Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 Whitepapers

UPDATED RELEASE: Circular Memory Leak Mitigation (Mar 05, 2008)

Thu, 19 Mar 2009 15:14:17 GMT

*Important*: This whitepaper applies to Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1, and is therefore out of date. It will not be updated. For current documentation, please visit the corresponding page in the Internet Explorer SDK: [url:Circular Memory Leak Mitigation|http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=125784]

Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 for Developers includes improvements to memory management. These improvements mitigate memory leaks that were previously created by circular references between JScript objects and DOM objects.

UPDATED RELEASE: Automatic Crash Recovery (Mar 05, 2008)

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 23:58:41 GMT

*Important:* This whitepaper applies to Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1, and is therefore out of date. It will not be updated. For more current and robust information, please see the post titled "[url:IE8 and Reliability|http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=141391]" in the Internet Explorer Team Blog.

Automatic Crash Recovery (ACR) is a feature of Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 for Developers that can help to prevent the loss of work and productivity in the unlikely event of the browser crashing or hanging. The ACR feature takes advantage of the Loosely-Coupled Internet Explorer feature to provide new crash recovery capabilities, such as tab recovery, which will minimize interruptions to users’ browsing sessions.

UPDATED RELEASE: Automatic Crash Recovery (Mar 05, 2008)

Thu, 29 Jan 2009 23:58:20 GMT

*Important:* This whitepaper applies to Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1, and is therefore out of date. It will not be updated. For current and more robust information, please see the post titled "[url:IE8 and Reliability|http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=141391]" in the Internet Explorer Team Blog.

Automatic Crash Recovery (ACR) is a feature of Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 for Developers that can help to prevent the loss of work and productivity in the unlikely event of the browser crashing or hanging. The ACR feature takes advantage of the Loosely-Coupled Internet Explorer feature to provide new crash recovery capabilities, such as tab recovery, which will minimize interruptions to users’ browsing sessions.

UPDATED RELEASE: Printing Improvements (Mar 05, 2008)

Wed, 28 Jan 2009 19:05:19 GMT

*Important:* This whitepaper applies to Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1, and is therefore out of date. It will not be updated. For current documentation, please visit the following article in the Internet Explorer SDK on MSDN: "CSS How-to: Optimize Pages for Printing Using CSS" [url:http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd433064(VS.85).aspx]

Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 for Developers includes several print enhancements. These form the basis for a full implementation of CSS 2.1 pagination recommendations, and provide authors with more control and functionality in the print medium.

UPDATED RELEASE: User-Agent String and Version Vector (Mar 05, 2008)

Wed, 19 Nov 2008 02:57:29 GMT

The User-Agent string is a browser's identity as reported to Web sites via HTTP traffic; the version vector is a mechanism for obtaining the Internet Explorer version number used to evaluate conditional comments. Understanding the best practices for browser detection ensures that your site continues to operate as intended when viewed by Internet Explorer 8 clients.

UPDATED WIKI: Home

mtevenanMSFT — Sat, 25 Oct 2008 03:41:51 GMT

Important: These whitepapers apply to Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1, and some information may be out of date. These whitepapers will not be updated; however, the Internet Explorer SDK is updated on a regular basis. Links to specific sections of the Internet Explorer SDK are provided on some whitepaper download pages in this resource, or you can go to the Internet Explorer Developer Center for the latest headlines. Thank you!

A NOTE TO DISCUSSIONS USERS:

Thank you for your interest in the Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 whitepapers, and for using the MSDN Code Gallery discussion capabilities. In an effort to consolidate our discussion resources and to ensure the broadest audience possible for your questions and feedback, we are disabling the discussions feature of this Code Gallery resource beginning November 1, 2008. We encourage you to use any of the following community resources instead:

Internet Explorer team blog: A blog to find all the latest information from the Internet Explorer Team
Internet Explorer developer forum: Discussions about web development including HTML, CSS and Script for Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer extensions development forum: Discussions about building Accelerators, Web Slices and add-ons for Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer 8 beta newsgroup: This newsgroup is used to discuss any issues around the current Internet Explorer Beta release

Learn more about the new features in Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 for Developers.

Click here to download all the whitepapers at once: XPS format | PDF format

Introduction

How do I keep my site working with Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 for Developers?

User-Agent String and Version Vector
Manage Add-Ons
Per-Site ActiveX
Non-Admin ActiveX Controls
Zoom v2
W3C's ARIA support
Loosely-coupled Internet Explorer
Automatic Crash Recovery

How do I make my site light up with Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 for Developers?

