Internet Explorer will retain the version 7 rendering engine. But rather than opt-in to version 8 rendering, developers will have to opt-out of it. Developers and / or server administrators can do so with a <meta> tag or with an HTTP header.

Also see: Microsoft’s Interoperability Principles

Previously

• Web Standards Project releases Acid3
• On IE8: Pragmatic and practical, but I still don’t like it
• Internet Explorer 8 round-up

About 6 years ago, I remember taking part in a conversation about preferred browsers on the Jane magazine message boards. IE 5.x was still king of the PC world. IE 6 was coming on strong. Netscape 4 was still widely used by universities. Netscape 6 was on its way.

Most of the respondents said they preferred Internet Explorer. Why? Because sites just “look right” and “work better” in Internet Explorer. My response at the time was simple: if a site doesn’t work in Netscape, it’s because the web developer didn’t know what (s)he was doing.

Of course, they didn’t care. They were far more into Sephora than HTML code quality. As far as they were concerned, Netscape was the problem. They didn’t blame crap code, or Microsoft for developing a browser that stomped harder than a Catalonian flamenco dancer all over the W3C specs and allowed ugly code to thrive. They blamed Netscape.

I was reminded of that conversation when I first read Microsoft’s recent announcement about Internet Explorer 8. After my initial D*MNF*CKINGBLOODYHELL!JUSTBREAKTHF*CKINGWEBALREADYMICROSOFT!WHATTHEF*CK? IAMTIREDOFYOURAGGEDYBASTARDSMAKINGMYDAYJOB1000TIMESHARDERTHANITNEEDSTOBEBECAUSEYOUCAN’T DEVELOPABROWSERTHATFOLLOWSAF*CKING10YEAROLDSPEC!!! reaction passed, I came to the following conclusion: this is the best approach to a bad situation.

Microsoft does not want to be where Netscape was. It’s a sad but true fact is that if a site breaks, the average web user — and, dare I say, average web developer — will blame the browser. Microsoft is too entrenched in corporate intranets and applications to let that happen. Doing so would cause a sh*tstorm of massive proportions for the company. From a business perspective, I understand.

And while I am also not happy about the default implementation (as Jeremy Keith explained Unless you explicitly declare that you want IE8 to behave as IE8, it will behave as IE7.), opting-in to web standards eliminates the need to revise existing code.

Yes, it’s potentially a nail in the coffin for progressive enhancement techniques. Yes, we’ll still have to do something special to cater to Microsoft browsers. Yes, this could freeze web development at the IE7 level for years to come. But I believe — and it pains me to say it given the hate-hate more relationship I have with Microsoft browsers — that Microsoft, given its position, had no other choice.

But putting pragmatic approaches and practical considerations aside, I think Ben Buchanan said it best:

If they’ve included a DOCTYPE, they’ve declared they want to render to standards. If they did that in ignorance, it’s time they started earning their money instead of letting Dreamweaver do their jobs.

Related: Internet Explorer 8 Round Up

UPDATES:

Microsoft versioning: accessibility implications

What Internet Explorer’s change means for accessibility.

Best Standards Support

Sam Ruby offers a server-side suggestion for handling IE8 content requests.

Mike Davies argues that this should and perhaps could be the end of the line for Internet Explorer.

Microsoft᾿s “Super Standards” Mode: Important Facts

Jeff Schiller offers the clearest explanation I’ve seen about the changes coming with IE8.

Mistakes, Sadness, Regret

Ian Hickson on IE8, HTML5 and Microsoft.

Big Questions On IE8′s Big Progress

Alex Russell has some questions about how Microsoft will implement conflicts between meta tags.

Wisdom and folly: IE8′s super standards mode cuts both ways

Peter Bright over at Ars Technica gives a rundown of how this new ‘super-standards’ mode will work in IE8

Meta Madness

What seems to have slipped past the Microsoft Task Force of WaSP (or maybe it didn’t and they’re just playing coy) is that by implementing this specific feature in any other browser immediately either: A) Reduces its market size of viable web pages that will upgrade to new versions of the browser or B) Forces new versions of the browser to bloat, including backwards support for old-style rendering. – John Ressig

Bobbing Heads and the IE8 Meta Tag

Shelley Powers blasts this IE announcement.

In defense of version targeting

Jeffrey Zeldman says: When I look at the scenarios of who is likely to do what where web standards and version targeting are concerned, the IE7 default for those who don’t opt in appears to be the correct design decision.

Versioning, Compatibility and Standards

The WebKit team says it won’t be joining this <meta> tag march.

Opt-out version targeting is spam

If they’ve included a DOCTYPE, they’ve declared they want to render to standards. If they did that in ignorance, it’s time they started earning their money instead of letting Dreamweaver do their jobs. — Ben Buchanan

It started this morning with Aaron Gustafson’s article on A List Apart announcing a new method of versioning HTML documents in the forthcoming Internet Explorer 8. Reaction is coming in from around the web. A few notable posts are below. I’ll keep updating this post as I come across stuff.

Beyond DOCTYPE: Web Standards, Forward Compatibility, and IE8

Aaron Gustafson discusses Microsoft̵s latest effort to maintain web standards and also maintain backward compatibility.

Compatibility and IE8

Some background information relating to Microsoft’s decision.

Broken

Unless you explicitly declare that you want IE8 to behave as IE8, it will behave as IE7.Jeremy Keith

<META HTTP-EQUIV=”X-BALL-CHAIN”>

Mozilla hacker Robert O’Callahan weighs in on why this is (almost certainly) a bad idea.

IE8 to include version targeting

Jonathan Snook likes the approach.

From Switches to Targets: A Standardista’s Journey

Eric Meyer argues that maybe version isn̵t such a bad thing.

Beyond DOCTYPE: Web Standards, Forward Compatibility, and IE8

Aaron Gustafson discusses Microsoft̵s latest effort to maintain web standards and also maintain backward compatibility.

The Internet Explorer lock-in

Anne van Kesteren is not a fan of this Microsoft initiative.

From the IEBlog:

… I’m delighted to tell you that on Wednesday, December 12, Internet Explorer correctly rendered the Acid2 page in IE8 standards mode. While supporting the features tested in Acid2 is important for many reasons, it is just one of several milestones for the interoperability, standards compliance, and backwards compatibility that we’re committed to for this release. We will blog more on these topics.

This is most definitely w00t!-worthy. You can also watch an interview about the upcoming compliance of IE8 (requires Silverlight).