Microsoft has announced it will update its web browser, Internet Explorer 11 (IE 11), to ensure it works with a wider range of legacy web apps while still offering a secure browsing experience.
The firm said, starting this month, its Enterprise Mode Site List for IE 11 will include all document modes. Customers will be able to force web apps to render in any document mode, including IE 10, IE 9, IE 8, IE 7, and IE 5, without changing a single line of code on their websites.
Many enterprise web apps will only work with specific versions of Internet Explorer over the last ten years. This means users had to have a particular version of IE on their desktops, leaving them at risk of malware designed to target older browsers, posing a security risk to organisations.
Enterprise Mode made its debut earlier this year to let IE 11 emulate IE 8, but for many enterprise users this was not enough.
"We listened to customer feedback, and the list will now give better control over which document mode will be used for remediating web app compatibility," said Fred Pullen, senior product marketing manager of Internet Explorer at Microsoft in a blog post.
He said the next version of the browser, presumably IE 12, will use these backward compatibility features, including Enterprise Mode, Enterprise Site Discovery and document modes, to ensure compatability with exisintg websites.
"The work that customers do to upgrade to IE 11 today will ease migrations to Windows 10, and help future-proof their browser environments," said Pullen.
"We will continue to improve support for modern standards and legacy compatibility to make it even easier for customers to stay up to date with the latest browser."
Earlier this month, Microsoft announced a new Enterprise Site Discovery Toolkit , that will work with Enterprise Mode, to help organisations discover sites that end users visit and the troubles they may be experiencing. Enterprise Site Discovery will also collect the zone, crash counts, and other relevant information. Microsoft said this would help IT professionals prioritise any needed remediation efforts.
