You may already be aware of the imminent arrival of Microsoft's latest version of Internet Explorer, version 7 – see http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/default.mspx for more details.

This will be pushed out to users primarily through the Automatic Update feature of Microsoft Windows in a bid to encourage users to update to this latest version quickly and easily. This means that almost overnight a huge number of people that were using Internet Explorer version 6 will suddenly be browsing using version 7.

What you may not be aware of, however, is the risk that this creates for the design, functionality and usability of your web site.

This is the first major update to the Internet Explorer web browser in over 5 years and whilst being touted as a security and usability update, the other major aspect of the latest version is in its conformity to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) standards for HTML, Cascading Style Sheets and Javascript - which control the look, layout, presentation and functionality of web pages.

Although this update will bring many improvements to users of Internet Explorer, it does also mean that there are likely to be elements of existing web sites that when viewed or used in the newest version of Internet Explorer will not look, behave or render exactly the same as they did before. This is to be expected with a gap of 5 years between major releases against the ongoing changes to the Web Standards.

What Outwide can do for you

In order to mitigate the risk to design and functionality that the new release of the browser may bring, Outwide have developed a test methodology to review sites for any issues when using Internet Explorer version 7. Our test computers use Internet Explorer 7 Beta 3, which Microsoft says is the final beta release before it is delivered to users by Automatic Update later this year.

In the brief window of opportunity that exists prior to the global release and automatic uptake for most people (due to the automatic Windows update), Outwide would like to offer you the service of reviewing and testing your site(s) for differences between Internet Explorer version 6 and the proposed version 7. Outwide would list the apparent differences as Minor, Medium or Major to allow for easy appraisal to the impact on your site or your business.

Minor
 Affects the way the website looks in a minor way, but not how it works

Medium
 Affect non-core functions of the website, or dramatically affects the way the website looks

Major
 Severely affects core functions of the website

Website reviews cost between $250 and $3,000, depending on the size and complexity of the website. Outwide will provide a fixed price to review your website. Outwide customers receive a 25% discount on all site reviews.

What you can do about it

Please contact us on ie7review@outwide.com to discuss this further or to request a cost for a site review.

You can read more about the release via the following independent links:

MSDN IE7 Update Blog

IE7 Heading for Automatic Update Distribution

Microsoft tags IE7 "High Priority" update