Since launching modern.IE last year, developers have saved over 1 million hours testing for Internet Explorer! We launched modern.IE with the simple aim of helping web developers test their sites with IE and are thrilled to find that the site has made a real impact after just one year.
One of the best ways to easily test across multiple versions of Internet Explorer is through virtualization technology. Since launching last year, over 750,000 developers have used the virtualization tools on modern.ie, saving an average of 1 hour and 20 minutes by using pre-configured VMs and 2 hours and 48 minutes using Browserstack, when compared to building a VM from scratch. Collectively, those developers have saved over one million hours, freeing them to focus on building innovative sites that move the web forward.
We built modern.IE after receiving developer feedback that one of the challenges in testing a web site across browsers was the extra testing time required for older browser versions, including Internet Explorer. It was also tough for developers to only have one version of IE installed per Windows machine. And for those developers on Mac or Linux machines, developing for a browser that wasn’t available for those operating systems proved difficult. Developers were spending too much time testing and too little time innovating.
With that in mind, we launched modern.IE in January 2013 with tools to make testing easier: a static scanning tool that flagged common compatibility issues at a given URL, pre-configured virtual machines for testing IE6 through IE10 across Windows, Mac and Linux and a special offer to test across virtual browsers hosted on BrowserStack’s service for three months.
Over the past twelve months, we’ve added virtual machines for IE11 testing, tech teardowns, a screen shot service and the ability to run our Compatibility Inspector script on your site without having to write a single line of code, thanks to our partnership with Sauce Labs who run the compatibility inspector for you and return the results. Based on developer feedback to the site, we even made the static code scanning script available under the Apache 2.0 open source license and posted it to GitHub for developers to use as part of their internal development process.
It’s safe to say we’ve been overwhelmed by the positive feedback we’ve received for the free tools and resources available on modern.IE. For example, JQuery President Dave Methvin recently told us, “modern.IE is a tremendous resource for the developer community. By providing these free tools, the site is saving developers valuable time that can now be spent on building forward-looking sites that work across all devices.” Others have been vocal too:
We’ll continue to invest in these free tools and resources to help you develop forward-thinking, standards based sites and test across browsers. In fact, we’ll soon launch a podcast series with our own Josh Holmes talking to industry luminaries. In the meantime, stay tuned for new additions to modern.IE and keep the feedback coming through @IEDevChat.
Jason McConnell
Senior Product Marketing Manager, Internet Explorer