.3 YouTube will be next to kiss IE 6 support good bye

by Robin Wauters on July 14, 2009

Judging by this screenshot taken by an IE6 user who was watching some videos on YouTube, it

appears the Google company will be phasing out support for the browser shortly. I don’t have Internet

Explorer 6 installed on my computer, so I can’t verify this first hand, but illogical it seems not and a

simple Twitter search shows multiple people confirming the news. Heck, some are even downright

ecstatic over the news.

Read more .. http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/07/14/youtube-will-be-next-to-kiss-ie6-support-

goodbye/

6.4 Google tells users to drop IE 6

By Christian ZibregWednesday, 31 December 2008 08:49 Chicago (IL) - Taking a page out of Apple’s book, Google is now urging Gmail users to drop

Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) in favor of Firefox or Chrome that, according to the company, run

the popular web-based email service "twice as fast." Google also labels IE6 as an

unsupported browser, meaning it fails to run some Gmail features.

Following recent release of Chrome 1.0, Google is increasing the visibility of the browser. In addition

to a direct download link on Google.com, YouTube and within the Adsense advertising program, the

company is now advising Gmail users who access the service with IE6 to ditch the browser and

upgrade to Firefox 3 or Chrome. Google claims the two browsers run the popular webmail service

"twice as fast".

IE6 users are greeted with a new "Get faster Gmail" message in the menu bar of the web interface.

The link leads to a page that promotes Chrome and Firefox 3. "Browsers are getting faster and better

at running web applications like Google Mail that use browser technology to its limits," the page reads.

"In order to get the best experience possible and make Google Mail run an average of twice as fast,

we suggest that you upgrade your browser to one of the fastest Google Mail supported browsers that



work on Windows." The page offers direct download links for Firefox 3 and Chrome. IE7 and Apple's

Safari are listed as supported Gmail browsers.

Read more .. http://www.tgdaily.com/software-features/40785-google-tells-users-to-drop-ie6

6.5 'Kill IE6' campaign gains force; 30M Web users get switch pitch - ComputerWorld

'You are using an outdated browser' offer follows similar moves by Facebook, YouTube

By Gregg Keizer - August 5, 2009 01:06 PM ET

Computerworld - The campaign to kill Internet Explorer 6 (IE6) gathered steam this week when a

California site builder led nearly 40 Web start-ups to urge their users to ditch Microsoft's eight-year-old

browser.

Microsoft acknowledged it's pushing IE6 users to upgrade to the newer IE8, but again promised it would

support the creaky browser until April 2014.

The anti-IE6 move followed reports last month that Google's YouTube was doing the same, that Digg

would soon curtail support for the ancient browser and a petition on Twitter collected nearly 10,000

signatures supporting the effort. Facebook has been prompting IE6 users to swap out their browsers

since February 2009.

"Developers can't wait until IE6 is gone," said David Rusenko, the CEO of Weebly, the San Francisco Web

site creation and hosting company that's leading the newest campaign. Weebly has more then 2.2

million users, said Rusenko, and used connections with the venture capitalists who funded the firm to

reach out to the 38 sites that have joined its campaign.

Read more ..

http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9136286/_Kill_IE6_campaign_gains_force_30M_Web

_users_get_switch_pitch

6.6 IE 6 no more

Why?

Enough is enough. Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 was released in late 2001. For its time, it was a

decent browser, but in 2009, it is still in use by a significant portion of the web population, and

its time is now up.

As any web developer will tell you, working with IE 6 is one of the most difficult and frustrating

things they have to deal with on a daily basis, taking up a disproportionate amount of their

time. Beyond that, IE 6's support for modern web standards is very lacking, restricting what

developers can create and holding the web back.

Read more .. http://www.ie6nomore.com/



6.7 Microsoft starts serving IE8 upgrade to enterprises – Article in Computer World

Makes good on promise, pushes new browser to businesses via WSUS - By Gregg Keizer

August 26, 2009 12:59 PM ET

Computerworld - As promised more than a month ago, Microsoft Corp. yesterday began

pushing Internet Explorer 8 to enterprises via Windows Server Update Services (WSUS).

The IE8 upgrade for Windows XP, Vista, Server 2003 and Server 2008 was cast as an "Update

rollup" to WSUS, Microsoft's most popular tool for deploying patches within businesses.

