14 DAY TRIAL // Internet Explorer 10, the version that’s currently available to Windows 8 users only, won’t load Flash websites unless Microsoft places them on its very own whitelist.
Windows 8 comes with two different versions of Internet Explorer: one that loads in the Metro environment and runs full screen and another one accessible from the desktop that works in a similar fashion to the previous releases of the browser.
The Metro-based flavor won’t load unknown Flash websites because it needs Microsoft’s approval, so users are prompted to send a specific page to the Redmond-based technology company whenever they attempt to load it.
“While any site can play Flash content in Internet Explorer 10 for the desktop, only sites that are on the Compatibility View (CV) list for Flash can play Flash content within Internet Explorer 10 in the new Windows UI. We place sites with Flash content on the CV list if doing so delivers the best user experience in Internet Explorer 10 with those sites,” Microsoft explains in its very own Flash Content Guidelines.
While it could take too much time before Microsoft gives its approval to load a specific website, the company claims that it checks the submitted websites as fast as possible.
What’s more, webmasters can even add a specific meta tag in their websites to make sure that Windows 8 will load the page in the desktop version of Internet Explorer 10, instead of blocking it in the Metro version.
“Sites that rely on capabilities (for example, rollover events and peer-to-peer (P2P) functionality) that are not supported within Windows UX guidelines for Windows Store apps, and don’t degrade gracefully in their absence, are better off running in Internet Explorer 10 for the desktop with Flash,” the company concluded.