Microsoft has launched its Internet Explorer Developer Channel that will provide developers with early access to the next version of yet unfinished Internet Explorer packed with new features.
“Today we’re excited to announce the release of the Internet Explorer Developer Channel, a fully functioning browser designed to give Web developers and early adopters a sneak peek at the Web platform features we’re working on”, announced the Microsoft Internet Explorer team in a blog post.
The developer channel version of Internet Explorer is still a work-in-progress version of the browser; however developers will be able to preview features planned for the upcoming stable releases. Microsoft hopes that early access to features will enable developers to build new web applications or make changes to existing applications to incorporate new features and enhancements provided by the browser.
Microsoft is also hoping that developers will use this channel to provide feedback on the browser, which will allow the company to release a more stable version of the browser.
The developer variant of the Internet Explorer brings with it a sandbox-like testing environment that will not interfere with a user’s current IE browser profile. The developer channel brings with it more enhancements to the F12 developer tools; support for WebDriver standard that allows for automated web browser tests; support for emerging Gamepad API allowing developers to use JavaScript to add gamepad support to their web apps and games.
We would like to remind our users that the browser is not a stable release and is not suitable for production environments. Interested developers will be able to download the developer channel Internet Explorer for Windows 8.1 as well as Windows 7 SP1.
