IE5 for the Mac sets the standard

Last March, when Microsoft released Internet Explorer 5 for the Windowsoperating system, it was my sincere intent to review this product once the Macintosh versionwas released. Up until then, the Mac versions of browsers either came out at the same time asthe Windows version or within a few months. This was not the case with IE5. Indeed, it hastaken an entire year for Microsoft to release its IE5 for the Mac.

However, despite the fact that they were both made by Microsoft, the Mac and Windowsversions of IE5 share only two things in common: They are both web browsers and they are bothcalled Internet Explorer 5. Beyond that, IE5 for the Mac is as different from IE5 for Windowsas the Mac operating system is from the Windows OS.

Reviewing both versions at the sametime, then, is impossible in the scant few words that my editor offers me. So, this week it'sInternet Explorer 5: Macintosh Edition.

The quick review: I like it, and it is now mydefault browser. The fact is, IE5 does a lot of things right for both the web surfer and forthe web developer. OK, if that's all you wanted to know, you can stop reading and get on withyour life. If you want the facts, read on.

IE5 For the web surfer

The first thing you notice about IE5, when you start itup, is the iMac-inspired interface. This is an early indication not only of an entirely newgraphical user interface (GUI), but also of an entirely new user experience that builds on thestrengths that the Mac has to offer. Unlike past browsers which were merely "ports" of theWindows version, IE5 is Mac from the ground up.

The list of features is long andimpressive, and it may take a while to learn them all. Still, most of the important featuresare easy to find and use. One of the most intriguing new features is the scrapbook. Thescrapbook is not unlike bookmarking, but rather than simply recording the URL of a Web page,with the click of a single button the scrapbook records a complete copy of the page (graphicsand all) which you can then view without having to be online. This is especially useful forrecording receipts or saving pages just as they were the day you viewed them.

One pointwhere IE5 seems to be falling down, however, is in its support of non-latin characters. Onecomment I read stated that although IE5 "displayed" Hebrew characters, it still displayed themfrom left to right instead of right to left; the equivalent of displaying "this" as "siht".

In addition, although the iMac-style interface is quite trendy, it may not be toeveryone's taste. Currently, there is no way to change the appearance of the chrome, so youare stuck with it. But, these issues aside, Microsoft has done a superior job of putting thevisitor at the centre of the web browsing experience.

IE 5 For the web developer

From a developer's standpoint, IE5 for the Mac is animportant leap forward, not because it introduces any amazing new technologies - likeNetscape did with frames and JavaScript - but because it actually follows the rules.According to Todd Fahrner of the Web Standards Project: "The HTML 4 andCSS [level 1] support is really first-rate. Better than WinIE [5]. Just about the bestavailable right now on any platform." This is high praise coming from a group that isnotoriously picky on such matters.

In addition, Microsoft reports that IE5/Mac supportsXML 1.0, DHTML, CSS 2.0, DOM 1.0, and PNG 1.0 to varying degrees. But, as with any newbrowser, there are still bugs to be worked out. I have already discovered that IE 5/Mac hasdifficulty knowing when to display a scroll bar on pages where the content is within<DIV> tags, and that the <!DOCTYPE> tag can prevent some JavaScript from running.

In addition, after a quick tour through the web, I have found problems with IE5's abilityto properly render certain DHTML pages that work fine in IE4.5/Mac and other DHTML-capablebrowsers. For example, my own site seems to lose CSS rollovers, and the site your are reading this on becomes a cluttered mass of overlapping text layers.

Microsoft is also trying, not too subtly, to enforce certain Windows standards in thisbrowser. When first installed, the browser mimics a 96dpi screen resolution (a Windowsstandard) instead of the Mac's 72dpi. While this makes it easier for web developers to designfor both Windows and Mac without having to worry about the font size issues that have plaguedthem since the beginning of the web, it also means that all of those workaround solutions thattailor font sizes to the platform may cause thefonts to be too big on the Mac. Compounding this is the fact that the user can set the browserback to 72dpi, so even if you detect the visitor is on IE5/Mac, you don't know what resolutionthey have set.

While IE 5/Mac is a superior user experience when compared with any othercurrently available browser, it does present some difficult problems for the web developer toovercome, not just in terms of quirks and bugs, but, ironically, because of its strictadherence to standards. While Microsoft is to be commended for releasing the moststandards-compliant browser for the Mac - or for any OS, really - the fact is thatother browsers, which are not standards compliant, will also have to be considered in thedesign process. Thus, despite the fact that IE5 is the way that a browser is supposed to bemade, it is only one flavour of many. Our best hope is that other browsers will follow IE5'slead. Regular readers will know that I have no great love for Microsoft or it's products. ButI am a practical man, and IE5 is peerless in the Mac browser market.

Jason Cranford Teague is the author of 'DHTML for the World Wide Web'. If you have questions, you can find an archive of his column at Webbed Environments or email him at jason@webbedenvironments.com