Time to celebrate! IE8 will default to standards mode.
In a surprise move yesterday Microsoft announced it has changed its position on the default rendering engine of IE8 from IE7 rendering to the bleeding edge standards mode. This is a HUGE win for web developers across the world, the average user and everyone with a disability.
Making the standards mode “standard” means the web will no longer be forked and actually it will be converging many existing forks into a single unified path. In one sense it will make the web developers life easier in another it will allow the web to advance at a faster pace, everyone will be looking at the same goal.
Those lazy developers I talked about before will have to update their skills or they will be out of a job. It will also be a platform to hold large companies accountable, they no longer have the “broken standards” excuse to fall back on. It will also unify the accessibility options out their, if they are all reading from standard HTML and CSS they can present the page with fewer quirks instead of trying to render the mismatch of IE hacked pages out there.
The decision comes at a time when the web is evolving from adolescence to adulthood. The tools for a useful web focused on the user have been building and this decision will leapfrog the web into a platform which will only enhance what a user can do virtually.
We embrace this decision with open arms and are ready for the challenge to educate future web developers on the need and requirement to use standards not only as a best practice but as a necessity. The standards have been developed for a reason, without them many professions would become dangerous, the web was becoming a dangerous place to code.
Again from all the web developers in the world, thank you Microsoft. Your decision to work with the community instead of dictate will be welcomed world wide.
