Support for HTML 5 Standards

One of the challenges of developing web applications these
days is browser compatibility. As part of our commitment to support the newest
browsers and browser-technologies, the Messenger & Contacts Web Platform
team is planning to utilize some of the latest HTML 5 standards in our future
releases.

One of the first HTML 5 features that we now support is "Cross-document
messaging." This feature provides
reliable, fast and secure cross-domain communication. As mentioned on MSDN, the
Messenger
Library can be used by Web sites hosted in any domain and works by using
cross-site API calls to the Windows Live Messenger service. So far, to
implement cross-domain communication, The Messenger Library was using
JavaScript URL-hash rewriting techniques. If the browser would support Adobe
Flash, then Messenger Library would use that to facilitate cross-domain
communication.

HTML 5 Cross-document messaging is already supported by Firefox
3 and Opera 9.52. The future release of Internet Explorer 8 and Apple Safari 4
will also implement this functionality. It seems that all major browsers are
committed to implementing this and other HTML 5 features in the near future. We
expect this feature to not only improve the performance and reliability of the
Messenger Library but also enable Web developers to develop rich applications
that can target a wider range of browsers.

This functionality is included in version 2.5 of the
Messenger Library.

Thanks,

Offir Bakshitz

Software Design Engineer, Messenger & Contacts Web
Platform