14 DAY TRIAL // While it’s hard at work developing Internet Explorer 9, Microsoft is also focusing on ensuring that Internet Explorer 8 customers get the best browsing experience possible.
The Redmond company is now offering a new update designed to kick up a notch the compatibility between IE8 and third-party websites.
KB 2447568 has been released accompanying the actual refreshes served by the software giant that can be downloaded from the Microsoft Download Center.
As IE8 customers are used to, the update doesn’t change the actual bits of the browser but instead is focused on refreshing the Compatibility View List.
“An update is available for the Windows Internet Explorer 8 Compatibility View list that is dated November 23, 2010,” Microsoft explained.
“This Compatibility View list update makes websites that are designed for older browsers look better in Internet Explorer 8.
“When you install Internet Explorer 8, you can decide whether the sites that you browse should be displayed in Compatibility View. After you install this update, you may have to restart Internet Explorer.”
When it released Internet Explorer 8 Microsoft introduced Compatibility View as a mechanism to keep the browser from breaking the web.
Essentially, Compatibility View is a feature designed to ensure backward compatibility with sites that had been tailored to IE6 and IE7. Uses can expect this feature to also be offered with Internet Explorer 9, and can already test it by downloading IE9 Beta.
“Sites that appear in the Compatibility View list are sites for which other users have clicked the Compatibility View button. This list is updated automatically.
“The list helps users have a better experience when they view Websites that are not yet updated for Internet Explorer 8,” Microsoft added.
Below are the download links for the November 23 2010 Compatibility View list update is available for Windows Internet Explorer 8 in accordance to the Windows platforms supported by Microsoft:
- Update for Internet Explorer 8 Compatibility View List for Windows 7 (KB2447568)
- Update for Internet Explorer 8 Compatibility View List for Windows XP (KB2447568)
- Update for Internet Explorer 8 Compatibility View List for Windows Server 2008 (KB2447568)
- Update for Internet Explorer 8 Compatibility View List for Windows Vista (KB2447568)
- Update for Internet Explorer 8 Compatibility View List for Windows Vista x64 Edition (KB2447568)
Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) RTW is available for download here (for 32-bit and 64-bit flavors of Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2003 and Windows Server 2008).