Microsoft to tweak 'compatibility view' with next IE 8 test build

Microsoft is planning to make further tweaks to the "compatibility view" feature in Internet Explorer (IE) 8 when it releases the next public test build in early 2009.

Microsoft officials announced the new IE 8 compatibility-view plans via the IEBlog in a December 3 posting. The details from the post:

"When users install Windows 7 Beta or the next IE8 update, they get a choice about opting-in to a list of sites that should be displayed in Compatibility View. Sites are on this list based on feedback from other IE8 customers: specifically, for what high-volume sites did other users click the Compatibility View button? This list updates automatically, and helps users who aren’t web-savvy have a better experience with web sites that aren’t yet IE8-ready."

This list of sites will be based on worldwide tester feedback data and product support channels, according to the blog post. Updated versions of the list of sites that should be run in Compatibility View will be distributed regularly via Windows Update. Microsoft is planning to contact owners of the sites on the list to try to encourage them to update their sites so they display correctly in IE 8.

Microsoft's IE Program Manager Scott Dickins, the author of the post, acknowledged what I and others have seen in our IE 8 Beta 2 usage: "A lot" of Web sites are not rendering correctly in IE 8's default "Super Standards" mode. Many highly trafficked Web sites were optimized for previous, less-standards-compliant versions of IE and don't display correctly with IE 8, as Microsoft and developers expected.

Dickins noted that at least one other browser vendor -- Opera Software -- is employing a similar approach

"IE8 is not the first browser to consider making website compatibility fixes for specific highly trafficked sites. Opera has 'a feature that allows Opera to automatically fix incompatible Web pages.' It’s 'automatically distributed by Opera Software ASA, and can be used to apply fixes to specific Web sites.'"

The final version of IE 8 is due for release in2009, not by the end of this year as Microsoft officials stated previously.

I've been having trouble viewing key sites like Yahoo Mail -- and even the newly unveiled Microsoft home.live.com page --  with IE 8 Beta 2. I'm figuring these might be on the compatibility view list. What other sites have you had problems viewing in standards mode with IE 8?