Read more .. http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9137150/Microsoft_starts_serving_IE8_upgrade_to_enterprises

What about the corporate users?

We've set up a page specifically to address this question.

Who?



To have your logo featured here, please implement the IE6 no more code on your site, and then

email [email protected] with your site address and a copy of your logo.

6.8 News Articles on IE 7, 8 Issues

Internet Explorer has never properly supported HTML and CSS standards but developers worked around these

incompatibilities. With the more standards-compliant IE8, many of these hacks won't be needed, but should an IE8

browser hit an older page, the layout may not render correctly unless the user is employing Microsoft's special

compatibility mode.

https://www.networkworld.com/slideshows/2009/040609-next-gen-

browser.html?ts0hb&story=ts_ff35#slide6

https://www.networkworld.com/slideshows/2009/040609-next-gen-

browser.html?ts0hb&story=ts_ff35#slide7

6.9 Next Generation Web Apps

Mozilla says its main goal from now on will be to turn Firefox into the ideal platform for running Web-

based applications. It shares the belief, also fervently embraced by Google that consumers will gradually

migrate away from programs stored on their computers’ hard disks to those stored in “the Cloud,” the

industry’s term for the servers that run the Internet.

Browser Comparison (Article from Wall Street Journal)

While Firefox 3.5 is about twice as fast as the previous version 3.0, and handily beat Internet Explorer 8

in my tests, it lagged behind both Safari 4.02 and the beta edition of Chrome 2.0 a bit in most test

scenarios. Overall, Safari was fastest in most of my tests, both on Mac and Windows (yes, Apple makes a

little-known version of Safari for Windows).

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204271104574290451340763322.html

Faster JavaScript (Article from Network World)

Speed is a primary battleground in the browser wars, and Mozilla says its new TraceMonkey engine

makes JavaScript twice as fast as Firefox 3. By recent estimates, that puts Firefox 3.5a bit closer to

Safari while leaving Internet Explorer 8 in the dust. Microsoft may very well claim that JavaScript is little

more than a "drag race," but it couldn't hurt to quietly work on getting competitive.

http://www.networkworld.com/news/2009/063009-5-features-ie-will-likely.html?hpg1=bn



7. Support for HTML and CSS3

7.1 Compatibility Guide4 – HTML5, CSS3, SVG, PNG etc

This section shows the compatibility of various browsers with open standards. The Following summary

chart shows the compatibility percentage of each browser.

7.1.0 Summary Calculation of support of currently displayed feature lists

Internet Explorer Firefox Safari Chrome Opera

Far Past 6.0: 4% 2.0: 34% 3.1: 42% 1.0: 53% 9.0: 34%

Past 7.0: 12% 3.0: 47% 3.2: 66% 1.0: 53% 9.0: 34%

Present 8.0: 29% 3.5: 78% 4.0: 87% 2.0: 76% 9.6: 57%

Near Future (2009) 8.0: 29% 3.5: 78% 4.*: 89% 2.*: 80% 10.0: 62%

Future (2010 or later) 9.0: 29% 4.0: 86% 4.*: 89% 3.0: 83% 10.*: 71%

Legend

Supported Not Supported Partially Supported Support Unknown

This section highlights the key areas required for AJAX APPS and how each browser is compatible for

those feature sets.

7.1.1 CSS table display - Candidate Recommendation

Method of displaying elements an tables, rows, and cells

Resources: Detailed article on usage


Far Past 6.0 2.0 3.1 1.0 9.0

Past 7.0 3.0 3.2

Present 8.0 3.5

4.0 2.0 9.6

Near Future (2009) 4.*

2.* 10.0

Future (2010 or later) 9.0 4.0 3.0 10.*

Conclusion: Not ready. Waiting for Internet Explorer 7 to expire

3 Cascading Style Sheet

4 Guide – http://a.deveria.com/caniuse/



Legend


7.1.2 CSS generated content - Candidate Recommendation Method of displaying text or images before or after elements

Resources: Examples of different types of generated content


Far Past 6.0 2.0 3.1 1.0 9.0

Past 7.0 3.0 3.2

Present 8.0 3.5

4.0 2.0 9.6


2.* 10.0

Future (2010 or later) 9.0 4.0 3.0 10.*


7.1.3 Data URIs - IETF standard Method of embedding images and other files in webpages as a string of text.

Resources: Example image Inline Images with Data URLs Wikipedia


Far Past 6.0 2.0 3.1 1.0 9.0

Past 7.0 3.0 3.2

Present 8.0 3.5

4.0 2.0 9.6


2.* 10.0

Future (2010 or later) 9.0 4.0 3.0 10.*


Note: Support in Internet Explorer 8b2 is limited to images and linked resources like CSS files, not HTML files. Max

URI length is 32KB.

