Internet Explorer 7: Is Your Site Ready? September 11, 2006
Posted by ptvGuy. Comments: 22 comments
…Virtually overnight, you'll find most of your site visitors have made the switch…
Potentially more exciting than the arrival of a new phonebook is the planned automatic update of Microsoft's web browser, Internet Explorer. If you haven't already heard about it–and I'm sure that most of you have–Microsoft is planning to release the first major upgrade to Internet Explorer since IE6 in 2001. With many new features, security upgrades, and changes to the core software itself, it's a totally new browser that will suddenly be the primary browser of a good 70% or more of your audience. Is your site ready for that? If you don't know for sure, now's the time to find out.
At some point during the next few months (the fourth quarter of this year,) Microsoft will be rolling out this upgrade as a high-priority, automatic update. That means that most Windows XP users will simply be online one day when they'll receive a popup alert from the system tray saying that updates are ready for their computer. Virtually overnight, you'll find most of your site visitors have made the switch.
This all seems straightforward enough until you consider someone like my father. My father is in his 70s. He browses the 'Net daily. If presented with the option to install a security update, he has been trained to click accept (without trying to comprehend what specifically it is patching). If he accepts this and suddenly his browser experience changes (sites that used to render properly no longer work) he'll be completely confused. He wouldn't know how to uninstall.
- Tom Raftery IE7 + Automatic Update = support nightmare
Frankly, this is true for the majority of your users. Like it or not, once the change is made, there'll be no going back. Certain questions then arise:
- What will they see when they go to your site?
- Should you panic?
- Will you need to recode?
- Are you ready for the new toys? (Didn't expect that last one, did you.)
Let's have a look at what this change will mean for your site.
Things to Be Happy About
…an open opportunity to provide new services and gain a larger audience…
Those of us that routinely use other browsers or check our sites out in multiple browsers will find a lot of very familiar things integrated into IE7. I have mixed feelings about this. On the one hand, I'm happy for the changes and improvements they've made, but on the other, I find it annoying that a majority of non-technically-oriented web users will think of these as Microsoft innovations rather than Microsoft trying to catch up with everyone else's innovations. Still, there is a lot to be happy about in this upgrade. Some of it–like improved web standards and CSS support–might require changes for some sites (That's a good thing, really.) and some of it–like RSS integration–are an open opportunity to provide new services and gain a larger audience.
Tabbed Browsing
That's right, tabbed browsing has finally made its way to Internet Explorer (boldly going where everyone else has been for quite some time.) If you're like me and you regularly have to have a number of applications running simultaneously and then additionally have to open several different browsers to compare page layouts, then you'll truly appreciate this addition. I can finally have ONE window of Internet Explorer open with a number of web pages displayed in different tabs (as I always could in other browsers.)
My only regret here is that there's not yet a good, all-purpose, cross-browser compatible script to automatically open external links in new tabs rather than new windows. This would make a nice addition to Paul Boag's External Links script that I (like many others) use so extensively. However, I'm sure that one will come along eventually.
RSS Integration
…That's practically an unsolicited advertisement for viewing your feed…
This is truly an awesome feature. I know that it's already been a standard part of other browsers, but, because 70% to 90% of your users are surfing the web with nothing but Internet Explorer, the sudden ability to read and subscribe to RSS feeds right in their browser will be a totally new experience. If your site already has an RSS feed, then now's the time to start planning how you might promote it to a more main-stream audience as well as how you might make it a more prominent part of your pages. If your site doesn't, then now's the time to start working on one.
The feed button for IE7 remains grayed out and inactive while viewing pages without a recognizable feed (RSS1, RSS2, Atom, etc.) and then springs to vivid, orange life when viewing a page that has one. I don't know about you, but I'd like it to be one of MY sites that a user first notices this strange new button on. You know it has to be tried at least once just to see what it does, and what it does is tell your users that there's even more content available from your site then they may have ever been aware of otherwise.
The drop-down list of available feeds and feed types next to the button is a potential source of confusion for non-technical users, but most will simply click the main button and get the topmost, default feed. Upon clicking it, however, they get not only a new feed page, but some helpful information about feeds and how to use them. My favorite part, though, is the bolded statement in the yellow box that says, "You are viewing a feed that contains frequently updated content." That's practically an unsolicited advertisement for viewing your feed. I really have to thank Microsoft for including that.
Between all the browsers that I've tried (Firefox, Opera, and IE7) and all the feed readers I've tried out (including Outlook 2007 RSS) nothing beats the simplicity and ease of reading feeds of IE7.
