Microsoft IE 7 Goes (More) Beta

Hans W. Smith writes "Microsoft has unveiled Internet Explorer 7, releasing the new "preview" version of its Web browser to the general public for testing. The latest version works only with Windows XP Service Pack 2 and includes many of the features Microsoft has been touting for months such as: privacy protection,tabbed browsing and a search box similar to Firefox. They tried to outdo Firefox tab browsing with a feature call Quick tab which shows thumbnail view of all open tabs in a single window." Yup, you saw it yesterday. Posting before coffee never works.

Comments

"Quick Tab"

[arcdx]

They tried to outdo Firefox tab browsing with a feature call Quick tab which shows thumbnail view of all open tabs in a single window.

This can be accomplished in Firefox by using the foXpose extension.

Re:"Quick Tab"

[zrenneh]

I know it's no trouble to the slashdot crowd, but if the average user doesn't know how to change their homepage, how will they install the many extensions required to bring Firefox initial functionality up to the standard of IE. Firefox has many benefits for nerds, but it isn't as functional out of the box.

That's actually not the latest version

[elrous0]

This one has MUCH more features.

-Eric

IE7 is a dupe!

[Alphab.fr]

The "new" quicktab feature is nothing more than a copy of the Firefox Viewmatic Foxposé...
http://viamatic.com/index.php/firefox

And M$ says to dev, please install IE7 Beta and test your pages... except that if I do that, it kills IE6, and I can't check my pages as they'll be seen by 90% of visitors...

Re:IE7 is a dupe!

[Anonymous Coward]

. . .which in itself is still a copy of OmniWeb for Macintosh; which has had this feature for a while now. ;) (http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omniweb/)

Re:Thumbnail view

[sucker_muts]

So much for IE having features that FireFox does not.

How many regular browser users ever change a setting for that browser? How many firefox users install extensions?

Microsoft realises the mose people use software out of the box, and never touch settings. They don't expect the mainstream of people wil tweak into oblivion and so they choose to make a browser which has everything as it should as default.

(This is about the same way opera does their browser. Did you ever check how many extensions there are for firefox? Are they all the same quality/stability? Do you check all those extensions once a month to see for any new ones?)

Look, I'm not trying to be a flamebait here, but simplicity is key for the most Microsoft software users. It's just that simple...

Say what you like about IE

[ninja_assault_kitten]

But if looking at the progress between Beta1 and Beta2 I'm thoroughly impressed. The UI concerns I had with Beta1 have all been addressed. I really like where they seem to be going.

Re:Microsoft should thank Firefox

[CyricZ]

I know you're joking, but keep in mind that many of the innovative developments which are credited to Firefox actually appeared first in other browsers, such as Opera, Konqueror, and Amaya. Tabs, ad blocking, mouse gestures, and so forth.

Needs "Genuine Advantage" validation

[james_bray]

Just to save some people the bother of downloading....

I tried it ... some thoughts.

[Gnascher]

1. They are requesting that developers install it and test thier sites and report back. However, it installes OVER IE6, so you can't have them both on the same machine. This is a major showstopper for a developer, since we NEED to have IE6 installed for current functionality and compatibility.

2. Fails the Acid2 test miserably

3. They've moved the Refresh button to the right of the address bar, while the Forward and Back buttons remain in the same position ... this is just dumb. All the navigation buttons should be grouped.

4. The "Stop Navigation" button has also been moved over to the right. They've also changed the look of the button to a red "X", so that it now looks like a "close something" button instead of a "stop this action" button.

5. They've "fixed" the functionality that allows you to utilize many CSS hacks to compensate for IE's rendering flaws, however they haven't fixed the underlying bugs that the "hacks" were intended to fix. As a result, a lot of sites I checked out that rendered just fine in all current browsers (including IE6) are now broken in IE7, because the "hacks" no longer work in IE7, but thier standards complience is still shoddy, and thier box-model still sucks.

6. The graphics for the tabs looks "clunky" as compared to other tabbed browsers.

7. They've hidden the main menu, so now you have to go through a few clicks to find the options that used to be only 1 or 2 clicks away.

Overall, I hope they don't think that this release is close to production readiness. They've changed a number of things just so that they look different, while in the process breaking a number of UI conventions that have long been established an work.

They've still got a lot of work to do in thier CSS support ... I don't understand why even some of the most basic CSS functionality is beyond thier ability to grasp. I can understand some of the more 'advanced' CSS features being a little tricky to interpret and implement, but basic positioning, sizing, padding and margin issues should be pretty easy to understand.

They claim to have fixed .PNG alpha channel transparency, and that's true ... to a point, but it doesn't work when the .png with transparency is used in a layer in some cases.

One thing I can applaud them on is that they've added the ability to use XMLHttpRequest without using thier proprietary ActiveX control, which will simplify those of us writing AJAX code into our web apps. They claim the old ActiveX method will still work for legacy support though.

So, that's my take. They've come a long way from IE6 ... but I beleive that they've got a long way to go in order to have a final release of IE7 that can truly compete against the other players in today's browser market.