7.1.4 Canvas (basic support) - Working Draft Method of generating dynamic graphics using JavaScript

Resources: Wikipedia Tutorial by Mozilla Animation kit experiment Implementation for Internet Explorer


Far Past 6.0 2.0 3.1 1.0 9.0

Past 7.0 3.0 3.2

Present 8.0 3.5

4.0 2.0 9.6


2.* 10.0

Future (2010 or later) 9.0 4.0 3.0 10.*




Legend


7.1.5 Independent JavaScript threading (Web Workers) - Working Draft Method of running scripts in the background, isolated from the web page

Resources: Web Worker demo


Far Past 6.0 2.0 3.1 1.0 9.0

Past 7.0 3.0 3.2

Present 8.0 3.5

4.0 2.0 9.6


2.* 10.0

Future (2010 or later) 9.0 4.0 3.0 10.*

Conclusion: Not ready. Waiting for Internet Explorer 8, Opera 10 to expire

Note: Support in Chrome uses the auto-included Gears plug-in. Functions are similar, but not the same.



7.2 Microsoft IE Program Manager: Chris Wilson

In its browser blog, MSFT acknowledged that IE 7 would not pass the Web Standards Project's Acid2

test, which examines a browser's support for W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) recommendations

including CSS1 (Cascading Style Sheets), HTML4 and PNG (Portable Network Graphics).

"We will not pass this (Acid2) test when IE7 ships," Chris Wilson, lead program manager for the Web

platform in IE, wrote in the IE blog. "We fully recognize that IE is behind the game today in CSS support.

We've dug through the Acid2 test and analyzed IE's problems with the test in some great detail, and

we've made sure the bugs and features are on our list--however, there are some fairly large and difficult

features to implement, and they will not all sort to the top of the stack in IE7."

Standards advocates and Web developers have criticized MSFT for letting Internet Explorer go without a

significant upgrade for years. http://www.webdesignsnow.com/news/080205a.html

Internet Explorer 8 was released as a beta around February of 2008. About the time of the beta release

Microsoft announced that the IE 8 had passed the Acid2 test. Everyone was shocked that Microsoft

actually was able to get a version of IE to even past the test, since everyone’s view is that Microsoft has

turned their back on industry standards. On March 19th, Microsoft finally released the final version of

IE.

http://www.acomment.net/internet-explorer-8-microsoft-starting-to-comply-with-industry-

standards/672

Following section is from Microsoft MSDN (http://msdn.microsoft.com/hi-in/library/cc817571(en-

us).aspx) showing hardly any support for IE 7.0 on industry standards. These standards play an

important role in AJAX application.

CSS Support

Support for the CSS standard has steadily improved with each new version of Windows Internet

Explorer, culminating in full support for CSS 2.1. The following tables show, at-a-glance, the various

improved CSS properties supported in Windows Internet Explorer 8 as compared to Windows Internet

Explorer 7. These tables do not show a comprehensive list of CSS properties supported by Windows

Internet Explorer 8; they show only the CSS properties that either were not supported or were only

partially supported in Windows Internet Explorer 7 but that are now supported in Windows Internet

Explorer 8. For more information regarding CSS compatibility in Windows Internet Explorer and

expanded CSS element support tables, see CSS Compatibility and Internet Explorer.



8. JavaScript Engine Performance comparison

8.1 SunSpider5 Test

Let's start by taking a look at some results from WebKit's SunSpider test (which covers a wide selection of pure-JavaScript functionality). Here is the breakdown:

We see a fairly steady curve, heading down to Chrome (ignoring the Internet Explorer outliers). Chrome is definitely the fastest in these results - although the results from the new TraceMonkey engine aren't included.

We already see TraceMonkey (under development for about 2 months) performing better than Chrome V8 6 (under development for about 2 years). Firefox 3.5 is released with new TraceMonkey Engine.

