Editing Internet Explorer (section)

==Features==
[[File:Internet Explorer zoom menu.png|thumb|[[Page zoom]] as seen in [[Internet Explorer 11|IE11]]. The lowest allowed manual zoom level is 10%, and the highest 1000%.<ref>{{cite web |title=How to set the zoom level in Internet Explorer 9 - Browsers |url=https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/troubleshoot/browsers/how-to-set-zoom-level |website=docs.microsoft.com |date=January 25, 2022 |language=en-us |quote=You can zoom from 10% to 1,000%.}}</ref> ]]

Internet Explorer has been designed to view a broad range of web pages and provide certain features within the operating system, including [[Microsoft Update]]. During the height of the [[browser wars]], Internet Explorer superseded [[Netscape]] only when it caught up technologically to support the progressive features of the time.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.blooberry.com/indexdot/history/netscape.htm |title=Netscape Navigator&nbsp;— Browser History: Netscape explains that by the fourth generations of both browsers, Internet Explorer had caught up technologically with Netscape's browser&nbsp;... Netscape 6.0 was considered slow and buggy, and adoption was slow to occur |author=Brian wilson |publisher=blooberry.com |access-date=September 26, 2010}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=January 2013}}

===Standards support===
Internet Explorer, using the MSHTML (Trident) [[browser engine]]:
* Supports [[HTML]] 4.01, parts of [[HTML5]], [[Cascading Style Sheets|CSS]] Level 1, Level 2, and Level 3, [[XML]] 1.0, and [[Document Object Model|DOM]] Level 1, with minor implementation gaps.
* Fully supports [[XSLT]] 1.0 as well as an obsolete Microsoft dialect of XSLT often referred to as ''WD-xsl'', which was loosely based on the December 1998 W3C Working Draft of [[Extensible Stylesheet Language|XSL]]. Support for [[XSLT 2.0]] lies in the future: semi-official Microsoft bloggers have indicated that development is underway, but no dates have been announced.
* Almost full conformance to CSS 2.1 has been added in the Internet Explorer 8 release.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/ie8whitepapers/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=568 | title = Internet Explorer 8 Beta 1 Whitepapers | publisher = [[MSDN]] | access-date = March 11, 2008 | archive-date = March 9, 2008 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080309001142/http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/ie8whitepapers/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=568 | url-status = dead }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://idreamincode.co.uk/ie8-bugs |title=IE8 Bugs |first=James |last=Hopkins |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090801120753/http://idreamincode.co.uk/ie8-bugs |archive-date=August 1, 2009}}</ref> The MSHTML browser engine in Internet Explorer 9 in 2011, scored highest in the official W3C conformance test suite for CSS 2.1 of all major browsers.
* Supports [[XHTML]] in Internet Explorer 9 (MSHTML Trident version 5.0). Prior versions can render XHTML documents authored with HTML compatibility principles and served with a <code>text/html</code> [[MIME|MIME-type]].
* Supports a subset<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.codedread.com/svg-support.php | title = Summary results of W3C test suite on multiple browsers, different versions and browser plugins. | access-date = April 15, 2011}}</ref> of [[Scalable Vector Graphics|SVG]] in Internet Explorer 9 (MSHTML Trident version 5.0), excluding SMIL, SVG fonts and filters.

Internet Explorer uses [[document type declaration|DOCTYPE sniffing]] to choose between standards mode and a "[[quirks mode]]" in which it deliberately mimics nonstandard behaviors of old versions of MSIE for HTML and CSS rendering on screen (Internet Explorer always uses standards mode for printing). It also provides its own dialect of [[ECMAScript]] called [[JScript]].

Internet Explorer was criticized by [[Tim Berners-Lee]] for its limited support for SVG, which is promoted by [[W3C]].<ref name="TBLcrit">{{cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna26646919|title=Creator of Web spots a flaw in Internet Explorer|last=Svensson|first=Peter|date=September 10, 2008|website=NBC News|access-date=November 16, 2008}}</ref>

===Non-standard extensions===
Internet Explorer has introduced an array of proprietary extensions to many of the standards, including HTML, CSS, and the DOM. This has resulted in several web pages that appear broken in standards-compliant web browsers and has introduced the need for a "quirks mode" to allow for rendering improper elements meant for Internet Explorer in these other browsers.

Internet Explorer has introduced several extensions to the DOM that have been adopted by other browsers.

These include the inner HTML property, which provides access to the HTML string within an element, which was part of IE 5 and was standardized as part of HTML 5 roughly 15 years later after all other browsers implemented it for compatibility,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.xul.fr/en/html5/innerhtml.php|title=innerHTML and compatibility|website=www.xul.fr}}</ref> the XMLHttpRequest object, which allows the sending of HTTP request and receiving of HTTP response, and may be used to perform [[AJAX]], and the designMode attribute of the content Document object, which enables rich text editing of HTML documents.{{Citation needed|date=December 2011}} Some of these functionalities were not possible until the introduction of the W3C DOM methods. Its [[Ruby character]] extension to HTML is also accepted as a module in W3C XHTML 1.1, though it is not found in all versions of W3C HTML.

