It’s August 1996, and the "Browser Wars" have entered a new, much more intense phase. Until now, Netscape Navigator was the undisputed king of the Web. Microsoft’s IE 1 and 2 were... well, let’s just say they were "trying." But Internet Explorer 3.0 is a different story entirely. Microsoft has finally woken up to the internet, and they've brought the full weight of their engineering (and marketing) to bear.
Feature Parity and Beyond
IE 3.0 isn't just a copycat; it’s actually leading in some areas. It’s the first major browser to support Cascading Style Sheets (CSS). We can finally separate our presentation from our content! It also introduces "JScript"-Microsoft's version of JavaScript-and support for ActiveX controls.
Wait, ActiveX? It's basically a way to run COM objects inside the browser. It's incredibly powerful, allowing for complex applications, but as a security-minded developer, it makes me a little nervous. Giving a webpage that much access to the underlying system is a bold move.
<!-- Using CSS in IE3 -->
<style>
body { font-family: "Arial"; color: navy; }
h1 { border-bottom: 2px solid red; }
</style>
The Free Factor
The biggest advantage IE 3 has isn't technical-it's the price. While Netscape still costs money for many users, Microsoft is giving IE away for free and bundling it with Windows. That's a hard proposition to beat for the average user.
Looking Ahead
Netscape is still the "standard" for now, but IE 3.0 shows that Microsoft is in this for the long haul. The pace of innovation in the browser space is now frantic. We're seeing new tags and features being added every few months. For developers, this means we're entering the era of "Best viewed in..." badges. It’s going to be a messy few years while the standards catch up to the features.
Aunimeda develops websites and web applications for businesses - corporate sites, e-commerce, portals, and custom platforms.
Contact us to discuss your web project. See also: Web Development, E-commerce Development