What sites best show off IE9's new features?
November 8, 2010 12:31 PM Subscribe
Seeking cool HTML5 (Canvas/Video/Audio), SVG, and/or WOFF examples; must work in IE9.
I'm writing (for Microsoft) a series of short articles covering sites that exploit emerging Web technologies to create beautiful experiences. Thus far I've worked from a list of Microsoft's partner sites, but I'm about to exhaust that list, and another ten or so slots need to be filled.
I've checked out a variety of pages that purport to present the "best" HTML5 examples, or Canvas experiments, or whatever acronym have you, and the pickings are slim. That's because my subjects need to meet several criteria: (a) The site must look professional and must have a fully developed user interface; (b) it should not be a personal home page or a page marketing someone's coding expertise; (c) it must provide some experience the user interacts with—that is, I'm not writing about semantic markup or the use of Section and Article elements; (d) it MUST work completely in the Internet Explorer 9 beta, and it MUST NOT either disparage Microsoft/IE or promote a competitor.
Assume I've looked at all the posts on Ask and MeFi that are tagged "HTML5." Assume I'm aware that opinions vary widely on Microsoft and on the wisdom of using IE as one's browser. What sites have impressed you with their use of HTML5's Canvas or Video or Audio elements, or SVG, or web fonts?
(And while I would love to credit everyone who helps me out, I'm afraid that won't be possible. And I may not be able to monitor this discussion in real time. But I will definitely be grateful for your suggestions!)
I'm writing (for Microsoft) a series of short articles covering sites that exploit emerging Web technologies to create beautiful experiences. Thus far I've worked from a list of Microsoft's partner sites, but I'm about to exhaust that list, and another ten or so slots need to be filled.
I've checked out a variety of pages that purport to present the "best" HTML5 examples, or Canvas experiments, or whatever acronym have you, and the pickings are slim. That's because my subjects need to meet several criteria: (a) The site must look professional and must have a fully developed user interface; (b) it should not be a personal home page or a page marketing someone's coding expertise; (c) it must provide some experience the user interacts with—that is, I'm not writing about semantic markup or the use of Section and Article elements; (d) it MUST work completely in the Internet Explorer 9 beta, and it MUST NOT either disparage Microsoft/IE or promote a competitor.
Assume I've looked at all the posts on Ask and MeFi that are tagged "HTML5." Assume I'm aware that opinions vary widely on Microsoft and on the wisdom of using IE as one's browser. What sites have impressed you with their use of HTML5's Canvas or Video or Audio elements, or SVG, or web fonts?
(And while I would love to credit everyone who helps me out, I'm afraid that won't be possible. And I may not be able to monitor this discussion in real time. But I will definitely be grateful for your suggestions!)
Response by poster: Thanks, ripley_; that is a wonderful site. It's also one of Microsoft's partner sites, which I happened to cover in one of my earliest posts. (All the partner sites are listed under "experience" at MS's Beauty of the Web page.) I appreciate the suggestion, though!
posted by macrone at 1:14 PM on November 8, 2010
posted by macrone at 1:14 PM on November 8, 2010
I think you're going to struggle because, until IE9 represents >50% of IE users, the majority of websites that make use of HTML5 features are going to be built to show off in one way or another (ie. points c and e).
Anyway, if you haven't already, take a browse through html5gallery and see what works in IE.
posted by robertc at 4:13 PM on November 8, 2010
Anyway, if you haven't already, take a browse through html5gallery and see what works in IE.
posted by robertc at 4:13 PM on November 8, 2010
Best answer: This was posted on reddit a day or so back
http://pivotfinland.com/frozendefence/
posted by the noob at 5:29 PM on November 8, 2010
http://pivotfinland.com/frozendefence/
posted by the noob at 5:29 PM on November 8, 2010
Vimeo's couch mode is HTML5 and pretty cool.
(We have HTML5 at YouTube too but its less exciting to look at)
posted by wildcrdj at 6:27 PM on November 8, 2010
(We have HTML5 at YouTube too but its less exciting to look at)
posted by wildcrdj at 6:27 PM on November 8, 2010
Response by poster: Thanks for all the suggestions; the FrozenDEFENCE site is especially useful 'cause I hadn't seen it before and it does support IE9. Vimeo warns off users of any browser except Chrome and Safari, so that won't fly; but I may be able to squeeze something out of the YouTube beta. And I've been trying to sift through the HTML5 Gallery for a couple of months, but it's hard to find sites that are both interesting and fully functional in IE9. (Given the purported "write once run anywhere" benefits of HTML5, a shocking number of sites simply don't work in IE9, even though it scores very high in various acid tests.)
posted by macrone at 8:32 AM on November 9, 2010
posted by macrone at 8:32 AM on November 9, 2010
a shocking number of sites simply don't work in IE9, even though it scores very high in various acid tests
Really? On html5test I see IE9 Platform Preview 6 scores only 109/300. Firefox 3.6 scores 139, 4 is currently at 217, Opera 11 scores 179 and Chrome dev channel scores 231.
IE9 may be a big step forward, but it's still well behind the other browsers.
posted by robertc at 3:48 PM on November 9, 2010
Really? On html5test I see IE9 Platform Preview 6 scores only 109/300. Firefox 3.6 scores 139, 4 is currently at 217, Opera 11 scores 179 and Chrome dev channel scores 231.
IE9 may be a big step forward, but it's still well behind the other browsers.
posted by robertc at 3:48 PM on November 9, 2010
Response by poster: Various tests weigh things differently, it's true. But IE9 does perform well, for example, on the Acid3 Test — 95/100.
posted by macrone at 9:12 PM on November 9, 2010
posted by macrone at 9:12 PM on November 9, 2010
But the Acid 3 test doesn't test any HTML5 features, I thought that was what you were after? Or are your criteria wider than that?
posted by robertc at 12:32 AM on November 10, 2010
posted by robertc at 12:32 AM on November 10, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by ripley_ at 1:03 PM on November 8, 2010