Microsoft is recommending the use of Internet Explorer 10 for better performance when viewing HTML5 web content and Metro-styled apps in Windows 8. As Microsoft points out, other platforms do not provide the same level of performance in apps as Internet Explorer 10 does.
“When you include Web content in your Metro style app, your app gets all the performance benefits of IE10 automatically without any additional or special work. JavaScript code continues to run fast with JIT compilation, and your app will automatically use GPU to accelerate HTML graphics,” Microsoft stated in an official Internet Explorer blog post.
As Microsoft points out, platforms other than Internet Explorer 10 will not provide the same level of performance in apps. Common actions like panning and zooming will run twice as slow in an app when using a browser like Safari. “For example, Cocoa apps on iOS offer significantly worse JavaScript performance (via the UIWebView control) than the same content running in Safari. These Cocoa apps do not enjoy JIT compilation, and these apps cannot show and use Web content the same way the browser on the system can,” Microsoft explains.
Microsoft also points out that anyone writing a Metro style app can easily embed web content inside their app. “Anyone writing a Metro style app for Windows 8 can easily include Web content in their app. In an HTML or XAML app, just include an iframe element or a WebView control to get the full benefit of IE 10 performance,” Microsoft adds.
