Microsoft announced yesterday that it is releasing IE7, with a "forced" upgrade planned to begin November 1. That means that it will be sent to all Windows users as an automatic update, however there will be an option available to decline the installation.
If you have a business website, and you haven't already done so, now is the time to get serious about testing your site in the new browser to be sure it works. The majority of people still use Internet Explorer, and most of them will be upgrading to the new browser.
The ironic thing is, all the workarounds that I added to my code so that it would work with IE6 are the things that I'm afraid are going to break IE7. I'm going to download it tonight to see how my site looks and make any neccesary changes. Chances are, though, that I won't have any problems at all. I've checked a few tech sites on the internet, and there doesn't seem to be any widespread outcry of people saying their new browser crashed.
Don't stop testing your website on IE6 just yet though! IE7 cannot be installed on computers running Windows 2000. For that reason, many of your customers may still be using IE6 and you will have to keep those workarounds in your code for some time.
Good luck with your download of IE7. I'll let you know how my experience goes, and how the new browser views my website. I'm keeping my fingers crossed. Leave a comment if you find any quirks that you think we should all be aware of.
I just hate the entire concept of Automatic updates, or forced updates. I'm on my computer, focused on my work, and then all of a sudden it slows down, quits responding to my commands and after a couple of minutes of driving me crazy I receive a popup: "Automatic updates are now ready to be installed". So I'm not so thrilled about IE7, especially since I use Firefox, works much smoother.
Posted by: Match | October 27, 2006 4:16 AM | Permalink to Comment