8.2 Dromaeo with DOM

Finally, let's take a more holistic look at JavaScript performance. I've (John) been working on the Dromaeo test suite, adding in a ton of new DOM and JavaScript library tests. This assortment provides a much stronger look at how browsers might perform under a normal web browsing situation.

Considering that most web pages are being held back by the performance of the DOM (think table sorters and the like) and not, necessarily, the performance of JavaScript (games, graphics) it's important to look at these particular details for extended analysis

The results of a run against the JavaScript, DOM, and library tests (thanks to Asa Dotzler for helping me run the tests): No results for IE were provided as the browser crashes when running the tests.

5 Performance – http://ejohn.org/blog/javascript-performance-rundown/

6 Chrome V8 – JavaScript Engine : http://code.google.com/p/v8/

V8 benchmark suite - http://v8.googlecode.com/svn/data/benchmarks/v5/run.html



9. Browser market share and Trends

There is a misconception the IE is the current market leader. Look at the following trend which

will show a different picture. IE 6.0 was released in 2000 which is an outdated browser.

9.1 Stats by W3Counter.com – October 2009

Web Browsers

1 Internet Explorer 7.0 19.33%


3 Firefox 3.5 18.74%


5 Firefox 3.0 11.59%

6 Safari 4.0 4.37%

7 Chrome 3.0 3.90%

8 Firefox 2.0 1.56%

9 Opera 10.0 0.93%

10 Opera 9.6 0.57%

Source: w3counter http://www.w3counter.com/globalstats.php

9.2 Browser Statistics Month by Month – http://www.w3schools.com/

2009 IE8 IE7 IE6 Firefox Chrome Safari Opera

October 12.8% 14.1% 10.6% 47.5% 8.0% 3.8% 2.3%

September 12.2% 15.3% 12.1% 46.6% 7.1% 3.6% 2.2%

August 10.6% 15.1% 13.6% 47.4% 7.0% 3.3% 2.1%

July 9.1% 15.9% 14.4% 47.9% 6.5% 3.3% 2.1%

June 7.1% 18.7% 14.9% 47.3% 6.0% 3.1% 2.1%

May 5.2% 21.3% 14.5% 47.7% 5.5% 3.0% 2.2%



April 3.5% 23.2% 15.4% 47.1% 4.9% 3.0% 2.2%

March 1.4% 24.9% 17.0% 46.5% 4.2% 3.1% 2.3%

February 0.8% 25.4% 17.4% 46.4% 4.0% 3.0% 2.2%

January 0.6% 25.7% 18.5% 45.5% 3.9% 3.0% 2.3%

Source: w3schools http://www.w3schools.com/browsers/browsers_stats.asp

9.3 Net Applications stats

Global usage share data from: Net Applications

Date Internet

Explorer Netscape Mozilla Firefox Opera Safari Chrome Source

2009 Q2 65.85% 0.56% 0.09% 22.39% 0.70% 8.46% 1.74% 2009 Q2

2009 Q1 67.26% 0.64% 0.08% 21.78% 0.70% 8.18% 1.17% 2009 Q1

2008 Q4 69.80% 0.52% 0.08% 20.66% 0.72% 7.18% 0.87% 2008 Q4

2008 Q3 72.22% 0.68% 0.09% 19.48% 0.71% 6.39% 0.26% 2008 Q3

2008 Q2 73.81% 0.62% 0.11% 18.43% 0.71% 6.14%

2008 Q2

2008 Q1 75.06% 0.62% 0.33% 17.35% 0.67% 5.78%

2008 Q1

2007 Q4 77.37% 0.64% 0.09% 15.84% 0.62% 5.24%

2007 Q4

2007 Q3 78.85% 0.76% 0.11% 14.69% 0.51% 4.80%

2007 Q3

2007 Q2 78.76% 0.83% 0.15% 14.92% 0.46% 4.66%

2007 Q2

2007 Q1 79.38% 0.77% 0.19% 14.35% 0.50% 4.70%

2007 Q1

2006 Q4 80.69% 0.86% 0.23% 13.50% 0.56% 4.06%

2006 Q4

2006 Q3 82.88% 0.88% 0.26% 11.89% 0.62% 3.30%

2006 Q3

2006 Q2 84.03% 0.98% 0.32% 10.67% 0.57% 3.25%

2006 Q2

2006 Q1 85.01% 1.09% 0.36% 9.77% 0.53% 3.10%

2006 Q1

2005 Q4 85.88% 1.25% 0.43% 9.00% 0.54% 2.80%

2005 Q4

2005 Q3 86.74% 1.92% 0.48% 7.97% 0.55% 2.24%

2005 Q3

2005 Q2 87.24% 1.62% 0.59% 8.08% 0.52% 1.89%

2005 Q2