- Greg Kniffin RSS Feed Readin' - IE7 is king
They've even gone a step further and added a sidebar allowing users to sort or filter your feed by date, title, author, and even category. These categories, by the way, are the ones you've assigned to each piece of feed content. A little careful forethought in this department could net you some permanent, new site users viewing your content and, more especially, your membership reminders–especially if you pad every RSS "post" with a membership link.
Extensibility
…This misguided approach froze it into being a passive browser…
One of the problems that Internet Explorer has always had was its inherent lack of extensibility. It was a proprietary, Microsoft application meant to do only what Microsoft had in mind when they shipped it–nothing more. This misguided approach froze it into being a passive browser. Firefox, with its numerous extensions, changed all that along with everyone's concept of what a browser could be and what it can do.
With IE7, Microsoft has seen the light of following this approach, and they're not stepping in with nothing either. They're starting right out with some heavy-hitters, two of which immediately caught my eye, the Developer Toolbar–the Internet Explorer answer to Chris Pederick's indispensable Web Developer add-in for Firefox–and Fiddler which is an HTTP Debugger that lets you fiddle around in that particular pot of code.
Of course, it remains to be seen if they can harness the kind of voluntary developer community that Firefox has, but they are off to a good start. At least this kind of "raising the bar" back and forth between the various browsers will continue to benefit all of us out here in the trenches.
Security Features
After taking it on the chin for ages, Microsoft has gotten downright serious with security–perhaps a little overboard in some ways–but serious nonetheless. One of the better aspects of this new security consciousness is their phishing filter. IE7 will block access to (or at least warn you about) fake sites that pretend to be trusted sites in order to get you to reveal private information, download malignant software, or just look around while it loads crap onto your computer in the background.
None of the phishing features in IE7 appears to cause problems with legitimate Web sites. I tested all the features in both application suites in all environments, without once running afoul of this particular feature. In fact, developers should be happy about this feature, because it means that nefarious individuals are less likely to hijack users that are coming to your Web site.
- John Mueller Making Your Apps work with Internet Explorer 7
IE7 defaults to blocking most pop-ups now. As an underhanded advertising method, this is better dropped anyway, but, as a legitimate method of delivering small pieces of extra content like program information or auction item windows, this might require a little rethinking. It's also more aggressive about cookies. A good P3P Privacy Policy should prevent most problems of this nature.
It also has safeguards in place to protect against old or inappropriate SSL certificates. If yours is out of date or contains invalid information, it's time to get that fixed now.
Better CSS Support
After working with the Web Standards Project (WaSP) since July of 2005, believe it or not, IE7 now sports CSS 2.1 compliance. That means that Internet Explorer, still the most popular browser on the planet, has made a major move–at least for Microsoft–toward the world of web standards. It's a start.
With all these major bug fixes in place, there are those of us–myself included–who may have to revisit some of our CSS files to double-check their compatibility with IE7.
If your layout relied on us "growing" the box (if your content did not fit the dimensions you gave it) then this can lead to breaks. You can easily discover breaks related to overflow by observing content suddenly overlapping other content.
- Cascading Style Sheet Compatibility in Internet Explorer 7
Some of the CSS hacks we've been using for awhile are no longer valid. I'm sure new ones will come into play. Currently, the Star-HTML hack is still okay, but others may not fair so well. It's worth running through their posted list and checking for any hacks you may have used. Frankly, it's just time to move away from that whole way of coding. (I'm saying that for my benefit since I'm sure that you already knew that.)
After all this, they still treat ALT text as a tooltip. Will someone please tell them that that's a bug and not a feature. I'm so tired of it.
PNG Support
Real PNG support and everything that goes with it has finally made it to Internet Explorer.
You can now display Portable Network Graphics (PNG) images without relying on odd workarounds to implement transparency. However, some older features are also gone. If you rely on the Dynsrc attribute of the <IMG> tag, you'll need to change your Web page, because it no longer works in IE7.
- John Mueller Making Your Apps work with Internet Explorer 7
I'm looking forward to seeing a lot more sites taking advantage of the real power inherent in PNG images. The combined use of lossless graphics images with layered transparencies and semi-transparencies can not only create stunningly vivid pages but, with a little imagination, whole new ways of presenting content.
