April 25, 2006—With today's release of Internet Explorer 7 beta 2, Microsoft moves a step closer to delivering—at long last—a significant new version of its Web browser. By the time Microsoft actually ships the production version of IE 7, an event scheduled for the latter half of 2006, it will have been five years since Microsoft released IE 6—a period during which savvy Web users have increasingly been turning to alternative browsers like Firefox and Opera.
I switched to Firefox myself quite a while ago, in large part because tabbed browsing was too convenient to pass up. While MSN offers a downloadable toolbar that adds tabbed browsing to IE 6, I've found it clunky and unsatisfying. With IE 7, MS finally makes the leap to tabbed browsing. Even given the users switching to Firefox and Opera, it's still worth noting that by sheer dint of IE's still-dominant market share and availability through Windows Update, it's likely to be the browser that introduces tabbed browsing to the computing masses.—Continue reading
Keeping Tabs on the Web
IE 7 implements tabbed browsing well, with informative
Internet Explorer 7.0 (beta 2) Installation
The IE 7 installation sequence offers users a chance to run Microsoft's Malicious Software Removal Tool. It also requires a reboot and verification that you have a genuine Windows license.
Internet Explorer 7.0 (beta 2) Initial Launch
When you first launch IE 7 after installation, the app asks you to make some basic configuration decisions.
Internet Explorer 7.0 (beta 2) Tabbed Browsing
IE 7's tabbed-browsing capability is well-implemented, if long overdue.
Internet Explorer 7.0 (beta 2) Tabbed Browsing Settings
A settings dialog lets you specify various details of IE 7's tabbed-browsing behavior.
Internet Explorer 7.0 (beta 2) Quick Tabs
The Quick Tabs view shows thumbnails of all your open tabs to help you organize them.
Internet Explorer 7.0 (beta 2) Add Open Tabs to Favorites
You can add all your open tabs as a group to your Favorites.
Internet Explorer 7.0 (beta 2) Tab Group Home Page
Your home page can actually be multiple pages, each of which will open in its own tab.
Internet Explorer 7.0 (beta 2) New Toolbar
This close-up view shows IE 7's streamlined tool bars - no traditional-style menus are visible. The search box is at the upper right.
Internet Explorer 7.0 (beta 2) Multiple Search Providers
IE 7 lets you add multiple search providers and select any of them - not just MSN - as your default.
Internet Explorer 7.0 (beta 2) No Incremental Search
IE 7's Find function works just like the one in IE 6 - there's no incremental-search capability.
Internet Explorer 7.0 (beta 2) Zoom Menu
The bottom-right corner of the IE window lets you adjust the zoom factor for both text and images on the page. You can also hold Control and turn the mouse wheel to zoom in and out.
Internet Explorer 7.0 (beta 2) RSS Detection
This toolbar icon lights up and lets you pull down a menu when it detects an RSS (or Atom) feed is available on a page.
Internet Explorer 7.0 (beta 2) Feed Viewer
IE 7's built-in feed viewer lets you stay abreast of your RSS feeds.
Internet Explorer 7.0 (beta 2) Delete Browsing History
Finally, IE gives you a one-step way to delete various aspects of your browsing history.
Internet Explorer 7.0 (beta 2) Security Detail
For secure Web sites, IE 7 provides a more prominent lock icon that you can click on for additional detail.
Internet Explorer 7.0 (beta 2) Suspected Phishing Site
If you encounter a suspected phishing Web site, the browser's address bar turns yellow, and you can click to see this explanatory text. The site shown here is a Microsoft demonstration site.
Internet Explorer 7.0 (beta 2) Known Phishing Site
If you encounter a known phishing Web site, the browser's address bar turns red, and you can click to see this warning.
Internet Explorer 7.0 (beta 2) IDN Anti-Spoofing
Domain names can contain non-ASCII characters - a boon for international users, particularly those who don't use the Latin alphabet. But IDNs (internationalized domain names) also pose a security risk because they can be used to mimic similar-looking domain names. So IE7 displays an information bar any time you load a page whose name contains characters outside of your normal character set.
Internet Explorer 7.0 (beta 2) Alpha Channel Transparency
This image from the World Wide Web Consortium shows IE 7's alpha-channel transparency in action. The gradient bars change transparency from one end to the other, allowing more of the patterned background to show through.
Internet Explorer 7.0 (beta 2) Improved Print Preview
IE 7's print preview feature is dramatically improved.
Internet Explorer 7.0 (beta 2) Problems Rendering Our Site
IE 7 still has problems rendering the comment form on PC Magazine's online discussion forums.
Internet Explorer 7.0 (beta 2) How Our Site Should Look
This is what the pcmag.com comment form should look like (as rendered by Firefox).