IE 8 Incompatible with Major Websites

There really must be something fundamentally wrong with Microsoft's approach to Internet Explorer 8 and just web browsing in general. IE is notorious for not playing nicely with all sites out there and, during testing, Microsoft has identified 2,400 sites that don't render properly in IE 8.

You might be thinking, "Oh, they're probably really obscure sites that weren't properly coded in the first place." And you'd be right. On the list are a bunch of small fry, no-name sites that you never visit, like YouTube.com, Wikipedia.org, Facebook.com and Microsoft.com



I'm going to drop the sarcasm and just get straight to the painful truth: Microsoft, if you can't even get your browser to render your own site correctly then there are some serious problems you need to address. And don't try to hide behind claims that IE 8 has a "better implementation of web standards" if some of the most highly trafficked sites in the world (and your very own home page) don't meet said standards.

Sounds to me like Microsoft isn't setting a new standard with IE 8, instead choosing to stand on the sidelines shouting that we're all playing the game wrong.

But don't worry, after IE 8 has given you the chance to see just how backward Flickr.com, Amazon.com and AOL.com are, you can press a button to make IE 8 render the site in compatibility mode so you can actually see what you came to see.

Frankly, trying to show just how strictly you follow your own rules doesn't seem like something that will endear IE 8 to consumers. This kind of thinking just might drive more people to other browsers, like Firefox and Chrome, which continue to gain converts from the Internet Explorer crowd. Are average users really going to know they should be looking for the compatibility button when their favorite sites aren't appearing correctly? Instead of trying to find out what's wrong, a lot of people just might give up on IE 8.

And the 2,400 sites on the (in)compatibility list won't be alone for long as the release candidate lets people find even more sites that IE 8 doesn't like. I can't wait until the official IE 8 release when we can all discover the truth that doesn't like half the internet.

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