Ozzie.eu

Today Microsoft announced a new set of tools to help you support modern and older versions of Internet Explorer.

The site makes available a scanning tool that, provided a URL, detects common coding practices that may cause compatibility problems or prevent your users from getting the best possible experience on a webpage rendered on IE. For instance, I ran the scanner on this blog and the report was as follows:

A common problem from supporting old versions of IE was detected. The scanner found that the blog webpage was currently rendering in a Compatibility Mode on Internet Explorer 9 and 10, due to the following tag:

<meta http-equiv="x-ua-compatible"
      content="ie=emulateie7">

Other “nice to have” issues were detected like a lack of responsive design and no Windows 8 features like a touch browsing interface or a live tile for the start screen.

After removing the compatibility tag, the common problems were all fixed.

Another interesting part of this site is that virtual machines are made available for both Mac and Linux developers to download and be able to test their Web applications on Internet Explorer, using various versions of the windows operating system and the browser:

Finally I leave you with the insights from two IT professionals about how challenging it is to develop web application given the number of browser and client devices that exist:

Modern IE Homepage: http://www.modern.ie/

A few months ago I posted about the feee e-book Programming Windows 8 Apps with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
The companion content for has been updated. So download the companion content again if you’ve already got it:
http://go.microsoft.com/FWLink/?Linkid=270057 (59.9 MB)
Here are the details of the update from the author:
This update fixes one bug in the HereMyAm examples for Chapters 8, 9, 13, and 17 in the file pages/home/home.js. The one line within the updateImage function:
    app.sessionState.fileToken = list.addOrReplace(app.sessionState.fileToken, newFile);
is replaced with
    list.addOrReplace(app.sessionState.fileToken, newFile);
This corrects a bug where transient session state was preserved across the suspend-terminate-restart boundary only every other time because the app.sessionState.fileToken was erroneously overwritten with “undefined”.

Source: Microsoft Press

WebMatrix is a free and lightweight web development tool to create, publish, and maintain Web sites. It supports development using ASP.NET, PHP, Node.js and HTML5. It’s also touted as taking advantage of the latest emerging standards(CSS3, HTML5), and popular JavaScript libraries such as JQuery:

As far as HTML 5 goes, WebMatrix includes code completion, validation, and formatting… Except for HTML5 Form tags. The Web Pages framework doesn't include any helpers for the new HTML5 form input types such as email or color.
Fortunately, MVP Mike Brind posted on his Web log an article about how this helpers can be added to Webmatrix. A download containing the complete code for his article is available here.
Read Mike Brind’s Article.

Microsoft has released a training kit covering some development specifics for developers who will be targeting Internet Explorer 10 in their development experience. This kit contains documentation and details on things pertinent to developing applications that target features of the Internet Explorer 10 browser. The included labs cover the following features:

• Compatibility, Developer Tools and Performance
• DOM Features and ECMAScript5
• New CSS3 Features
• New HTML5 Features
• Using IndexedDB
• Vector Graphics (Canvas & SVG)

Before downloading, be warned that the kit will work only on genuine flavors of Windows. In fact, it will run a validation tool prior to offering access to the downloadable content.

The training kit can be downloaded from Microsoft here.

It’s always fun when you get classic memories from your youth reinvented with the latest technology. In the 70’s of the last century Atari became the definitive gaming platform of it’s era.

Microsoft together with Atari and Grant Skinner, launched Atari Arcade, meant to showcase all the features and possibilities of HTML5, as well as an effort to develop gaming users interfaces" perfect for touch.

Even if you don’t care much for Web technology trends, you can always drop by the Arcade to visit some old friends. Maybe you’ll even find the game you spent most quarters on.

Television channels like MTV and VH1 are still a must have for all the music lovers out there. However, things are evolving and the Internet is the new mainstream media for checking out new songs by your favorite band or getting to know new artists.
But the Web offers something that TV channels don’t: freedom for music performers to publish themselves and freedom for you to choose who to listen or watch.
Of course, with the new paradigm, upcoming artists will have to strive and battle over public attention. Take their videos to their full potential and become interactive.
The performer Jasmine Villegas did just that with her music video “Just a Friend”.


Check it out because it’s a really cool experience built entirely on HTML5. Afterwards, watch how everything was developed on this behind the scenes interview with the people who built it:


To check out the technical details behind this whole experience, you can visit this page.