IE Developer Channel offers ‘sneak peek’ at Microsoft’s next browser
Developers can now get their mitts on a special version of Microsoft’s Internet Explorer browser offering previews of forthcoming capabilities and features.
Called the Internet Explorer Developer Channel, the special edition browser is much like the beta versions of Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox, giving the curious a chance to test new updates before they hit the mainstream.
“IE Developer Channel can run alongside and independently of IE11, and has all of the browser features that you love in IE11, as well as the latest platform features we’re working on,” wrote Jason Weber of Microsoft’s IE Team in a blog post.
The new developer edition of IE is already available to download, and comes with various tools for devs including improved analytics for the browser’s memory, a better debugger tool with support for event breakpoints and UI responsiveness profilers. A second blog post by Microsoft explains the new features in more detail.
Another feature of IE Developer Channel is support for WebDriver, an API that gives developers the ability to simulate users interacting with various web apps. First developed by Selenium, the WebDriver API is now a work in progress of the World Wide Web Cosortium (W3C). A second W3C standard that’s included is the Gamepad API, which allows users to interact with the browser using video game console controllers.
UI responsiveness tool in IE Developer Channel
Besides the new feature, Microsoft has been working to improve IE’s overall performance. The prototype browser has achieved a 94 percent score in the Khronos WebGL Conformance Test, beating the 89 percent score attained by IE 11 (note that Google Chrome scored 99.9 percent in this test).
This is just the first IE Developer Channel release. Microsoft says it will be constantly adding new technologies and features to the channel, just as Google and Mozilla do with their own beta browsers. Developers can access a full list of APIs either being tested or considered for inclusion in IE at this website.
photo credits: ieteam via photopin cc; screenshot via Microsoft IE Blog
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