Things to Worry About
Although most sites tend to look the same in IE7 as they did in IE6, there are some potential problems. Most of these have to do with site applications (like shopping carts and such) and the use of ActiveX controls. John Mueller outlined these in detail on the DevSource website, and I really encourage you to take the time to read through all five parts of his article on Making Your Apps work with Internet Explorer 7, because I'm only scratching the surface here.
Don't wait until Microsoft releases IE7 to begin testing your applications. Based on what I've seen so far, unless you're using pretty much pure HTML on static pages, your application is going to break in some way.
- John Mueller Making Your Apps work with Internet Explorer 7
ActiveX Problems
I don't know if anyone else remembers it this way, but I seem to recall that ActiveX was developed by Microsoft as an extension of OLE back in the mid to late 90's and pushed as an incredible new way to make the web work directly with your already existing desktop applications–especially the Microsoft ones. Now, in a bizarre turn of events, they're trying to protect users from their own creation.
After having seen many examples of just how bad malignant ActiveX controls can get, Microsoft finally decided to add some protection for users in IE7. Unfortunately, this halfway measure doesn't really help anyone. Users will be annoyed by having to OK every ActiveX control, every time one appears on a Web page.
- John Mueller Making Your Apps work with Internet Explorer 7
If you haven't done it already, lose the ActiveX reliance. It's just going to be more and more of a problem over time.
Since most other browsers (including Firefox) ignore ActiveX controls, you might want to phase out use of ActiveX in your applications. They were always a bad idea. Unfortunately, this one change is going to break many applications; everything from shopping carts to data collaboration.
- John Mueller Making Your Apps work with Internet Explorer 7
Header Information & Range Checking
If you've gone out of your way to provide appropriate content to your users based on the browser he or she is using or whether or not a specific plugin is available, then you're to be commended. You went above and beyond the call of duty for the sake of your users. Unfortunately, you may now have more work to do.
A check of the request header information that IE7 provides shows that some applications will break when they employ poor range-checking methods. My test system shows that IE7 supports nine file types by default… The user agent information is also different… If your application checks for specific version numbers, rather than a range of numbers, it may stop working with IE7.
- John Mueller Making Your Apps work with Internet Explorer 7
Multiple Home Pages
This is kind of a weird thing to get used to and you may not think of it as something to worry about. The idea here is that you can have more than one home page, and they'll all open up in separate tabs of which you can set the order.
…I still think that the real opportunity is in the RSS integration…
While that's all well and good, I can easily picture a lot of web developers running out and dusting off their old "Make this your homepage" JavaScript link. I tested this in IE7 Beta 3, and yes it does still work. If you click on one of these links, it will bring up an "Add or Change Home Page" dialog box. This will allow you make that page your only home page or add it to your home page tabs. So what's the matter with that, you may ask. Well, frankly, familiarity breeds contempt.
I, personally, don't want my pages associated with anything that can clog up a user's experience online. Setting three or four homepages won't really impact broadband users, but dialup users will see significant delays in just being able to get started when they open IE7. The usual reaction to that is to blame the last page that was added, and I don't want that to be my page. There's also the problem of incomplete page rendering if an impatient dialup user (Name one that isn't.) starts browsing in another tab while your page is still loading.
All in all, I'm planning to avoid encouraging the use of my pages as home pages. It's not really the opportunity that it might seem to be. Instead of that, I plan to create content that users will want to come back to again and again and even add to their favorites or bookmarks. I still think that the real opportunity is in the RSS integration.
Some Final Words
…If users make this change and begin seeing broken pages, they'll blame the browser…
With all of that said about this changeover, you might be wondering about how you can check your site out. Well, to be honest, the two main methods are only available to customers running genuine Microsoft Windows. Apparently, Microsoft doesn't want to help non-Windows-based web developers to get their sites ready for IE7. That makes no sense to me since they should want the majority of websites that their customers have been using to continue to work in their new-and-improved browser. If users make this change as planned and begin immediately seeing broken pages, then they'll blame the browser, not the web developer.
Anyway, the two main tools are the Internet Explorer 7 Readiness Toolkit and simply downloading the latest release candidate of IE7. If you can stand the wait time and their servers aren't too overwhelmed, then you might want to check out BrowserShots.org to get screen shots of your pages in multiple browsers including IE7.
I'm going to let John Mueller sum up what he calls "The Bottom Line" of all of this.
