SelecTViews – THE SQL Server Video Show
with Stephen Wynkoop
Watson! You may have seen him on Jeopardy! – Stephen Baker joins us on the show today talking about what was learned with the project. Stephen Baker wrote the book (literally) on the Watson project and all that it entailed – do not miss this show…
[Watch the Show]
MS New Browser – IE9
Today I’m taking a little different direction from the normal content you see in the daily editorial on SSWUG. With the recent release of Microsoft’s internet explorer 9 it opens up one more browser configuration to test with your web applications.
I have seen some really great things about IE9, especially how it works in Windows 7. Here is an interesting article from Microsoft Watch about some of the characteristics of the new browser.
Seeing another browser released reminds me of how complicated it is to write web software today capable of working in multiple browsers. Different versions of a browser from the same vendor vary as well as the differences between different vendor browsers.
Based on the kind of readers we have I am sure this isn’t news to you. The fact that we have to write different code in our applications that is capable of managing content and presentation based on the client’s browser simply makes our job harder.
Many companies simply take the route of specifying a single browser for their employees. Doing some consulting for an Indiana Government agency I was aware that they were still using windows 95 and IE4 after XP had been released for 2 years. They were at least 5 years behind the current trend.
For those companies writing software for a broad audience you do not have the luxury of writing to a limited number of browsers. Most likely you are going to have to maintain code that works in browsers at least 2-4 years old. At the same time, you want to write code working with the latest capabilities in order to keep the interest of those using your products.
This prompts a couple questions to our readers. How do you determine in which browsers to test your code? How do you perform those tests (individual machines, Virtual Machines, Automated Testing…)? Do you try to support browsers from multiple vendors?
Drop me a note at facebook, twitter, or email at btaylor@sswug.org.
Cheers,
Ben
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