IE9 Platform Preview 4 Scores 95/100 in the Acid3 Test

Microsoft is extremely close to the perfect score in the Acid3 Test with Internet Explorer 9, having made a consistent jump with the recently released Platform Preview 4 in comparison to Platform Preview 3. The latest developer preview of IE9 scores 95/100 in the Acid3 test, 12 points more than the previous pre-Beta release, which only managed 83/100.

Microsoft has indeed entered the Acid3 Test measuring contest with IE9, although in the end the test is more about the perception of web standards support than an actual and accurate reflection of standards compliance. “Some people use a particular test or website as shorthand for standards compliance. Different sites test different subsets of different standards to different depths. Acid3 is one that some people in the community have cited. It tests about 100 fragments of a dozen different technologies,” revealed Dean Hachamovitch, General Manager, Internet Explorer.

With Google, Mozilla, Opera, etc. having already aced Acid3 with recent releases of their browsers, it is important for Microsoft to do the same. The last hurdles that the Redmond company needs to pass in order for IE9 to reach the perfect 100/100 score involve SVG Fonts and SMIL animation of SVG, two technologies that are currently in transition, or essentially, up in the air.

“Support for SVG Fonts in the web development and font communities has been declining for some time. There’s already been discussion without objection of dropping SVG fonts from the Acid3 test. The community has put forth a proposal in the SVG Working Group to give SVG Fonts optional status,” Hachamovitch stated.

“Similarly, support for SMIL animation of SVG in the web development community is far from strong. The leader of the SVG standardization effort wrote that not supporting SMIL in its current state is probably best “since the SVG WG intends to coordinate with the CSS WG to make some changes to animation and to extend filters.” There’s already work started to reconcile CSS3 animations and SVG,” he added.

Fact is that there are alternatives to SVG Fonts and SMIL animation of SVG, already embraced by Internet Explorer 9, and other browsers. Instead of SVG Fonts, developers can opt to leverage the Web Open Font Format (WOFF) which is designed to work seamlessly with both HTML and SVG content. “It works well in conjunction with the CSS3 Fonts module and has broad support from leading font vendors. WOFF fonts are a better long-term solution for many reasons discussed previously,” Hachamovitch explained.

In addition, instead of using SMIL to animate SVG, developers can turn to JavaScript. Microsoft has already produced and shared samples of SVG content animated through JavaScript via its Test Drive Center for Internet Explorer 9.

The Beta development milestone is next for IE9, and it will certainly be interesting to see where Microsoft takes the next major iteration of Internet Explorer from here.

Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) Platform Preview 4 is available for download here.

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