Internet Explorer 9 (Beta) – What’s new?
September 25, 2010 – 9:00 am
We recently downloaded the Beta Version of the New Internet Explorer 9 (IE9). Whilst it’s not the final version for release it gives us all a good idea of what to expect from the final release of the software. Here’s a our views on the program and a little bit about what’s new!
First Impressions (click image to enlarge)
Much more aesthetically pleasing than previous versions of the program. Rather than looking its usual dated and cluttered self, IE9 has taken a huge leap into the 21st century having previously drastically needing an injection of botox and a tummy tuck. This has lead to a cool, calm, simplistic finish which appears to be much more user friendly. The overall speed of the web browser also seems considerably improved.
Pinned Sites
In Windows 7 you’re able to pin websites to your task bar for easy access. For example, say you wanted to store Facebook on your task bar. To do this simply go to the icon on the left-hand side of the web address and then click and drag the icon down to the task bar.
Streamlined Design
As previously mentioned, the first thing you’ll notice is the newly refreshed interface. You may however wonder how you can access various features. Generally if you cant find it then the feature will be found within one of the three icons situated at the top right of your screen (see image below). The left icon, quite obviously, will take you to your homepage. The middle icon provides you with your favourites, feeds and history. And finally, the right icon provides you with the print, zoom, file, etc, options (see image below for right icon options).
Download Manager
Here Windows have taken a look at their competitors and identified what of their features are impressive and well received by users. IE9′s Download Manager is much like that of Firefox. It’s a safe place which all your internet download travel via. Being formatted in a list allows it to be user friendly and very practical (see image below).
Enhanced Tabs
Ever wanted to view two tabs at the same time when browsing the web? You can now tear-off tabs by dragging a tab downwards. This then allows you to view them at the same time.
New Tabs Page
The new tab page displays your most visited websites and for convenience also colour codes them. You can add/remove the various displayed sites so you have your favourite sites there ready and waiting for quick use!
Search In The Address Bar
IE9 has taken a leaf out of Google Chrome’s book and now allows you to search within the address bar. A great little feature which saves time.
Notification Bar
The notification bar is something we really like. It will pop up from time to time to give you information but wont restrict you from continuing your browsing – something which could get very frustrating with previous IE versions.
Add-On Performance Advisor
Add-ons (e.g. toolbars) can both enhance and restrict your browsing. The add-on performance advisor tells you if an add-on is slowing down your browsing or not and whether you should disable/uninstall it. We also really like the fact that the notification bar appears when you first open IE to advise you on which add-ons restricting you (see above image).
Hardware Acceleration
To enhance performance IE uses the GPU (graphics processor) in your computer to handle graphics heavy tasks (e.g. video streaming or online gaming), thus creating a smoother and enhanced browsing experience.
Final Remarks
Overall I believe that IE9 has a lot of potential and could pull some previous users back to the browser. However, having played with it for just a short while we’ve already discovered a couple of bugs. Whilst this is expected from a Beta version the bugs have occurred in some pretty basic areas, e.g. not being able to write in a text box and a post on one of our blogs not publishing and thus deleting it. So Microsoft, the pressure is on…if you can ensure that for the public release that all bugs are eliminated you could be on for a winner. But for now, we’re going to stick with Firefox!
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Tags: add-on, add-on performance advisor, beta, comments, design, download manager, enhanced tabs, features, first impressions, hardware acceleration, ie, IE9, IE9 beta, Internet, internet browsing, internet explorer, internet explorer 9, internet explorer beta, internet explorer beta 9, microsoft, mozilla firefox, notification bar, pinned, Review, search in address bar, tabs, web browser, Windows
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