Browser Watch

Microsoft’s CEO, Steve Ballmer, has considered moving Internet Explorer’s core over to the open source WebKit rendering engine.

It appers the move is being considered as a way to stem the bleeding of users to other web browsers, who are looking for more complete and compliant web browsers.

Market Share by Net Applications shows that for October, IE’s market share has dropped to 71%.

With IE8 set for release in early 2009, changes of this magnitude would likely not be seen for another 2 years, in what could possible be IE9.

This move, if true, would be fantastic news for users and web developers everywhere.

Internet Explorer Browser Share, Internet Explorer, WebKit

WebKit passing Acid3

The WebKit development team has just passed another huge milestone. The WebKit browser engine used in Apple’s Safari and Google’s Chrome now fully passes the Acid3 test.

The Acid3 test checks how well browsers comply with the latest standards, in particular JavaScript and the Document Object Model (DOM).

Maciej Stachowiak of the WebKit team attributes this feat to “recent speedups in JavaScript, DOM and rendering.”

Unfortunately, it will be a few months before we see this in Safari and Chrome, but while you wait you can download a nightly build of WebKit and test this for yourself.

Chrome, Safari Acid3, Apple Safari, Chrome, Google Chrome, JavaScript, Safari, WebKit