Final Browser Updates of 2007

Some good news from browser makers today to put a cap on a great year for browser development and innovation.

First, IE8 will

drop the use of hasLayout, meaning there should be a bit more consistency in renderings between browsers and less need to resort to conditional comments with IE-specific CSS. (It doesn't help with current versions however.)

Second, WebKit now includes an implementation of getElementsByClassName, joining Firefox 3 and the next Opera version for support for this highly desired function. Benchmarks are given which show the staggering speed increase on this common operation. You can get some for Firefox 3 as well.

The WebKit guys especially seem to be keen to start pushing the limitations of current browsers so I think 2008 will be an exciting year.