2005 Q1 89.02% 1.89% 0.67% 6.17% 0.49% 1.70%

2005 Q1

2004 Q4 91.35% 2.09% 0.80% 3.66% 0.51% 1.50%

2004 Q4



10. Conclusion

Current set of Modern Web Browsers are far superior in performance and handling UI function

in comparison to IE. Acid test proves UI rendering. Browsers like Safari, Chrome and Firefox released the

latest version with high performance JavaScript Engines. This will be a key element for Web 2.0

applications. Until Microsoft comes out with release (IE 9 or IE 10) which supports new standards, issues

will crop up in IE browsers.



11. Appendix

11.1 Microsoft HTML Support Matrix

A value of "Partial" in a cell indicates that that feature is only partially implemented in that version of

Windows Internet Explorer. For more information, click the link to view that feature's reference page on

MSDN. http://msdn.microsoft.com/hi-in/library/cc817571(en-us).aspx

Pseudo-classes

CSS 2.1 IE 7.0 IE 8.0

:active { sRules } :active Partial Yes

:after { sRules } :after No Yes

:before { sRules } :before No Yes

:focus { sRules } :focus No Yes

:lang(C) { sRules } :lang() No Yes

Lists

CSS 2.1 IE 7.0 IE 8.0

{ list-style-type : sStyle } list-style-type Partial Yes

Color and Background

CSS 2.1 IE 7.0 IE 8.0

{ background-position : sPosition } background-position Partial Yes

Font and Text

CSS 2.1 IE 7.0 IE 8.0

{ font-weight : sWeight } font-weight Partial Yes

{ white-space : sWrap } white-space Partial Yes

{ word-spacing : sSpacing } word-spacing Partial Yes

Generated Content

CSS 2.1 IE 7.0 IE 8.0

{ content : sContent } content No Yes

{ counter-increment : sCounter } counter-increment No Yes

{ counter-reset : sCounter } counter-reset No Yes



{ quotes : sQuotes } quotes No Yes

Border and Layout

CSS 2.1 IE 7.0 IE 8.0

{ border-collapse : sCollapse } border-collapse Partial Yes

{ border-spacing : sSpacing } border-spacing No Yes

{ border-style : sStyle } border-style Partial Yes

{ caption-side : sLocation } caption-side No Yes

{ empty-cells : sEmptyCells } empty-cells Partial Yes

Positioning

CSS 2.1 IE 7.0 IE 8.0

{ bottom : sBottom } bottom Partial Yes

{ display : sDisplay } display Partial Yes

{ left : sPosition } left Partial Yes

{ right : sPosition } right Partial Yes

{ top : sTop } top Partial Yes

{ z-index : vOrder } z-index Partial Yes

Printing

CSS 2.1 IE 7.0 IE 8.0

{ orphans : nLines } orphans No Yes

{ page-break-inside : sBreak } page-break-inside No Yes

{ widows : nLines } widows No Yes

User Interface

CSS 2.1 IE 7.0 IE 8.0

{ outline : sOutline } outline No Yes

{ outline-color : sColor } outline-color No Yes

{ outline-style : sStyle } outline-style No Yes

{ outline-width : sWidth } outline-width No Yes

CSS 3 IE 7.0 IE 8.0



{ box-sizing : sSizing } box-sizing No Yes

Functions

CSS 2.1 IE 7.0 IE 8.0

counter() No Yes

attr() No Yes

Keywords

CSS 2.1 IE 7.0 IE 8.0

Inherit No Yes

For more information regarding CSS compatibility in Windows Internet Explorer and expanded support

tables, see CSS Compatibility and Internet Explorer.



11.2 IE 8.0 pull down issues with data elements

Following image shows the issues with pull down in Microsoft site itself. Check the circled area. These

issues are not there in other browsers.

ie issues with ajax apps

Technology