Posts Tagged: IE8

Internet Explorer 8Exactly four years ago today, back on March 19th 2009, Microsoft first released Internet Explorer 8. In today’s fast changing web browser landscape that’s now very old indeed!

To allow us to continue to develop new and exciting features for MIDAS, occasionally it becomes necessary for us to “phase out” support for older browsers. This is when a browser’s market share drops very low, and it becomes too difficult and time-consuming to maintain compatibility with, limiting the capabilities of our scheduling software – which relies on your web browser.

For example, if you’re still running MIDAS in IE8 you’re already missing out on some features. This includes the ability to quickly drag-and-drop bookings around the booking grid to instantly reschedule them! We’ve not purposefully held this feature back from IE8 – the browser itself simply doesn’t support it!

Browser compatibility with the latest web technologies and standards (HTML5, CSS3, SVG, etc):

 

Chrome 25 89%
Firefox 19 80%
Safari 6 78%
IE10 74%
Opera 12.1 73%
IE9 43%
IE8 20%

Source: caniuse.com

We have previously dropped support for Internet Explorer 6, back in 2010. Two years later in early 2012 we also dropped support for Internet Explorer 7.

Back in November 2012, we first indicated that in the near future we would be dropping support for Internet Explorer 8.

At the start of this year, we gave further notice that IE8 support would likely be dropped “during the course of 2013“. At the same time we introduced a new feature to help notify users if their browser is too old:

Obsolete Browser Warning
Obsolete Browser Warning

Major companies such as Google have already discontinued support for Internet Explorer 8. Google took the decision in September 2012 to drop IE8 support across their range of services (including YouTube, Gmail, Docs, Drive, Blogger, etc) with effect from 15th November 2012.

Internet Explorer 10Microsoft’s 10th and latest incarnation of Internet Explorer was first introduced with Windows 8. Last month, IE10 also became available to Windows 7 users.

Given the global availability now of Internet Explorer 10, it is highly likely that we will be dropping IE8 support for our room scheduling software before the end of the year. (We’ve already seen a noticeable 4.6% drop in IE8 usage from our “hosted” clients alone so far in 2013!)

What does this mean?

Firstly, once we no longer support IE8, we won’t simply “block” MIDAS from being accessed via Internet Explorer 8! It may well be that subsequent updates to our browser-based scheduling software continue to function to some extent in IE8 after we officially drop IE8 support.

However, it does mean that we will no longer “test” MIDAS in IE8. Therefore, should you use IE8 and contact our support team with any issues, you will be advised in the first instance to update your browser.

Browsers LogosInternet Explorer 9 and 10 continue to be supported at this time, along with recent versions of all other major browsers. A full list of supported browsers can be found at https://mid.as/browsers

…but I currently use Internet Explorer 8 – what should I do?

If you’re a Windows 7 user accessing MIDAS though Internet Explorer, you can update your browser to IE10. This won’t apply if you’re running Windows 8, which already comes with IE10!

Alternatively, if you’re a Windows Vista user and use Internet Explorer, although you won’t be able to update up to IE10, you can still update Internet Explorer as far as version 9.

Our decision to drop support for IE8 will only impact a very limited number of MIDAS users; specifically those who presently use MIDAS in Internet Explorer on Windows XP. Unfortunately, the highest version of Internet Explorer that can be installed on Windows XP systems is IE8.

If you fall into this category, the good news is that MIDAS is also supported in recent versions of all other major browsers too. This includes Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Opera, and Safari. All of these can be installed on Windows XP to allow you to continue using MIDAS! However, given that Microsoft themselves will cease all support for their XP operating system in 2014, perhaps now’s the time to be thinking about updating your 12-year old operating system anyway!?

So we apologize in advance if you are one of the small handful of users this decision may affect later this year. It’s never an easy decision for us to drop support for a browser – but we hope you’ll understand our reasons behind this move, to allow us to continue to develop a world-class web based scheduling solution that’s at the forefront of today’s new web technologies and standards!

By giving plenty of advanced notice again now – and with the introduction at the start of the year of notifications if your browser is too old – we hope you’ll take the opportunity to update your browser before our support for IE8 ends later this year!


Happy New Year! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

We’d like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very Happy New Year from all of us here. We hope 2013 will be a great year for you!

We’re also excited to announce the release of MIDAS v4.01.

The primary focus for v4.01 has been to further optimize the speed and performance of MIDAS v4. In our benchmark testing, on average,
MIDAS v4.01 is 15% faster than v4.00 !!

Whilst the main focus for this update has been on improving speed and performance, we’ve also included several new features too…

Full Screen Mode

If you’re running MIDAS in a browser that supports the new “Full Screen API”, you’ll now see a “Full Screen” link on both the login screen and within MIDAS itself. At time of writing this includes: Firefox 15+, Chrome 22+, Safari 5.1+, and Opera 12.1+.