You might think that all of these changes are a pain. In many respects, you're right. However, the changes really are necessary. Creating a secure internet (or at least one where you don't have to walk on eggshells) is everyone's responsibility. The changes you make to update your Web site to IE7 will benefit everyone. The user benefits from added security, enhanced privacy protection, and improved features. Your company benefits from fewer attacks and reduced support requirements. You'll benefit from those extra weekends you get to spend at home, rather than at the office. Unfortunately, to get all of these benefits, you'll need to spend time now fixing the things that caused the problems in the first place.
- John Mueller Making Your Apps work with Internet Explorer 7
Thank you all, code well, and good night.
Localizing Beyond PBS: An Open Proposal June 28, 2006
Posted by ptvGuy. Comments: 1 comment so farIntroduction
…PBS in your local town or city IS your local station…
In one of its most brilliant decisions ever, PBS decided to downplay itself as a national entity in favor of extending the perceived reach of every one of its local member stations. (Web: best medium for local/national convergence?) In other words, PBS in Medford, Oregon IS SOPTV, PBS in Redding, California IS KIXE, and PBS in your local town or city IS your local station. This doesn't just happen on-air, it extends online as well.
…dynamically generates a localized version of that page…
When a local station website links to a PBS program site like Frontline or Nova, it uses station-linking code to pass its station identification to that site which in turn dynamically generates a localized version of that page complete with a backlinked station logo and localized broadcast information. The end result for the user is that their local station website and the PBS.org national site (the most popular dot org site on the planet) work together as a single, cohesive unit creating the perception that they are one whole site. In fact, some studies have shown that many users are totally unaware of ever having left the local station site.
PBS localization has added to the perceived value of the local station site as a community resource. It extends the perceived reach of the local station into vast resources and archives of information that no one station could ever achieve. Basically, PBS was a Web 2.0 resource long before anyone conceived of such a term to describe that kind of online interaction and interconnectedness. Now, while the rest of the web tries to catch up to even that level, the time has come for us to extend this even further.
…many users are totally unaware of ever having left the local station site…
Individual stations across the country have for years been creating small (and some very large) pieces of original web content. Some of these are tied to local productions or events and hold little interest outside the local community, but many are very interesting slices of local history, art, and culture and have value to the system as a whole. This kind of web content along with content tied to nationally distributed programs would be ideal for localization.
The Proposal
…the creation of localized versions of such pages…
I propose the creation of localized versions of such pages set up to take advantage of and function similarly to the already existing localization system in place on PBS.org. The beauty of this system is that it's so easy to tap into from outside sources. Actually, if you think about it, that's exactly what it was designed for.
In point of fact, creating such a localized page requires only a few things:
- the addition of the standard localized PBS navbar to the top of the page to carry users back to their local station or pass them on to PBS,
- a reworking of the page header to showcase the specific logo or content of the page rather than the organization behind it,
- the elimination of any internal site navigation, search boxes, or links meant to get site users around that specific site rather than just the specifically localized content,
- the elimination of any internal support link coupled with the addition of a PBS localized station support link (and this is very important to make it valuable to other stations,)
- a reworking of the page footer to again eliminate any standard internal site links and the addition of a sublimated organization logo, credit, link, and copyright/trademark statement,
- and, finally, a way to receive the station identification parameter through the URL and pass it into all of the PBS links.
It's really a lot less complicated than it sounds.
Reasons For Doing This
…supports and adds value to the system as a whole…
If you're wondering why a station would want to do this with their own content, there are a number of reasons:
- Showcasing your local art, history, culture, entertainment, and educational resources to stations and web users across the rest of the country is yet one more way of adding value to YOUR station as a modern and relevant connection to the rest of the world.
- It makes YOUR local station a more attractive and valuable outlet for the people who create this kind of content to bring it to.
- It supports and adds value to the system as a whole.
- It adds some small bit of value to your nationally distributed programs when stations considering running them know that there's localized content that they can link into.
Station Example
If you're tired of just hearing about this and you'd rather see it in action, then check out Sierra Center Stage, a new program being distributed by Southern Oregon Public Television. To reach that page normally as a part of the SOPTV website, you would go to www.soptv.org/scs. That takes you to the non-localized version of that page meant for users of the SOPTV site. However, with the simple addition of a question mark and your station's call letters (try www.soptv.org/scs?wnet) you get a localized version of the page complete with station logo and a support link tied to your local station's membership page (provided your membership link is current with PBS Station Remote Control.)
