No, this isn't a comparison of Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8 beta 2 with Google's Chrome - that browser comparison will follow in a future post.
This is just an initial observation that, when it comes to the basic job of a web browser - namely, displaying a web page - IE 8 beta 2 just seems to fail with some sites, showing only a webpage that's blank page, or that's blank in parts that should have content. (Whereas those pages show up fine in Chrome.)
For instance, here's the Transport for London website as seen in IE8 beta 2 - completely blank!:
And here's the BBC Worldwide's "About" page in IE8:
What I find amusing though - and is it a deliberate "feature", rather than a bug?? - is what Internet Explorer 8 beta 2 does to Google web pages.
F'rinstance, here are the results of a Google search (it was OK when I hit Reload though, but I've had this a few times on searching via Google using IE8):
Furthermore, if you sign out of Gmail / Google Mail and then someone tries to sign back in as a different user, that "Sign in as a different user" link just doesn't work - you're stuck with the previous username, pre-completed and uneditable (scrubbed out below), when you try to go to Gmail, even if you delete all cookies (until you close and re-open IE 8, at least):
And, when I'm writing or editing an email in Gmail / GoogleMail using IE8, sometimes I find I suddenly can't add or edit anything in the text box for writing the body of the email for a few seconds or even longer. (It could be down to Google I suppose, but I've never experienced this issue before using IE 8.)
Well, blanking out, refusing access to and generally scuppering the use of Google sites is certainly one way for Microsoft to shaft one of its big competitors..!
UPDATE: the solution or fix for blank or odd webpages in IE8 is, whenever you get a page that doesn't display properly on IE 8, to click the compatibility button that then appears in the address bar. Unfortunately when you go to another page on the same site you may have to click that button again. And again. But at least it works for the individual page!
9 comments:
Hi
I've had exactly the problems you've described with IE 8 beta 2. Blank Google searches was particulary shocking! I'm actually surprised more people aren't up in arms about this. To top it off, it just crashed when I tried to post a comment here - seriously!
Cheers
Ben
Hi,
Same for me here. It's a shame! I was already not so happy with this ie8 and its compatibility problems, so I'll install the old version again.
Cheers,
Nick.
Same problems here. IE8 really is JUNK.
Ta for the comments. I've not got round to reinstalling IE 7 instead, but I mean to. Hope MS fix this soon.
Same problem for me too. Also found that it is hopeless with DHTML menus which a lot of sites use including many that I have designed!
Have updated my post. The solution or fix for blank or odd webpages in IE8 is, whenever you get a page that doesn't display properly on IE 8, to click the compatibility button that then appears in the address bar. Unfortunately when you go to another page on the same site you may have to click that button again. And again. But at least it works for the individual page!
Hi,
Got the same problem here as well, and have been switching to Compatibility mode when affected. It happens on lots of sites, clearly as some sort of HTML/CSS rendering fault. Sometimes blank pages, sometimes cut off literally mid sentence.
Interestingly, if you select the text by clicking and dragging the mouse over the part where it cuts off, often all or part of it comes back! This doesn't always work, but usually does on Google.
I would assume a patch would be on it's way, and I'm quite suprised there hasn't been one already.
Just thought I'd post as I've not seen anyone spot it yet.
To set compatibility view for all pages, do the following:
01. Click tools.
02. Click Compatibility View Settings
03. Click on checkbox next to "Display all websites in Compatibility View"
04. Click Close.
Now all web pages will be presented in Compatibility View. Happy surfing.
Okay guys,
I am a web developer and i now how much suffering takes to create a page looking nice for IE 7 and IE 6. It looked like that microsoft planed to gives us even more work developing their crappy browsers all the way. But than I found the compatibility view on IE8. At first I was really supprised to see that the page was finally displayed correctly with the option turned on. But it raises a question doesn't it? What the ^%*&%^& is compatibility view in the world of standard browsers? Is Microsoft trying to reinvent the web again with their new browser? And further on, even if they included the compatibility view i doubt most people will know what to do with it...
Post a Comment