Microsoft is set to show off its progress with Internet Explorer 9 at the company"s MIX 2010 conference today.
Company insiders have indicated to Neowin that the software giant will demonstrate something inside of the browser that has never previously been done before. Sources familiar with the situation also confirmed Microsoft will release an early developer tech preview of Internet Explorer 9.
The early tech preview of IE9 will be a basic preview for web developers to prepare their websites for Internet Explorer 9 which is expected to be available later this year. Microsoft originally unveiled Internet Explorer 9 at PDC 2009. IE 9 will take advantage of the power of the GPU for all page rendering and developers can exploit this using CSS, DHTML and javascript. A new JS engine will also be built into Internet Explorer 9 with greater interoperability and standards support all round. Features such as rounded corner CSS support will be built in. In January, Neowin revealed that Microsoft is planning to enhance tabbed browsing in IE9. According to a software patent, the Quick Tabs feature in Internet Explorer is likely to be enhanced with better functionality and greater tab management options.
Microsoft is also planning broader support for HTML5 in Internet Explorer 9. Neowin expects the stage demonstrations at MIX 2010 will include some impressive forward-thinking web applications that take use of better browser storage and HTML5 features.