Opera CTO to Microsoft: Take the Acid2 challenge

[Jonathan]

Hakon Wium Lie, CTO of Opera Software, has written a piece for C|net about the lack of interoperability of Microsoft\'s Internet Explorer (IE) and how IE 7 will deal with this issue.

Lie proposed an acid test to ensure that IE 7 does not become another failed promise, the Web community will issue a challenge to Microsoft. \"We will produce a test page, code-named Acid2, that will actively use features Web designers crave, such as fixed positioning of elements.\"

\"Microsoft now has the chance to redeem itself with regard to Web interoperability. All it needs to do is make sure IE 7 passes the Acid2 test before shipping\", wrote Lie.

The Acid2 test will be sponsored by the Web Standards Project, which is a grassroots coalition fighting for Web standards. Its integrity is unchallenged in the Web community, and its presence will ensure that Acid2 will be fair for all. It might even smoke out some bugs in other browsers.

As the test name implies, this will be the second acid test put forward for Web browsers. The original acid test, created by Todd Fahrner in 1997, was instrumental in ensuring interoperability between browsers in their CSS1 implementations. The existence of the acid test forced browser vendors to fix their implementations or face embarrassment; the test was created so that testers could easily see which browsers failed the test.

Even Microsoft made sure IE 6 passed the acid test. As a result of the acid test, CSS became usable and has changed the way Web sites are authored.

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