Potential Worries
…system is not affected in any way by this kind of homemade localization…
If you're worried that this could somehow affect currently localized users and perhaps "relocalize" them to a different station, it can't. The already existing PBS localization cookie system is not affected in any way by this kind of "homemade localization." Since it doesn't store anything on the client computer, it's temporary and page-specific. When an already localized user clicks through to the PBS main site-even on the support link-the already existing PBS localization cookie will override any parameters passed in the URL and localize them accordingly. Therefore, you can't lose already localized viewers though you might potentially gain a few.
If you're worried about what will happen to users who bookmark a page like this, they'll bookmark your localization code along with the site URL. That means that unless they alter the properties of their bookmark, it will always open localized to you.
If you're worried that localizing your content for other stations could cut into potential revenues by turning the support links away from you, then this one you'll actually have to weigh against your own records. For the most part, stations do not make support money from web content linked into by other stations. However, if your station actually does, then that content would not be a good candidate for localization. No one should lose money or users by doing this.
Beyond Even The Stations Themselves
…web content on any site can be localized…
This kind of extension of station localization and what it can do goes even beyond public television station websites. Any piece of web content on any site can be localized to make it useful and valuable to PBS member stations that want to link into it. That means that any organization or individual out there with a website can make localized content available to stations to use or not use as they see fit. I don't think that it takes a major stretch of the imagination to envision a time when web producers and web content distributors will approach public broadcasting stations in much the same way as program producers and distributors with the hope of having their content featured by those stations.
Non-Station Example
If you're wondering how even a non-station website could manage this, then check out Online Xtras, a page I created on my ptvguy.com website as a collection of links to PBS online-only content (and, yes, I still hate the name, but I can't think of anything better.) If you go to the page directly at www.ptvguy.com/xtras/ (spelled without the "e" as x-t-r-a-s,) then you'll see that it wasn't designed to be used as anything other than a localized page. All the localized station linking ends up missing the station identification and the navbar at the top is taller than it should be, because there's no image where the station logo goes. However, if you go to the page with station linking by adding a question mark, the word "station," an equal sign, and your station's call letters (as in www.ptvguy.com/xtras?station=wyes) then you'll see a version of the page localized to your station. If you'd rather see how an actual station website might link into this, then have a look at the left sidebar on the homepage of SOPTV and click through to Online Xtras. It not only can be done, it IS being done.
How To Do It
…look it over and see how simple it is…
If you're wondering why my two examples use different station-linking code, it's because I set them up using two different server technologies. One utilizes simple SSI directives that you'd normally see on an SHTML page and the other utilizes PHP. The point I wanted to make with this is that it doesn't really matter how you set it up as long as it localizes correctly and you make the method clear. I kept it as simple as possible. The only reason that I didn't create an ASP example is that I don't have anything available on a Microsoft Windows server worth localizing.
I've put together a downloadable file with all the pertinent underlying code and included content from both of these examples, so that you can look it over and see how simple it is. If you have content that could be used in this way, why not give it a try. If you know of content that could be used in this way, why not suggest it. You don't lose anything by doing this. You do, however, have a potential to increase your audience while simultaneously supporting PBS member stations everywhere.
How Will We Use It
…good content is not always supportable content…
If we can get enough localized content together to justify the effort, then we could create portal pages (like my Online Xtras example) to organize or categorize the content and create a single link-in point for stations to connect to. Who knows, maybe we can get enough high-quality content together to get PBS itself interested in creating more portal collections like Global Connections or African American World. I already know of some more local content that could be added into this, and I bet you do to.
"PBS.org's top priority is presenting content that supports the broadcast schedule," said Cindy Johanson, Senior Vice President, PBS Interactive and Education during an interview back in 2002. Although many aspects of the web itself and how PBS uses it have changed and evolved since then, budget and staffing cuts have forced PBS to be extremely selective in what they put out and support on their website. Witness the move of PBS LiteracyLink™ from PBS to KET (speaking of which, there's a broadly used resource that I'd love to see localized,) and the cutting of PBS Campus, PBS YOU, and a number of other PBS resources. Frankly, good content is not always supportable content.
…tapping into ourselves as the incredible resource that we are…
I don't believe that local stations can or should be solely dependent on PBS to provide original web content any longer-which is not to say that we don't still need them. However, we are more than capable of (and in fact already are) producing such content. It amazes me that we are not tapping into ourselves as the incredible resource that we are. We are an already existing network of interconnected content providers and developers. If we open up our own resources to each other and tap into other organizations and individuals willing share their content with us, then, in combination with PBS itself, we will become something greater than the sum total of our parts and, in fact, something greater than anything else on the web.
"Can we build it? Yes, we can."
Thank you all, code well, and good night.
