Just when Microsoft thought it was on target (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/03/04/ie8_web_standards/) with its forthcoming Internet Explorer 8 browser, the goalposts have moved.

The Web Standards Project (WaSP) (http://www.webstandards.org/) has released its latest browser standards compliance test - Acid 3 (http://www.webstandards.org/action/acid3/) - and every browser that WaSP tested failed. IE 8 is, of course, not available for test yet. But given the abysmal performance of IE 7, Microsoft developers have a lot of work to do.

Acid 3 surfaced (http://ln.hixie.ch/?start=1200301306&count=1) in January and aims to set a more rigorous test of how browser software complies with web standards. It includes 100 checks focusing on areas such as DOM2 and ECMAscript, and tests a browser's ability to handle "Web 2.0 dynamic web applications".

In an informal Reg Dev test of IE 7 and Firefox using Acid 3 (http://acid3.acidtests.org/) [warning: this could choke your browser - ed] both browsers failed. Firefox at least managed to get half way through (50 of the 100 tests) before falling over. But IE 7 managed only 12 before giving up.

Microsoft's attempts to show it is a good web citizen have been constantly frustrated. Its triumph (http://www.regdeveloper.co.uk/2007/12/24/ie8_acid2_standards/) at passing the Acid 2 test with IE 8 last year was marred (http://www.regdeveloper.co.uk/2008/01/25/ie8_version_switch/) by criticism. And now it has to go back to the drawing board with IE 8 and start over.

It is hard to have any sympathy when, as noted (http://ejohn.org/blog/unbreaking-the-web/) by John Resig at Mozilla, Microsoft so blatantly qualified (http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2008/mar08/03-03WebStandards.mspx) its reasons for compliance with web standards with a desire to avoid possible legal action and sidestep potential regulatory issues.®

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