Activities
WebSlices
CSS 2.1 Compliance
Versioning and IE Modes
Printing Improvements
DOM Core Improvements
HTML Improvements and ACID2
Improved Namespace Support
Selectors API
Data URI Support
Versioning and Cross-document Interaction
Improved Protected Mode API Support
Circular Memory Leak Mitigation
Platform Performance Improvements
Developer Tools
Better AJAX Development

UPDATED RELEASE: Data URI Support (Mar 05, 2008)

Sat, 25 Oct 2008 03:38:39 GMT

*Important:* This whitepaper applies to Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1, and is therefore out of date. It will not be updated. For current documentation, please visit the corresponding page in the Internet Explorer SDK: [url:data Protocol|http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc848897(VS.85).aspx]

Data URIs offer Web developers the opportunity to embed small external resources (such as CSS files or images) directly into a URL on a Web page. The primary use case for data URIs is the encapsulation of a binary file inside of a URL. Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 for Developers' data URI implementation attempts to balance security with functionality.

UPDATED RELEASE: Selectors API (Mar 05, 2008)

Sat, 25 Oct 2008 03:37:44 GMT

*Important:* This whitepaper applies to Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1, and is therefore out of date. It will not be updated. For current documentation, please visit the corresponding page in the Internet Explorer SDK: [url:Selecting Objects with JavaScript|http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=125798]

Selectors are a query language for searching and selecting tags (elements) within a Web page. They are most commonly used in CSS for selecting a group of elements to which certain properties will be applied. In Internet Explorer 7 there is no way of executing a selector independently of CSS. The Selectors API in Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 for Developers puts the power and flexibility of CSS selectors into the hands of Web developers for rapid element lookups.

UPDATED RELEASE: HTML Improvements and ACID2 (Mar 05, 2008)

Sat, 25 Oct 2008 03:36:53 GMT

*Important:* This whitepaper applies to Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1, and is therefore out of date. It will not be updated. For current documentation, please visit the corresponding page in the Internet Explorer SDK: [url:HTML Enhancements in Internet Explorer 8|http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=125792]

HTML uses elements to represent both structure and meaning in a document. To help developers take full advantage of the elements that HTML 4 offers, and to better provide the semantic meaning intended by Web author, Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 for Developers has upgraded support of the P and OBJECT presentational elements. Through improved support of these HTML elements, Web developers may build more expressive and accessible HTML markup.

UPDATED RELEASE: Printing Improvements (Mar 05, 2008)

Sat, 25 Oct 2008 03:35:57 GMT

*Important:* This whitepaper applies to Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1, and is therefore out of date. It will not be updated. For current documentation, please visit the corresponding pages in the Internet Explorer SDK (look for the *Printing* sections): [url:CSS Improvements in Internet Explorer 8|http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=110266] & [url:CSS Compatibility and Internet Explorer|http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=131991]

Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 for Developers includes several print enhancements. These form the basis for a full implementation of CSS 2.1 pagination recommendations, and provide authors with more control and functionality in the print medium.

UPDATED RELEASE: Printing Improvements (Mar 05, 2008)

Sat, 25 Oct 2008 03:35:45 GMT

*Important:* This whitepaper applies to Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1, and is therefore out of date. It will not be updated. For current documentation, please visit the corresponding page in the Internet Explorer SDK (look for the *Printing* sections): [url:CSS Improvements in Internet Explorer 8|http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=110266] & [url:CSS Compatibility and Internet Explorer|http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=131991]

Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 for Developers includes several print enhancements. These form the basis for a full implementation of CSS 2.1 pagination recommendations, and provide authors with more control and functionality in the print medium.

UPDATED RELEASE: Versioning and Internet Explorer Modes (Mar 05, 2008)

Sat, 25 Oct 2008 03:34:41 GMT

*Important:* This whitepaper applies to Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1, and is therefore out of date. It will not be updated. For current documentation, please visit the corresponding page in the Internet Explorer SDK: [url:Defining Document Compatibility|http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=131990]

A fundamental problem discussed during each and every Internet Explorer release is balancing new features and functionality with site compatibility for the existing Web. Versioning and Internet Explorer rendering modes address this issue by allowing Internet Explorer 8 to remain compatible with today's Web content and providing a mechanism to introduce new features and stricter standards compliance.

UPDATED RELEASE: CSS 2.1 Compliance (Mar 05, 2008)

Sat, 25 Oct 2008 03:33:45 GMT

*Important:* This whitepaper applies to Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1, and is therefore out of date. It will not be updated. For current documentation, please visit the corresponding pages in the Internet Explorer SDK: [url:CSS Improvements in Internet Explorer 8|http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=110266] & [url:CSS Compatibility and Internet Explorer|http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=131991]

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) are a simple mechanism for adding styles (such as fonts, colors, spacing, and positioning) to Web documents. The CSS 2.1 Specification has reached W3C Candidate Recommendation status as of July 17, 2007, and most browsers are rapidly approaching full CSS 2.1 implementation. In this vein, Internet Explorer 8 will ship with an additional layout engine that is fully compliant with CSS 2.1 upon final release.

