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Already firmly cemented as the world’s leading Web browser – to the consternation of the European Commission – the incoming eighth iteration of Internet Explorer will likely see Microsoft taking even more market share. Yet what can we look forward to through the emergence of IE8, and how much of its content is original?
Microsoft offers up its RC1 of Internet Explorer 8. Image: Microsoft.
Based on this week’s unveiling of Internet Explorer 8 Release Candidate 1 (RC1), a near-complete version of the final browsing platform, it would appear Microsoft is packing in plenty of appealing new features to retain dedicated IE users and perhaps tempt those aligning themselves with market rivals.
Some of the more notable new additions – Mozilla and Safari fans should probably avert their eyes at this point – include the following:
Accelerator: Which enables users to highlight and right click a word on a Web page and then select from a list of applicable options that quickly connect the chosen word to search and mapping tools, and even online oracle Wikipedia and social networking service Facebook.
Clickjacking Protection: This security-based feature provides increased online peace of mind by preventing Web users from clicking on a supposedly secure page element and inputting sensitive information that would then be transferred into the waiting arms of a nefarious online criminal.
Find/Search: While this addition essentially does exactly what it says on the tin, the inclusion of a special on-screen box capable of searching out specific terms across a Web page could be a surprisingly useful little tool that helps avoid the annoyance of skim reading.
Porn Mode: Likely to prick the ears (no pun intended) of sexually-charged Web surfers everywhere, Internet Explorer’s new InPrivate feature allows users to visit adult sites without worrying about having to explain a paper trial that (amused, shocked, appalled) family members and friends could follow. Private browsing also exists in Apple’s Safari and also Google’s Chrome.
Smart Address Bar: Again, fairly self-explanatory but useful nevertheless. Mozilla fans are already accustomed to typing a word into the Web bar and being presented with a selection of addresses that connect to that word and have been visited previously by the user. Now IE8 has the same handy feature.
Tabs: Already an integral feature on all of today’s available platforms, tabbed browsing provides quick and easy access to multiple Web windows without having to continually reopen the main browser. With Internet Explorer 8, Microsoft is honing its tab management abilities with the introduction of colour coding and grouping, and also the option to reopen closed tabs. IE8 is also adding isolated tab crash protection, which only dumps a downed window as opposed to the entire browser.
Add to that the convenience of monitoring specific Web page elements through Web Slices, increased performance thanks to a quicker script engine, resumed sessions via Automatic Crash Recovery, the addition of a SmartScreen Filter and other improved security features and IE8 could well arrive as the very best edition of Microsoft’s browser line.
Interested in putting the latest downloadable version of Internet Explorer through its paces? You can do so, for free, by simply clicking here.
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