After nearly taking over the web browsing experience by leveraging its operating system monopoly, Microsoft got surprised by Firefox. The new browser ate away at the software giant's web browser market share, forcing it to go back to the drawing board and create something competitive. Does Internet Explorer 8 rise to the challenge? Keep reading to find out.
Contributed by Joe Eitel Rating: / 5 December 02, 2008
When it comes to Internet browsers, Internet Explorer has often gotten a bad rap from web surfers. It’s slow and it tends to attract a lot of virus-ridden adware. That’s why so many Internet lovers prefer Firefox. Not only is Firefox more efficient, but it carries an almost non-existent risk of adware exposure… at least that’s been my experience!
Well, Microsoft has not been deaf to the criticism. That’s why they have worked so hard on improving on the flaws that made Internet Explorer 7 and previous versions so unstable. What was the result of their efforts? The answer can be summed up in just three simple words: Internet Explorer 8.
Internet Explorer 8 (also known as IE8) was designed to completely revolutionize Internet browsing. Adware, viruses and other online annoyances would no longer be a problem due to very strict privacy controls. This is thanks to a new feature known as inPrivate browsing. When Internet Explorer 8 is in this mode, no data will be saved on a surfer’s computer. Why? Well, as soon as the browsing session is over, the surfer’s websites, cookies and other information will automatically get deleted. Basically, IE8 won’t even allow inappropriate content on a user’s computer in the first place… something that even Firefox can’t do.
Yet not everyone is thrilled about such a feature. Shortly after Microsoft released IE8, bloggers from all over the world dubbed inPrivate browsing as “porn mode.” Why porn mode? Well, to them IE8 is something you use when you’re surfing naughty sites and don’t want to get found out by your wife or boss. Certainly, such a feature couldn’t be helpful for security… or could it?
Really, it depends on who you ask. That’s why it’s important that you get the FULL story behind what Internet Explorer 8 has to offer. Once you become aware of its design, features and general performance, you will be in a better position to decide for yourself IE8’s worthiness.
In terms of layout, Internet Explorer 8 has a design very similar to its predecessors. At the topmost left corner, there are the two browser buttons that take the shape of an arrow. These help the surfer browse through previous sites in their cache.
Next to these buttons is the address bar. If you want to surf by URL, you can enter it in here. There are also additional navigation buttons at the end of the bar that will again let you surf the sites in the cache. But this time, you will be navigating through the URLs instead of the sites themselves.
If you decide that you don’t want a site to load in the browser, the address bar contains an ‘X’ that will stop the loading in its tracks.
After the navigation bar, in the topmost right corner of the browser, there’s a Live Search toolbar. The Live Search toolbar acts like a search engine. Enter in any keyword, and the browser will return a list of results related to the query. If you want to search for existing keywords in your queue, select the drop-down arrow.
Now, there’s a second "level" of Internet Explorer 8. It rests just below the address bar and the arrow-like navigation buttons. It’s not very elaborate, as it contains icons that allow the surfer to customize their browsing experience. We’ll talk more about that in a moment.
The layout concludes with the browser window. This is where the actual website will be displayed. There are also even more browsing options. For instance, if you’re browsing through several sites, IE8 will partition them off in various "tabs." Selecting these tabs will display your site(s) of interest one at a time.
At the further right-hand corner of this level are basic menu options. However, to make things easier, they are displayed in the form of icons rather than a drop-down menu. These options include: homepage navigation, RSS feed display, printing, page view and basic browsing tools.
The most prominent features associated with Internet Explorer 8 include: InPrivate browsing, caret browsing, accelerators, web slices, automatic crash recovery and SmartScreen Filter. More information can be found in the sections below.
InPrivate Browsing
InPrivate browsing is the most controversial feature associated with Internet Explorer 8. Consisting of three parts, browsing, blocking and subscription, the InPrivate feature puts your computer into a stealth-like mode. The browsing and the blocking portions automatically delete anything within your cache, while the subscription portion gives you control over which sites have access to your computer. So, if you have a site that you really trust, add it into the subscription feature. That way, you will still have access to it despite InPrivate’s automatic deletion.
Caret Browsing
Caret browsing is a feature available for other browsers, but Internet Explorer 8 makes it much clearer. Basically, users can move within a Web page by using just their keyboards and an on-screen cursor. So, in essence, caret browsing allows the same type of keyboard navigation you would use in a word processor.
Accelerators
The accelerator function is unique to Internet Explorer 8. Basically, it allows instant access to other online services based on the text you select. For example, say you wanted to find the location of a business. All you would need to do is highlight the company’s name and click on the Accelerators icon. From there, you can access IE8’s “Map with Live Maps” feature.
Consider another accelerator example. Say you read an informative article on how to buy laptops. The author suggests a laptop that looks interesting to you. Instead of having to search for the laptop in a different tab, you could highlight it and press the Accelerator icon. From there, you can buy the computer off of Amazon, eBay or any other service you designate.
Web Slices
Web slices give surfers a chance to keep track of updated content on a particular website. For instance, if you’re trying to buy something on eBay, you want to know if another eBayer placed a higher bid than you. Without Web slices, you would either have to check your email or go to the site directly.
Once you implement Web slices, however, all you have to do is go to your Favorites bar. After you select your desired slice, you will be shown the latest bids that have occurred. Your browsing activity does not get interrupted.
Automatic Crash Recovery
Before Internet Explorer 8, browser crashes meant a surfer’s Internet history was completely lost, unless it was bookmarked in some way. Well, automatic crash recovery solves this problem by allowing surfers access to whatever sites they were visiting before the crash occurred.
SmartScreen Filter
SmartScreen Filter uses advanced programming technologies to determine whether or not malware, adware or other harmful software has been installed on your computer. It is better than a virus program because it keeps these threats from ever reaching your machine.
When Internet Explorer 8 is in use, it works pretty much like any other browser. It is much quicker than its previous installments and the new features work like a charm.
However, there are some issues you should be aware of before you decide to download IE8. One of the most troubling is the inability to uninstall the package if you have Windows XP and Service Pack 3. So, if you have Windows XP and you want to take advantage of Service Pack 3, Microsoft advises implementing the pack after installing Internet Explorer 8, since the error only occurs if the pack is already on your system.
Another problem with IE8 is the inability to use Windows Live Mail and Visual Studio .Net version 7. You will also have problems viewing Netflix on-demand movies, using some features of Skype or using the Google Toolbar. If these services are important to you, it’s best that you wait until the official version of IE8 is released; at the time of this writing, the only thing that is available is the beta version.
Conclusion
All in all, I believe that Internet Explorer 8 is extremely innovative and definitely a step in the right direction for browsers. The accelerator feature is especially interesting, since it cuts down on keystroke time. The same can also be said for the web slice feature. Ultimately, Microsoft did a good job trying to figure out how browsers can automate the Internet surfing experience.
However, it’s going to be difficult to get people to transition over if the beta version is having so many problems. Why risk not being able to use certain programs if they can continue using Firefox with no issue?
If Microsoft expects a large conversion, they’re definitely going to have to work out the kinks in the software. Other than that, IE8 is poised to be a very powerful tool for the Internet surfer.
Internet Explorer 8: A Hands-on View
