"Project Spartan" in the Windows Technical Preview build 10049
Today we’re excited to announce the availability of a new build for Windows Insiders with the first preview of “Project Spartan,” the new browser for Windows 10. You can learn more in Joe Belfiore’s blog post, “Introducing Project Spartan: The New Browser Built for Windows 10."
This build does not yet include all the changes we announced last week, so the new rendering engine can still be enabled in Internet Explorer under "about:flags" by selecting "Enable experimental web platform features." This will be removed in a future update.
Project Spartan includes some new rendering engine updates in this flight, which we’ll detail in future posts. Notably, we are excited to announce preview support for the <img srcset> attribute for responsive images.
You can try out Project Spartan yourself in the new build via the Windows Insider Program and share your feedback on Twitter at @IEDevChat and in the comments below. Feedback on the Web platform powering Project Spartan should continue to go to the Web Platform Suggestion Box, and we welcome your feedback on Project Spartan itself at the brand new Project Spartan Feature Suggestion Box. Let us know what you think!
– Kyle Pflug, Program Manager, Project Spartan
Update 3/30/2015 at 6:00 PM: The original post erroneously stated that Internet Explorer can no longer access the new rendering engine in this build. This has been corrected to indicate that Internet Explorer can still enable experimental web platform features in about:flags, which will be removed in a future update.
Comments
Anonymous
March 30, 2015
Thank you very much. your hard work is really appreciated. keep the excellent work. I'll keep giving you feedback . updating now :)Anonymous
March 30, 2015
Project Spartan is Windows 10 only?Anonymous
March 30, 2015
Yes is correct Project Spartan only windows 10 onlyAnonymous
March 30, 2015
Very excited thanks for the updates!Anonymous
March 30, 2015
Thanks for the update.... looking forward to trying this out with our apps! I have two questions regarding IE11 as shipped with Windows 10:
- Will it include the same standards improvements we've seen so far in IE11 for Windows 8.1, such as the WebGL conformance fixes shipped back in August?
- Will the latest standards mode still be called "Edge" in the IE11 dev tools? (Might make sense to rename this to "11" at some point when the IE team has reached a point where they'll be making no further improvements to MSHTML)
Anonymous
March 30, 2015
So Excited for Win 10Anonymous
March 30, 2015
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March 30, 2015
Can you please introduce colors to the browser user interface? The current vampire edition is nice, but the rest of the world love colors you know, colors with shades and style please, not the depressing stupid plain colors (the mao tze dung edition) Wish you good luck, you will need it, hundreds of people's hard work my get wasted because 4 stupid managers think they are vampires or somethingAnonymous
March 30, 2015
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March 30, 2015
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March 30, 2015
ユーザーエージェントがIE11とSpartanが同じようなんだけどいいのか。 上側がSpartan、下側がIE11だがChrome39扱いになるとはどういうことか？ 検索エンジンはどちらもWebkitのままなのか＆独自エンジンというのは嘘なのか？ Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/39.0.2171.71 Safari/537.36 Edge/12.0 Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; WOW64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/39.0.2171.71 Safari/537.36 Edge/12.0 それと改めて申しますが、やっぱり7や8.1でも欲しいと思うので今後お考え下さいませ。Anonymous
March 30, 2015
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March 30, 2015
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March 30, 2015
Wow, I just installed 10049 to try out Spartan. It is so not ready for release. It froze trying to render cnn.com. IE is still a lot better and faster. Will Spartan really be ready by the end of the year?Anonymous
March 30, 2015
Does Spartan have an extensibility mechanism to replace ActiveX or there is no option for plugins?Anonymous
March 30, 2015
Dear microsoft spartan browser team, I would like to point out that me and many of the people i know still use google chrome only due to its native inpage translation...i live in russia now(i dont know russia yet) so most of the sites i use should be translated for me to understand. I ask you to please make a solution for this. ThanksAnonymous
March 30, 2015
Well it could be possible to do a search only in the content of the pages (not sites) that are a favorite. For this, the content of synchronized favorite pages could be indexed by Bing and linked to my account on a particular search session.Anonymous
March 30, 2015
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March 30, 2015
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March 30, 2015
