“…we’re going to have a look at the product from the HTML and
CSS author’s point of view. … Given that this support is not part
of the gigantic hype machine that Microsoft has launched to promote
the browser, you might not be surprised by the fact that Microsoft
Internet Explorer 5.0, release version, is a huge dissapointment
for the developer, any developer, anywhere.”
“Dan Shafer, member of the Steering Committee of the Web
Standards Project, claimed in his otherwise damning developer’s
review of Internet Explorer 5.0 that the browser supported most of
HTML 4.0. For someone who is so concerned with browser adoption of
W3C standards, Mr. Shafer was being grossly innacurate. …
Microsoft promised full HTML 4.0 support for 5.0 and it hasn’t even
gotten close.”
“Most people might be concentrating on XML, DOM and CSS in their
reviews, and yes, this should also be done because IE 5.0’s support
of these technologies is also terrible (as we’ll see later on), but
all of that is pointless unless you get HTML straight, and IE’s
HTML engine compares to the specification as a straight line
compares to a lower intestine. … Make no mistake, this is a
policy decision and not an engineering problem. They don’t care,
and they probably never will. And I think they should get all the
bad press they deserve for this.”
“Internet Explorer 5.0, from the HTML and CSS author’s point of
view, is a minor bug-fixing patch for IE4, except for the fact you
need to download the whole thing from scratch… Style
Watch officially gives Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0,
Release Version, the complete Thumbs Down Treatment.”