IE: Internet Explorer
Windows Internet Explorer (formerly Microsoft Internet Explorer) is commonly known as IE according to AbbreviationFinder, it is a web browser developed by Microsoft for the Microsoft Windows operating system since 1995. It has been the most widely used web browser since 1999, with a maximum peak of usage quota of the 95% during 2002 and 2003 in versions 5 and 6. This market share has gradually decreased due to renewed competition from other browsers, mainly Mozilla Firefox. Microsoft spent more than $ 100 million a year in the late 1990s, with more than 1,000 people working at IE during 1999.
History
The Internet Explorer project began in the summer of 1994 by Thomas Reardon and subsequently led by Benjamin Slivka, using the source code Spyglass, Inc. Mosaic, one of the first commercial web browsers with formal links to the pioneering NCSA Mosaic browser. At the end of 1994, Microsoft took on the licensing of Spyglass Mosaic for further development, through a quarterly payment plus a percentage of the income generated by the profits it received from the software. Although similar in name to NCSA Mosaic, Spyglass Mosaic used the NCSA Mosaic source code only sparingly.
Internet Explorer was first released for installation as an add-on to Microsoft Plus! for Windows 95 in 1995. It would later be introduced free of charge in certain OEM versions of Windows 95, and was also included by default in later versions of Windows. However, allowing the operating system to carry the browser with it for free (thereby avoiding the payment of royalties to Spyglass, Inc.), soon after resulted in a lawsuit and subsequent multi-million dollar compensation.
Versions
Windows Internet Explorer 8 (commonly abbreviated IE8) is the eighth released version of Microsoft’s web browser, succeeding Internet Explorer 7. It was released on March 19, 2009 as an update for Windows XP Service Pack 2 or higher, Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 1 or later, Windows Vista, and Windows Server 2008. Internet Explorer 8 is included natively in the latest Microsoft operating systems, Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2.
According to Microsoft, the priorities for IE8 are security, ease of use, improvements to RSS, CSS, and support for AJAX-based technologies, with a considerable improvement in support for web standards over its predecessor. It is the current stable version of this browser.
For mobile devices such as PDAs and smartphones, there is Internet Explorer for Pocket PC, renamed Internet Explorer Mobile for Windows Mobile. This version, available for the Windows Mobile operating system, continues to be developed along with the more advanced versions for desktop computers.
Characteristics
Internet Explorer has been designed for a wide range of web pages and to provide certain functions within operating systems, including Windows Update. During the height of the browser wars, Internet Explorer replaced Netscape when they were in favor of supporting the progressive technological features of the day.
Standards support
Render Engines Comparison
Internet Explorer, using the Trident layout engine, almost entirely supports HTML 4.01, CSS 1.0, and XML 1, with minor gaps in content. It partially supports CSS Level 2 and DOM Level 2, with significant deficiencies in content and compliance issues. Support for CSS 2.1 is in Internet Explorer 8.
It is fully compatible with XSLT 1.0, as well as an outdated XSLT dialect created by Microsoft often referred to as WD-XSL. Support for XSLT 2.0 is projected for future versions of Internet Explorer, Microsoft bloggers have indicated that development is underway, but dates have not been announced.
Internet Explorer has come under fire for its limited support for open web standards, and a more important goal of Internet Explorer 8 is to improve support for the standards already mentioned.
Extension rules
Internet Explorer has introduced a number of proprietary extensions to many of the standards, including HTML, CSS, and DOM. This has resulted in a number of web pages that can only be viewed correctly with Internet Explorer.
Internet Explorer has introduced a series of extensions to Java Script that have been adopted by other browsers. These include innerHTML, which returns the string of HTML within an element, the XML HTTP Request, which allows the sending of the HTTP request and the reception of the HTTP response. Some of these functionalities are not possible until the introduction of the W3C-induced DOM methods.
Other standards that Microsoft provides are: vertical text support, but in a different syntax than the W3C recommendation; support for a variety of image effects and support for script code, in particular JScript Encode [6] . Support is also provided for embedding EOT fonts in web pages.
Usability and accessibility
Internet Explorer makes use of the accessibility provided in Windows. Internet Explorer is also an FTP user interface, with operations similar to Windows Explorer (although this feature requires a window that opens in the latest versions of the browser, rather than natively in the browser). Recent versions block pop-ups and include tabbed browsing. Tabbed browsing can also be added to previous versions by installing the MSN Search toolbar or the Yahoo! toolbar. Keyboard shortcuts for Internet Explorer can also make work easier and save time.
