Internet Explorer 7 Public Beta: Pros and Cons

Microsoft has finally presented its new version of Internet Explorer, IE 7. Bill Gates noted: “What we've decided to do is a new version of Internet Explorer, this is IE 7, and it adds a new level of security.”
IE 7 is only available for Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (SP2), Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, and Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 1 (SP1) users. IE 7 was originally scheduled only for inclusion in Windows Vista (codenamed Longhorn). So the Windows Vista version will enclose some of its features.



Installation
In order to install the newest Internet Explorer, users need to download file of 11MB in size from Microsoft website . The installation is done in the invisible mode, which minimizes user’s interference.

Below you can find some features that the new browser offers:



New Interface
Internet Explorer 7 has a completely new interface. It is better compound and has additional abilities of adding web sites to Bookmarks, search in the Network, one-click history deletion, "Shrink to Fit" and other printing improvements. The new design includes an improved Address Bar, new menu elements, decreased in size, more convenient icons and diminished tool bar.

Tabbed Browsing
Microsoft included tabbed browsing in IE 7. New tabs can be opened or closed with one middle mouse button click. Tabs of IE 7 are slightly different from those of Firefox. One of the distinguishing features is the ability to show the list of open pages vertically. This can be very useful as Microsoft decided not to use multi-rowed tabs. Tabs dragging is not included into IE 7. But this function is not used very often and can hardly be a weak point.

Below you will find the description of how tabs work. When opening Internet Explorer 7, on the top of the browser window, below the tool bar, two tabs are displayed: your current page and a smaller, blank tab. The blank tab is shown below, surrounded by the red oval.



After you click on the blank tab and then select – or input – a destination you'll have two named tabs, as shown below.



Easy Search
Another feature that was included into IE 7 is ‘Easy Search’. The search bar window is always in plain view; moreover, users can choose the search engine which will process their inquiries and post search results in a separate tab.

RSS-feeds
The new Internet Explorer enables its users to read RSS-feeds. When you enter a page the browser finds them and signals about it with an Red sign or with a sound.
In theory things are as follows: when clicking on this sign you go to the page that contains latest notes and a link to subscribe RSS-feeds. The subscription implies the moving of the feed to ‘Bookmarks’, where it can be read with other feeds. The practice shows somewhat different picture.
First, not all of RSS-feeds can be read. Perhaps the reason is that a feed must exactly correspond to the commonly accepted standards. Major up-to-date programs for reading RSS can avoid most known feed defects or fix them in the auto mode.
Second, we failed to find the mode which would enable all feeds to be seen in one window, sorted out chronologically. However, notes in a separate feed can be sorted out by time, author or name.
Third, we also failed to create something similar to Firefox’es “Live Bookmarks” that would include folders keeping the list of latest notes.

Focusing on Security
IE 7.0 consists, mostly, of security-oriented features, one of which is anti-phishing technology. As Gates noted, “Some of the advances [in IE 7] include things focused on phishing, where people use URLs that appear to come from another location, things related to malware. So, [that] will be another important advance [in IE 7].”

IP traffic encryption capability, included in IE 7, helps prevent electronic eavesdroppers from modifying data before it reaches your machine or redirecting you silently to malicious servers. "It makes sure that the traffic is encrypted, so there is no eavesdropping or modification that can take place, but it also makes absolutely sure through the use of certificates that the machine that you're connected to is the machine that you want to be able to connect to," Gates noted.

Changes for Web Developers
Good news for Web developers: IE 7 includes support for transparent PNG files, CSS consistency, CSS 2 fixed positioning, international domain name (IDN) support, and more. However, it does not conform fully to the CSS 2 specification.

Not Included
IE 7 does not include any ad blocking technology and a new Outlook Express (OE) version (e.g. OE 7).

Conclusions
Internet Explorer 7 differs greatly from its predecessor, in a better way. However, its disadvantage is that it contains minimum of vital functions. Well, a lot has been done, and it would be really good if the final version of Internet Explorer 7 would be able to satisfy all users’ needs.

© Arovax, LLC


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