Oh, and now an additional question regarding this quote from the linked article: blogs.windows.com/.../introducing-project-spartan-the-new-browser-built-for-windows-10 <quote>At the same time, we recognize that for some of our enterprise customers, it’s important they have the support they need and can continue to use Internet Explorer when and where they need it. This is why we will continue to make it easy for our enterprise customers to make Internet Explorer 11 the default browser via group policy. Internet Explorer 11 is supported on Windows 7, Windows 8.1, and Windows 10 for all customers, also providing a consistent platform that’s great for enterprise Web apps.</quote> This quote is very ambiguous - does this mean: A.) That whatever "Project Spartan" will be named - will NOT be manageable via Group Policy in the Enterprise? or B.) That for IT departments worried about Spartan being the default browser, rest assured it can be set back to IE11? There is a massive difference between the 2 potential meanings.Anonymous
March 30, 2015
@Gary: They're saying (B), but I'd be surprised if there were really no options for GP control of some Spartan features.Anonymous
March 30, 2015
but the WebView control and the Windows apps written in HTML/CSS/JavaScript will use MSHTML.dll or EdgeHTML.dll?Anonymous
March 30, 2015
As group policy control is vital for security purposes most business will likely not allow the use of spartan browser. We need IE11 (preferbly IE12) to use the edge rendering engine. You should better stop supporting the IE9 and IE10 rendering in stead of dropping edge rendering in IEAnonymous
March 31, 2015
so I am reading Spartan w win 10 and msie 11 x alongside. I have not been able at all to upgrade windows since nov 2014 a major glitch with win update I need to know that the upgrade to win 10 will correct all this problem with win 8.1x and msie 11x or reformat hdrive to win 8.1 64 bit now [ my last resort] Iafter upgrading I need complete win update smooth upgrades or i'll be major frustrated, as I am nowAnonymous
March 31, 2015
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March 31, 2015
I just want tabs to be really separated and fluid when opening them. if I make any action on a certain tab like opening link then instantly try to navigate to another already opened tab the browser will hang for a moment until the first tab responding then it will switch to the other tab. this slows the user experience and browser fluidity. this issue was exist in IE11 and it still in Spartan. thanksAnonymous
March 31, 2015
I want what Husam Humaidan wants. And I don't want a tab to be able to bring down the whole browser (yes it happens in IE even though it uses multiple processes)Anonymous
March 31, 2015
Please add 'Sources' tab (same feature found in Chrome developer tools) to F12 developer tool!!!!!!!!!Anonymous
March 31, 2015
spartan still has a fundamental flaw: whenever I minimise the browser, the audio also fades and mutes. did no one envisage a scenario where the user listens to a podcast, and continues other work, without the brower window in the way?Anonymous
March 31, 2015
How do i enabled my content on my web page to support reading mode?Anonymous
March 31, 2015
seems the engine is still a lot MSHTML... eg. same offSetWith Performance Problem (between 60%-80% slower than webkit) like IE11 => jsperf.com/.../8 www.telerik.com/.../slow-grid-performance-in-ie-linked-to-offsetwidthAnonymous
March 31, 2015
Too radical to let spartan1.0 (unmature) to edge only and default browser and ie11 not upgradable in win10. you dont learn of all of wp7.8, windows rt etc. Let Spartan be edgehtml + mshtml(or lauch ie window when compatibal mode) and default browser Let Saprtan has a deskmode starter or enable new instance and start and open as quick as ie11.Anonymous
April 01, 2015
「Project Spartan」は開発コード…。 "Officel name"はなに？？ 早く名前を、Hurry up!!!!Anonymous
April 01, 2015
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April 01, 2015
Webbrowser control must keep compatibel rendering or it wil break many existing applications however it also needs edge rendering to be usefull for developers in their future applications That is why it is preferable that Microsoft releaes a new IE12 and webcontrol with both compatibility as wel as edge rendering possibilities.Anonymous
April 02, 2015
Spartanに対する1ユーザーの意見・感想です。良ければご参考に。 やはり「MicrosoftがPCとタブレットを共通化する意味合いがわからない」ことだそうですな…。 Windows 10はUIや機能は、PC版とモバイル版（タブレット、スマホなどPC以外）と別にすべき。 「今更変更？」と思われるかもしれませんが、どうか今一度OS諸共にお考え直し下さいませ。 「Windows 10の新ブラウザSpartanも無駄な機能を搭載」 bto-pc.jp/.../project-spartan-build10049.htmlAnonymous
April 03, 2015
Will Spartan on desktop support IAccessible and would be possible to get IHTMLDocument2 from IAccessible?Anonymous
April 06, 2015
So what is this new browser going to be called? Seems like a pretty simple thing to explain to us I don't understand why you're holding back on this info?!Anonymous
