Microsoft rolls back on compatibility defaults in IE8
March 4th, 2008
The IE team announced in their blog that they’re changing they’re previously stated position that IE8 would use version targeting by using HTTP headers or meta tags to choose the way a page should be rendered. That meant that if even if the browser had a much more standard compliant rendering engine (they passed the ACID test!), developers would have to explicitly tell the browser to use the new engine. This has been widely covered, such as here and here.
But they ended up deciding things differently, and now the browser will default to the new engine, much more reliable than the IE6/7 one (standards-wise). Developers will still have the option of targeting specific browser versions with headers/meta tags, but sites that are already deployed will not have to be changed at all to take advantage of the advances in the new Microsoft browser.
Apparently it’s one of many consequences of the recent publication of Microsoft’s Interoperability Principles. It doesn’t matter what the reason is: it’s good news anyway!