Microsoft submitted several other features of IE for consideration by the W3C for standardization. These include the 'behavior' CSS property, which connects the HTML elements with JScript behaviors (known as HTML Components, HTC), [[HTMLplusTIME|HTML+TIME]] profile, which adds timing and media synchronization support to HTML documents (similar to the W3C [[XHTMLplusSMIL|XHTML+SMIL]]), and the [[Vector Markup Language|VML]] [[vector graphics]] file format. However, all were rejected, at least in their original forms; VML was subsequently combined with [[PGML]] (proposed by [[Adobe Systems|Adobe]] and [[Sun Microsystems|Sun]]), resulting in the W3C-approved SVG format, one of the few vector image formats being used on the web, which IE did not support until version 9.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.codedread.com/svg-support.php|title=SVG Support Tables|last=Schiller|first=Jeff|work=codedread.com|access-date=April 20, 2019}}</ref>

Other non-standard behaviors include: support for vertical text, but in a syntax different from W3C CSS3 candidate recommendation, support for a variety of image effects<ref>{{cite web |url=http://webfx.eae.net/tools/filtertool.html |title=Filter Tool (WebFX) |date=May 12, 2005 |publisher=webfx.eae.net |access-date=October 4, 2008 |archive-date=October 16, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101016072244/http://webfx.eae.net/tools/filtertool.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> and page transitions, which are not found in W3C CSS, support for [[obfuscated code|obfuscated]] script code, in particular [[JScript.Encode]],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions//cbfz3598(v=vs.85)|title=Using Script Encoder|date=October 24, 2011|work=Microsoft Docs|publisher=[[Microsoft]]|access-date=April 20, 2019}}</ref> as well as support for [[font embedding|embedding]] [[Embedded OpenType|EOT]] fonts in [[Font embedding on the Web|web pages]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.microsoft.com/typography/web/embedding/default.aspx|title=Font Embedding for the Web|date=February 26, 2001|work=Microsoft Typography|publisher=[[Microsoft]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050428064515/http://www.microsoft.com/typography/web/embedding/default.aspx|archive-date=April 28, 2005|access-date=April 20, 2019}}</ref>

===Favicon===
Support for [[favicon]]s was first added in Internet Explorer 5.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms537656(VS.85).aspx|title=How to Add a Shortcut Icon to a Web Page|work=[[MSDN]]|publisher=[[Microsoft]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081217122653/http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms537656(VS.85).aspx|archive-date=December 17, 2008|access-date=April 20, 2019}}</ref> Internet Explorer supports favicons in [[Portable Network Graphics|PNG]], static [[GIF]] and [[ICO (file format)|native Windows icon]] formats. In Windows Vista and later, Internet Explorer can display native Windows icons that have embedded PNG files.<ref name="jeffdavis">{{cite web|url=http://jeffcode.blogspot.com/2007/12/why-doesnt-favicon-for-my-site-appear.html|title=why doesn't the favicon for my site appear in IE7?|last=Davis|first=Jeff|date=December 27, 2007|work=jeffdav on code|access-date=March 11, 2013}}</ref><ref name="ericlaw-1">{{cite web|url=https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/ieinternals/2013/09/07/fun-with-favicons/|title=Fun with Favicons|date=September 7, 2013|website=[[Microsoft Developer Network]]|publisher=[[Microsoft]]|access-date=April 20, 2019}}</ref>

===Usability and accessibility===
Internet Explorer makes use of the accessibility framework provided in Windows. Internet Explorer is also a user interface for FTP, with operations similar to Windows Explorer. Internet Explorer 5 and 6 had a side bar for web searches, enabling jumps through pages from results listed in the side bar.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Shultz |first1=Greg |title=Internet Explorer's Search Assistant gives you plenty of search options |url=https://www.techrepublic.com/article/internet-explorers-search-assistant-gives-you-plenty-of-search-options/ |website=Tech Republic |access-date=11 October 2021 |language=en |date=2002-10-09}}</ref> [[Pop-up blocking]] and [[tabbed browsing]] were added respectively in Internet Explorer 6 and Internet Explorer 7. Tabbed browsing can also be added to older versions by installing [[MSN Search Toolbar]] or [[Yahoo Toolbar]].

===Cache===
{{Main|Temporary Internet Files|Index.dat}}

Internet Explorer caches visited content in the [[Temporary Internet Files]] folder to allow quicker access (or offline access) to previously visited pages. The content is indexed in a database file, known as [[Index.dat]]. Multiple Index.dat files exist which index different content—visited content, [[web feed]]s, visited [[URL]]s, cookies, etc.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://blogs.msdn.com/wndp/archive/2006/08/04/WinInet_Index_dat.aspx|title=A bit about WinInet's Index.dat|author=Windows Core Networking Team|date=August 4, 2006|website=[[Microsoft Developer Network]]|publisher=[[Microsoft]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080112205144/http://blogs.msdn.com/wndp/archive/2006/08/04/WinInet_Index_dat.aspx|archive-date=January 12, 2008|access-date=April 20, 2019}}</ref>

Prior to IE7, clearing the cache used to clear the index but the files themselves were not reliably removed, posing a potential security and privacy risk. In IE7 and later, when the cache is cleared, the cache files are more reliably removed, and the index.dat file is overwritten with null bytes.

Caching has been improved in IE9.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/ie/2011/03/17/internet-explorer-9-network-performance-improvements/|title=Internet Explorer 9 Network Performance Improvements|date=March 17, 2011|website=[[Microsoft Developer Network]]|publisher=[[Microsoft]]|access-date=April 20, 2019}}</ref>

===Group Policy===
{{Main|Group Policy}}
Internet Explorer is fully configurable using [[Group Policy]]. Administrators of [[Windows Server domain]]s (for domain-joined computers) or the local computer can apply and enforce a variety of settings on computers that affect the user interface (such as disabling menu items and individual configuration options), as well as underlying security features such as downloading of files, zone configuration, per-site settings, ActiveX control behavior and others. Policy settings can be configured for each user and for each machine. Internet Explorer also supports [[Integrated Windows Authentication]].