HTML5, Hardware Accelerated: First IE9 Platform Preview Available

Dean Hachamovitch, Windows Internet Explorer WeblogAt the Las Vegas MIX10 Conference, Microsoft Internet Explorerdevelopers demonstrated "how the standard web patterns that developersalready know and use broadly run better by taking advantage of PChardware through IE9 on Windows." A blog article by Dean Hachamovitchprovides an overview of what we showed, "across performance, standards,hardware-accelerated HTML5 graphics, and the availability of the IE9Platform Preview for developers...First, we showed IE9's new script engine, internally known as 'Chakra,'and the progress we've made on an industry benchmark for JavaScriptperformance... We showed our progress in making the same standards-basedHTML, script, and formatting markup work across different browsers.We shared the data and framework that informed our approach, anddemonstrated better support for several standards: HTML5, DOM, andCSS3. We showed IE9's latest Acid3 score (55); as we make progress onthe industry goal of having the same markup that developers actuallyuse working across browsers, our Acid3 score will continue to go up...In several demonstrations, we showed the significant performance gainsthat graphically rich, interactive web pages enjoy when a browser takesfull advantage of the PC's hardware capabilities through the operatingsystem. The same HTML, script, and CSS markup work across severaldifferent browsers; the pages just run significantly faster in IE9because of hardware-accelerated graphics. IE9 is also the first browserto provide hardware-accelerated SVG support...The goal of standardsand interoperability is that the same HTML, script, and formattingmarkup work the same across different browsers. Eliminating the needfor different code paths for different browsers benefits everyone,and creates more opportunity for developers to innovate.The main technologies to call out here broadly are HTML5, CSS3, DOM,and SVG. The IE9 test drive site has more specifics and samples. Atthis time, we're looking for developer feedback on our implementationof HTML5's parsing rules, Selection APIs, XHTML support, and inlineSVG. Within CSS3, we're looking for developer feedback on IE9's supportfor Selectors, Namespaces, Colors, Values, Backgrounds and Borders,and Fonts. Within DOM, we're looking for developer feedback on IE9'ssupport for Core, Events, Style, and Range... As IE makes more progresson the industry goal of 'same markup' for standards and parts ofstandards that developers actually use, the Acid3 score will continueto go up as a result. A key part of our approach to web standards isthe development of an industry standard test suite. Today, Microsofthas submitted over 100 additional tests of HTML5, CSS3, DOM, and SVGto the W3C..."http://preview.tinyurl.com/ykceeexSee also Paul Krill's InfoWorld article: http://www.infoworld.com/d/applications/microsoft-embraces-html5-specification-in-ie9-861