Make MIDAS go Full Screen
Easily Switch To Full Screen Mode

Clicking a “Full Screen” link will make your MIDAS run in “full screen” mode – MIDAS will fill your entire screen! No tabs, address bar, taskbar or other items cluttering up your screen. You’ll be able to see your booking grid at its largest possible size!

You’ll be able to exit full screen mode at any time by clicking the “Exit Full Screen” link, or by pressing “Esc”

Additional Export Options

In v4.01, we’ve improved the Export function within MIDAS. You can now export Resources and Invoice Summaries in either XML, CSV, or TXT formats. This is ideal if you wish to use this data in 3rd party applications (such as Quickbooks, etc)

Export Resources and Invoices
Export in XML, CSV, or TXT format

Set Operating Hours for all Venues at once

Whilst setting up your venue’s “Hours of Operation” is generally something you’ll do initially and then probably rarely change again, it can still be quite time-consuming clicking lots of green squares for each hour period during the week for each of your venues. That’s why in v4.01 we’ve added an “All Venues” checkbox.

Set Operating Hours for all Venues at once
Apply Hours Of Operation To All Venues

If you select this box, when you click “Save Changes”, the Hours of Operation for the currently selected venue will be “copied” to all your venues!

Improved Booking Information “Client” Tab

The Client tab of the Booking Information Panel in v4.01 now also includes a list of the client’s Paid and Outstanding invoices when you “hover” over a booking for any particular client. You can further click any invoice from these lists to jump straight to that invoice!

List Paid and Outstanding Invoices
Improved Client Details in the Booking Information Panel

Better User Experience when making “Booking Requests” on Smartphones/Mobile Devices

If you’re a regular reader of our blog, you’ll know we recently introduced a mobile version of our main website. We’re currently in the process of developing a mobile-specific version of MIDAS too. This should make an appearance sometime next year. In the meantime, however, for MIDAS v4.01 we’ve made the Public Booking Request feature much more “mobile friendly”. It’s now easier for members of the public to check room availability and make bookings requests through their smartphone or mobile device:

Public Booking Requests in v4.00 on Opera Mobile on a Smartphone
How the Public Booking Request form for MIDAS v4.00 renders on a Smartphone
Public Booking Requests in v4.01 on Opera Mobile on a Smartphone
How the Public Booking Request form for MIDAS v4.01 renders on a Smartphone

Keep Your Browser Up-to-date!

Browser Detection
We want you to have the best possible user experience when using MIDAS in your favorite Web Browser. We support our scheduling software in all 5 major browsers. These are Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and Opera. A list of the minimum and recommended versions for each of these browsers we support can be found at https://mid.as/browsers.

Keeping your web browser up-to-date is so important! That’s why, starting with v4.01, MIDAS will display a notification if your browser is too old to use MIDAS, prompting you to update:

Outdated Browser Detection

Additionally, if your browser meets the minimum version we support, but falls short of the version we recommend, MIDAS will also show a notification:

Update Your Browser

(These notifications are enabled in MIDAS v4.01 by default, but may be turned off if desired)

It’s a very exciting time for web based development. There are lots of new and emerging technologies and standards (such as HTML5 and CSS3). Some of these are already used by MIDAS v4 (such as the new “drag & drop to reschedule bookings” feature). If you’re stuck on an older web browser that doesn’t support these standards/technologies, you won’t be able to take advantage of all the features that MIDAS (and internet in general) has to offer. Plus you’ll be potentially exposed to web-based security threats that emerge all the time if your browser is not kept up-to-date.

To allow us to continue to develop new and exciting features for MIDAS, we have to “phase out” support for older browser versions, as they become too old, and newer versions are available. For instance, we took the decision in 2010 to drop support for Internet Explorer 7. Now that IE10 is available for Windows 8 (and now also available for Windows 7 users too), during the course of 2013 we’ll likely be dropping support for IE8. IE8 is a browser which is now nearly 4 years old – which by today’s fast evolving browser landscape is considered very old!

Don’t worry, MIDAS v4.01, is still supported on IE8. But the introduction of this new notification system with MIDAS v4.01 if your browser is too old will hopefully encourage users to update their browser, and in that way be prepared for when support ends for older browsers, such as IE8.

View the full Changelog for MIDAS v4.01 here

How To Get MIDAS v4.01

Existing MIDAS customers with valid Support Subscriptions can update to v4.01 from within the software (MIDAS Admin Options → Manage MIDAS → Update)

Customers who have their MIDAS “cloud hosted” by us – you don’t need to do anything! – We’ve already updated you to MIDAS v4.01!

If you’re not yet using MIDAS, why not start off the New Year by getting your organization’s room scheduling in order once and for all with our intuitive, easy to use, web based software MIDAS!?

Why not give MIDAS a try now, and Read what some of our existing customers say

New Year… New Start

Happy New Year! As a New Year is an ideal time to make a fresh start with your room bookings, to celebrate 2013 we’re offering 13% off new purchases throughout January! – simply use Promo Code “NEWYEAR13” on our website when making your purchase.

Again, on behalf of everyone at MIDAS, we wish you all the very best for 2013!