Google Wave renders correctly on Internet Explorer 8

It’s been a while since I revisited the Google Wave sandbox after I first got access. At that time, it didn’t even render correctly in IE8, no matter which rendering mode I use (IE8, IE8 compatibility, IE7). It’s good to remember that Wave is not officially supported in IE8, just like how Silverlight is not officially supported in Chrome, but works.

The browser you’re using is currently unsupported.

We recommend using one of the following browsers for the desktop client:

• Google Chrome or Chromium
• Firefox 3.0+
• Safari 3.0+

But now, it renders correctly in IE8 compatibility view (IE8 standards)! And the interface is just as slow as rendering in Firefox 3.5, if not slower.

A large screenshot is after the break!

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Bing – the new Live Search is now live; create your own IE8 search provider add-on.

Bing, the new rebranded Live Search, has just been made available to public. The first thing I’d want to do is to make this the default search provider in Internet Explorer 8.

Searching www.ieaddons.com, I couldn’t find the Bing search provider! But not to worry, they’ve made it just too easy to make your own search provider. Head along to http://www.ieaddons.com/en/createsearch.aspx and follow the instructions!

Essentially, it involves:

1. Search for “TEST” (capital letters) using Bing
2. Copy the URL of the first page after you made the search
3. Paste that into the search provider creator, give it a name and click install!

Update: As pointed out, this method doesn’t give you search suggestions. As a quick hack to give the impression of Bing suggestions, we can add Live Search suggestions to this accelerator.

I really wish I could add javascript to this blog so that you can just click a button to add the search provider to IE8, but unfortunately hosted WordPress won’t let me. It won’t even let me upload an .xml file! So I’ve included after the break the Open Search Description file that would give you that.

Just create a new XML file Bing.xml, and host that up on your favourite web server. Then create a shell HTML file that calls a javascript function to add this as shown.

Update: Head along to Mozilla Addons, where Long‘s made the Bing search provider available for download. Even though it’s meant for Firefox, it’s based on the same open standard (open search description) so it’s the same. The “Download Now” link works in IE8 too!

Update: Get the addon now at ieaddons.com! It now uses the search suggestions from Bing rather than from Live Search.

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