14 DAY TRIAL // Just as its predecessor, Internet Explorer 9 comes with Compatibility View, a feature illustrative of Microsoft’s commitment to not breaking the web with new iterations of IE.
Compatibility View, along with the multiple rendering options in IE8’s successors, make sure that customers can still get a great experience on older websites in IE9 RTW, even if said sites were tailored to IE7 or IE6.
Not only did the Compatibility Feature make it into IE9, but also the associated Compatibility View List.
With the Compatibility View List, Microsoft maintains a collection of sites that are, to some degree, incompatible with IE9 in terms of rendering.
The CVL tells IE9 to render a specific website as if it was IE6, IE7 or IE8, if that would provide the best user experience possible.
According to the Redmond company, a number of enhancements have been introduced to Compatibility View Lists in IE9, including:
“1. The IE9 CV List includes the software fallback list for GPU/drivers, which you can find at the end of the CV List xml file. This means we can update the CV List to provide users with a better browsing experience within days of discovering GPUs or drivers that are incompatible with IE9.
2. The IE9 CV List includes subdomain support. This enables IE to run a specific subdomain in a compatible document mode, while keeping the rest of the domain running in the latest Standards mode.
3. F12 Developer Tools tells site developers when sites are on the IE9 CV List, their local CV List, or a Group Policy-configured CV List,” revealed Marc Silbey, program manager, Internet Explorer.
Of course, Microsoft also tests IE9 on the websites that customers visit, with the focus on the most popular online properties worldwide; however, the software giant also relies on feedback provided by users.
“Across hundreds of billions of browsing sessions, we gather telemetry data when users click the Compat View button. We use this data to determine what additional sites to test and add to the Compatibility View (CV) List,” Silbey added.
Windows Internet Explorer 9 RTW for Windows 7 and Windows 7 SP1 is available for download here.
Windows Internet Explorer 9 RTW for Windows Vista SP2 and Windows Server 2008 SP2 is available for download here.
Windows Internet Explorer 9 RTW for Windows Vista SP2 64-bit edition and Windows Server 2008 SP2 64-bit edition is available for download here.
Windows Internet Explorer 9 RTW for Windows 7 64-bit edition, Windows 7 SP1 64-bit edition, Windows Server 2008 R2 64-bit edition and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1 64-bit edition is available for download here.