14 DAY TRIAL // The 2014 World Cup kicks off in 10 days, so Microsoft tries to benefit from the growing interest for this important football event by launching a new sports hub created in collaboration with ESPN.
The so-called ESPN FC World Cup Essentials is a destination where visitors can find information regarding teams and players, fixtures, and history, while also staying up-to-date with what's happening on social networks thanks to direct implementation of Twitter support. ESPN news are also offered in case you'd like to find out the latest bits about your favorite team or player.
The website was specifically designed to use technologies available in Internet Explorer and is completely optimized for the touch, which means that you can also access it from tablets such as Microsoft's very own Surface RT.
“The World Cup is one of sports most storied events, and inspires a tremendous amount of passion and loyalty from fans around globe. The World Cup Essentials site will provide an excellent complement to the comprehensive match coverage ESPN will be providing on television and the web. Working with IE allows us to use the power of the modern browser on the web to surround the beautiful game for millions of fans,” said Bryan McAleer, associate director, ESPN Marketing.
The software giant says the website can fit any device you use, so you can access it on both desktops and tablets, as long as you use Internet Explorer. Of course, it works very well on other modern browsers, including Firefox and Chrome, but since they're missing from the Windows Store, Internet Explorer is pretty much your only option.
“A deft touch is essential for the world’s top players, and now touch is important for spectators too. Because IE is the only browser built from the ground up for touch you can pinch, zoom and bicycle kick (okay, maybe not bicycle kick, but we might have to suggest it to our engineering team) through the ESPN FC World Cup Essentials site, putting information about your favorite team, player or match right at your fingertips,” the company noted.
Roger Capriotti, senior director, Internet Explorer Marketing, says that this new website is also a great opportunity for developers to discover the benefit of Internet Explorer 11 technology, which allows the creation of advanced app capable of running directly in the browser.
The ESPN FC World Cup Essentials uses HTML5 standards, such as CSS3 animations, transitions and 3D transforms, 3D navigation based on WebGL using Three.js and Pointer Events.