TRCREATIVE: Weekly Platform News: Internet Explorer Mode, Speed Report in Search Console, Restricting Notification Prompts

Thursday, 14 November 2019

Weekly Platform News: Internet Explorer Mode, Speed Report in Search Console, Restricting Notification Prompts

In this week's roundup: Internet Explorer finds its way into Edge, Google Search Console touts a new speed report, and Firefox gives Facebook's notification the silent treatment.

Let's get into the news!

Edge browser with new Internet Explorer mode launches in January

Microsoft expects to release the new Chromium-based Edge browser on January 15, on both Windows and macOS. This browser includes a new Internet Explorer mode that allows Edge to automatically and seamlessly render tabs containing specific legacy content (e.g., a company’s intranet) using Internet Explorer’s engine instead of Edge’s standard engine (Blink).

Here’s a sped-up excerpt from Fred Pullen’s presentation that shows the new Internet Explorer mode in action:

(via Kyle Pflug)

Speed report experimentally available in Google Search Console

The new Speed report in Google’s Search Console shows how your website performs for real-world Chrome users (both on mobile and desktop). Pages that "pass a certain threshold of visits" are categorized into fast, moderate, and slow pages.

Tip: After fixing a speed issue, use the “Validate fix” button to notify Google Search. Google will verify the fix and re-index the pages if the issue is resolved.

(via Google Webmasters)

Facebook’s notification prompt will disappear in Firefox

Firefox will soon start blocking notification prompts on websites that request the notification permission immediately on page load (Facebook does this). Instead of the prompt, a small “speech balloon” icon will be shown in the URL bar.

Websites will still be able to show a notification prompt in Firefox as long as they request permission in response to a user interaction (a click, tap, or key press).