Ozzie.eu

Earlier this year I posted about modern.IE, a tool meant to make it easier to test sites for Internet Explorer.
About this last one, it comes from BrowserStack and it’s a really easy and useful tool to quickly assess the look of your site. Running it on this site gives the following output:

You can check out the live output here: http://www.browserstack.com/screenshots/5a6283df1308512082589290b4add4dcd6b9b35f
To run the tool on any site of your liking, visit BrowserStack.

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/

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.