April 07, 2015
Do I understand correctly that the new rendering engine is now available as Project Spartan app (with the new UI) and in Internet Explorer 11 after enabling it in about:flags? Is it exactly the same engine? I'm asking because the build 10049 is so terribly unstable that I cannot check it myself and during the short moments when Project Spartan app worked it gave me different results than IE with the experimental features enabled.Anonymous
April 07, 2015
@warrens - Yes, IE11 will be in sync on Windows 8.1 and Windows 10. @GTX - The UI isn't final and we are definitely watching feedback - the best place to give suggestions on the Spartan interface is at windows.uservoice.com/.../285214-project-spartan @Greg - We'll be talking more about extensibility in Spartan in the coming weeks and at //Build. @NumbStill - thanks for the feedback, I've passed it on to the RemoteIE folks to investigate. @joe - This is our first preview flight so there's lots still in the pipeline both in Spartan and the platform it's built on. Please share your feedback through the smile icon in the Spartan toolbar or via the Windows Feedback app - we're watching feedback both on the app itself and any site compatibility problems. @Gary Steeles - We know you're waiting for the name - we'll announce it as soon as we can share. I promise it won't be "Modern UI IE 12" :). For your second question, "B" is the intended reading - IT departments can set IE11 as the default browser via Group Policy. @leoniDAM - Windows apps on Windows 10 will use EdgeHTML.dll. @domin - Background audio is a super important scenario! We're working on it but it's not ready in the preview just yet. @Piotrek Koszuliński - The new engine will only be available in Project Spartan. In the current preview builds you can enable it in Internet Explorer 11 (via about:flags), but that will be removed in the future. There are some differences between the capabilities of EdgeHTML.dll in IE11 vs. Spartan in 10049.Anonymous
April 07, 2015
@Kyle Pflug [MSFT] - can you elaborate on the group policy part? Will Spartan be managed by GP too? Or will there be no need because Spartan won't have silly stuff like "security zones" and ActiveX controls any more?Anonymous
April 08, 2015
I still don't quite accept Microsoft's justification of keeping IE from using the new EdgeHTML.dll rendering engine. As it is currently, it doesn't affect compatibility at all since it doesn't dynamically switch between engines - it requires a manual about:flags change, with the old one as default. I feel that it would actually be beneficial for IE to be able to utilise either engine - it allows it to be an effective application for compatibility and a modern browser. Of course, I'm just saying this because I happen to use IE as one of my main web browsers (out of choice - gasp!) and would be disappointed if it weren't properly supported anymore...and I'm not exactly keen on switching to Windows 10 just for Project Spartan. SighAnonymous
April 09, 2015
Does project spartan support UI Automation or MSAA?Anonymous
April 09, 2015
In the preview of Spartan all popup windows that are opened ignore the positioning set in the window.open() call, as well as the width and height. The position is "auto-centered-ish" (which I think is ok) but the sizing is ~3/4 of the current screen height and ~3/4 of the current screen width. While initially aesthetically pleasing for some windows it looks horrible when the popup was intentionally sized differently. Most importantly the UI for the window has changed to be locked to a minimum size of ~23rds of the window height and ~1/2 of the window width. For several popups this looks horrible and is an odd UX issue. PS I'm well aware that popups are uncool... but sometimes they are the perfect solution to a problem and they are used extensively in 1,000's of enterprise web apps.Anonymous
April 12, 2015
I am having trouble updating windows 10, build 10041 to 10049. Please some body help.....Anonymous
April 12, 2015
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April 18, 2015
After reviewing Project Spartan, came up with some PRO and Con. Pro Users will like the quality of picture and plays vidios and Netflix very will. With Windows 10 you are able to read the screens better when running GTX 980. Cons,
- There is really no menu you can not move your favorites from explorer or other browsers over to Spartan. The favorite bar sits so low it seems to cut it off.
- To the normal user Spartan will not like it because they all got use to menu bars, status bars etc. All other browsers have this. You tried to clean it up but does not work well.
- It does seem some time that the sound goes up and down, however I believe this is windows 10 doing this. When it come down to it you will be lucky to have 1 percent use Spartan it has a very long way to go.