Posted by James Crook on May 18, 2009 in First Principles

Internet Explorer 8 was officially released by Microsoft a few weeks ago, meaning that many users who allow Windows automatic updates will now have it running on their system.

If you did not receive it as an automatic update, you can download it free from Microsoft.

Why upgrade?

The problems with Internet Explorer 6 have been widely documented, but unfortunately many users still seem to have that version installed on their Windows XP system. What this has meant in the past is that as web designers, we have to work around the problems with IE 6 to make sure that our designs still work with that browser.

The newer versions of Internet Explorer, as well as the other major browsers, are closer to being standards-compliant. This means that we can make a website using valid markup code and styling and it will show on your screen correctly.

New web browsers offer higher security, more features and a better browsing experience.

Internet Explorer 8 is much closes to being standards-compliant than versions 6 or 7. However, there are many other browsers out there that are just as good, if not better, that are equally compliant and have similar or better features.

Personally, I use Firefox because of the large number of add-ons, including the indispensable web-development tool Firebug.

Download any of these browsers now to test them out and see what you like!

• Internet Explorer
• Firefox
• Chrome
• Opera