The latest "preview" update for Internet Explorer adds new hardware-accelerated video and layout options, support for the Web Open Font Format (WOFF) standard, and the latest version of JavaScript (ES5), along with further performance improvements.
The third platform preview of IE 9 is available for download and as well as HTML 5 Video and Audio tags, the browser engine now supports the Canvas tag which Microsoft had not previously announced as part of its Internet Explorer plans.
Two of the sample Web apps on the IE9 Test Drive site use Canvas to lay out and animate elements on the page for an interactive Amazon bookshelf and HD trailers from the IMBD site, delivered in the HTML 5 video format.
Both Canvas and the Video tag - which supports H.264 video in the preview but will also work with Google's WebM VP8 codec in the final version of IE9 - are GPU-accelerated, something Microsoft group program manager Rob Mauceri suggests will give IE9 a performance advantage.
"If you look at today's PC, with the GPU and multicore processors, browsers use about 10 per cent of the power available We're very excited about Canvas, Audio and Video; we think they're a great match for the power of the GPU. IE9 really puts the whole power of your PC on the web."
Mauceri added that Microsoft had not previously announced support for Canvas because the vendor "wanted people to be able to see it and try it for themselves before we started talking about it."
The preview also adds support for two key ways to embed fonts stored on a server in web pages, WOFF and font-face. Fonts delivered this way will also be rendered by the GPU with sub-pixel placement for speed.
Improvements to IE9's Chakra JavaScript engine take its SunSpider speed test score down to under 350ms.
"We're now faster than Chrome 4," says Mauceri. "We're faster than the shipping version of Firefox, we're within 20ms of the recently updated Safari 5 and we're not done yet." He said that Platform Preview 3's score on the controversial Acid 3 test has gone up from 68 to 83. "We're not done yet here either", he added.
Mauceri says there have been two million downloads of the IE9 platform previews. The third platform preview meets Microsoft's promised eight-week deadline for updates but it still has no browser interface for everyday use and there is no news on the beta rumoured to come in August.
-
Should AI PCs be part of your next hardware refresh?AI PCs are fast becoming a business staple and a surefire way to future-proof your business
-
Westcon-Comstor and Vectra AI launch brace of new channel initiativesNews Westcon-Comstor and Vectra AI have announced the launch of two new channel growth initiatives focused on the managed security service provider (MSSP) space and AWS Marketplace.
-
Tech giants rally to keep Mozilla's dev bible aliveNews Open Web Docs injects $500,000 into the web-development handbook used by engineers across the industry
-
Google Chrome finally axes Flash - for goodNews Chrome to start blocking 90 per cent of Flash content by default
-
Google to dump Flash in ads from June
News Security gaffe prone technology to disappear by the summer
-
Google to automatically convert Flash web ads to HTML5News Flash adverts will soon be automatically converted to HTML5, to make mobile advert experience smoother
-
YouTube now uses HTML5 by defaultNews Adobe Flash continues to get phased out
-
Adobe takes the wraps off new website developer toolsNews Software firm launches free tools for HTML5 and JavaScript developers.
-
IDF 2012: HTML5 is overrated but is still the future, says Intel SVPNews Intel committed to making sure that HTML5 remains open and cross platform.
-
Dreamforce 2011: Chatter and HTML5 releases aim at social enterpriseNews With a raft of Chatter additions and some HTML5 compatibility on mobile devices, Salesforce.com is really pushing its social cause.
