Windows 8 and Internet Explorer 10
With Windows 8, Internet Explorer (IE) 10 can be used in two ways. A Windows 8 App version of IE 10, meant for viewing on mobile device, is streamlined and allows for touch screen swiping. IE10 is also available in the classic Desktop version, which is much more like the previous versions of IE.
The App version does not support plug-ins, so it may be necessary to switch to the Desktop version for certain websites. In 64-bit versions of Windows 8, the App version is the default. Adobe Flash Player also comes embedded in IE10 for better interactivity on mobile devices. Flip Ahead is a new gesture-oriented aspect of IE10 that allows for movement between web pages with a hand swipe.
But still no built-in PDF reader…
Internet Explorer 10 Supports HTML5 and CSS3
IE10 supports many of the new web standards with current HTML5 markup language and CSS3 style sheets.
New features for HTML5 include: audio and video embed elements without added JavaScript enablers; new contextual tag elements for typography allowing for more specific hierarchies, such as sections, articles, summary, aside, header, footer, time, mark, figure, figcaption, etc.; new form elements, including datalist, keygen, and output; and canvas, which allows for drawing graphics in the browser via scripting.
New features in CSS3 include many visual elements, such as text drop shadows, gradients in linear and radial formats, opacity for div boxes and imgs, font style embedding, multicolumn properties, text and object transition properties.
Discontinued Features in IE 10
Internet Explorer 10 no longer features or supports the following:
- Conditional comments
- DirectX-based filters and transitions (DX filters)
- Element behaviors and HTML components (HTCs)
- XML data islands
- Vector Markup Language (VML)
- Content Advisor (taken over by Windows Parental Controls or Microsoft Family Safety)