UPDATED RELEASE: WebSlices (Mar 05, 2008)

Sat, 25 Oct 2008 03:32:41 GMT

*Important:* This whitepaper applies to Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1, and is therefore out of date. It will not be updated. For current documentation, please visit the corresponding page in the Internet Explorer SDK: [url:Subscribing to Content with Web Slices|http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=125392]

WebSlices are a new feature in Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 for Developers for Web sites to connect with users by allowing users to subscribe to content directly within a Web page. WebSlices behave just as feeds do, where clients can subscribe to get updates and notification of changes.

*{"["}Update: 2 April 2008{"]"}* Fixed typo in code sample: Changed 'ref' to 'href' in <a rel="feedurl" href="auction.microsoft.com/item.xml">Subscribe to WebSlice</a>

UPDATED RELEASE: Activities (Mar 05, 2008)

Sat, 25 Oct 2008 03:31:53 GMT

*Important:* This whitepaper applies to Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1, and is therefore out of date. It will not be updated. "Activities" are now called "Accelerators". For current documentation, please visit the corresponding page in the Internet Explorer SDK: [url:OpenService Accelerators Developer Guide|http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=131351]

Activities are contextual menu options which quickly access a service from any Web page. Users typically copy and paste from one Web page to another. Internet Explorer 8 Activities make this common pattern easier to do.

*{"["}Update: 7 April 2008{"]"}* Updated incorrect links.

UPDATED RELEASE: W3C's ARIA Support (Mar 05, 2008)

Sat, 25 Oct 2008 03:30:56 GMT

*Important:* This whitepaper applies to Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1, and is therefore out of date. It will not be updated. For current documentation, please visit the corresponding page in the Internet Explorer SDK: [url:Mapping ARIA Roles, States, and Properties to UI Automation|http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=110263]

The W3C defines ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) as a syntax for making dynamic Web content and custom UI controls accessible. Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 for Developers uses ARIA role, state, and property information to communicate with assistive technologies. Instead of building separate simplified Web pages for accessibility, you can use ARIA to markup your rich Web applications with roles, states, and properties.

UPDATED RELEASE: W3C's ARIA Support (Mar 05, 2008)

Sat, 25 Oct 2008 03:30:39 GMT

*Important:* This whitepaper applies to Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1, and is therefore out of date. It will not be updated. For current documentation, please visit the corresponding page in the Internet Explorer SDK: [url:Mapping ARIA Roles, States, and Properties to UI Automation
|http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=110263]

The W3C defines ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) as a syntax for making dynamic Web content and custom UI controls accessible. Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 for Developers uses ARIA role, state, and property information to communicate with assistive technologies. Instead of building separate simplified Web pages for accessibility, you can use ARIA to markup your rich Web applications with roles, states, and properties.

UPDATED RELEASE: User-Agent String and Version Vector (Mar 05, 2008)

Sat, 25 Oct 2008 03:30:06 GMT

*Important:* This whitepaper applies to Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1, and is therefore out of date. It will not be updated. For current documentation, please visit the corresponding page in the Internet Explorer SDK: [url:Detecting Internet Explorer More Effectively|http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=125801]

The User-Agent string is a browser's identity as reported to Web sites via HTTP traffic; the version vector is a mechanism for obtaining the Internet Explorer version number used to evaluate conditional comments. Understanding the best practices for browser detection ensures that your site continues to operate as intended when viewed by Internet Explorer 8 clients.

UPDATED RELEASE: Better AJAX Development (Mar 05, 2008)

Sat, 25 Oct 2008 03:29:07 GMT

UPDATED RELEASE: Developer Tools (Mar 05, 2008)

Sat, 25 Oct 2008 03:27:32 GMT

*Important:* This whitepaper applies to Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1, and is therefore out of date. It will not be updated. For current documentation, please visit the corresponding page in the Internet Explorer SDK: [url:Discovering the Internet Explorer 8 Developer Tools|http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkID=125790]

Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 for Developers includes tools that Web developers need to efficiently debug their sites directly in Internet Explorer. Developers can immediately debug a site's HTML, CSS, and JScript from within Internet Explorer 8, rather than switch between Internet Explorer and a separate development environment. In addition, Internet Explorer 8 Developer Tools help developers identify why their site does not render or behave as expected. Finally, by making it simple to edit any site, Internet Explorer 8 Developer Tools makes experimentation and iterative development easy.