IE7 Progressing With CSS, PNG Fixes

As Internet Explorer 7 marches its way towards Beta 1 this summer, Microsoft has said little about what exactly to expect. But details of IE7, code-named "Rincon," are slowly beginning to creep out of Redmond. Lead program manager Chris Wilson says requested changes from developers are already being implemented.

According to Wilson, PNG alpha channel support and fixes to address some CSS consistency problems are complete.

"Our first and most important goal with our Cascading Style Sheet support is to remove the major inconsistencies so that web developers have a consistent set of functionality on which they can rely," Wilson wrote on Microsoft's IEBlog.

Aside from CSS bug fixes, Microsoft is expected to include some CSS2 support in IE7, although it's not clear how extensive it will be. IE7 will also tighten up security by running in a reduced privilege mode to lessen the impact of browser exploits, with SSL improvements also rumored.

On the outside, IE7 will receive tabbed browsing capabilities - a much-requested feature already offered by Internet Explorer rivals Opera and Mozilla Firefox.

"We're really excited that the beta release is almost here - we're looking forward to the feedback when we release the first beta of IE7 this summer. Stay tuned for more details as we get closer to beta," said Wilson.