Microsoft Edge has arrived - is your website compatible?
At the end of July Microsoft launched their new operating system Windows 10 which includes the new web browser Microsoft Edge.
With the Microsoft Edge browser, Microsoft attempts to make a break from legacy Internet Explorer specific technologies that had been built up over the past 20 years.
Internet Explorers popularity has declined steadily since its peak in 2004. Looking at the statistics from just past 6 years it's fairly obvious Google Chrome's success has been the greatest contributor to IE's decline in the browser wars.
Microsoft Edge aims to be more standard compliant while preserving some legacy features. It is extensively recoded and it will drop many vendor prefixes and technologies. This is good news for webmasters since standardized code means less quirks and browser specific adjustments. See the full details of dropped legacy features in Microsoft's blog.
Testing your site
If you have a fairly new site, your website will most likely work just fine on the new Edge browser, but if you site uses older technologies, it's important you test your site.
Unlike other browsers, Edge is exclusive to Windows 10 and cannot be used on previous Windows versions which means it cannot be downloaded and tested as easily as most browsers.
There are a few ways to check your site's compatibility on Edge:
- Install windows 10 on a new computer or upgrade your current one
- Install a test environment on PC (such as VMWare or Virtual box)
- Test online with a cross-browser testing tool such as www.browserstack.com (free trial)
Reception
Edge has been praised for its speed to render pages, but also
criticized for its unconventional choices that might put off users
who are used to old way of doing things. For example the address
bar is hidden and you cannot drag and drop files to the window.
Also, right now it's also lacking browser extensions which might
turn off some power users.
Although Microsoft Edge is the default browser within Windows 10 the old IE11 will still be available for the users. So it'll be likely the adoption won't happen overnight, especially if users are not pleased about missing features. Nevertheless, Microsoft Edge is a big step forward for Microsoft and it'll be interesting to see if and how fast it gains popularity.
