A few days ago, I was in my Firefox Live Bookmarks that Neowin.net reported that Internet Explorer 7 Beta 2 was made availible for public download. I wasted no time. I downloaded the installer and fired it up.

  1. Installer

    Microsoft has made the Installer more simple than previous version of Internet Explorer. This makes installing IE7 less intimidating for less knowledgible users. Of course on final release, IE7 will be installable via Microsoft or Windows Update. I couldn’t think or any improvements that Microsoft should make to the installer, good show.

  2. First Impression

    Once I finished installing IE7 and restarting my computer, it’s time to start up the new browser. The interface design is simple and refined. Seems like the way I’ve setup Firefox. The major parts (Back, Forward, Address, Go, and Search) on the top, and the rest on the second toolbar. I could do without the tabs being in that second toolbar since the buttons on it take from the space for the tabs. I do really like the “New Tab” idea. I do personally wished they would use tabs that look native and not just a bitmap rip from Vista, especially when I’m using a third-party visual style or WindowBlinds skin. There also seems to be a problem with keeping the last button on the second toolbar. I always shows that chevron.

  3. Customizability

    There is one thing that Internet Explorer has lacked, community supported add-ons. They exist, but not as big as Firefox has enjoyed. Also, upon examining all the options for toolbar and toolbar button customization, I must say that Internet Explorer took a huge step backwards. The first toolbar’s layout if locked; it can not be change. The second toolbar can’t be moved off the tabbar, and the Menu and Links toolbar can’t be placed anywhere but in-between. This seems a bit restrictive. A major regression in my opinion for power users. As usual though, add-on bars are also limited to this in-between area.

  4. Privacy and Security

    Most people should be aware that Microsoft has made great strides in security and privacy in Internet Explorer 6 when XP Service Pack 2 was released. IE7 adds more to this with improved ActiveX, and in Windows Vista will include a protect mode to isolate the system from the controls.

    It’s phishing filter will help users to identify sites that claim to be someone they are not. This is a feature lacking from Firefox without third-party software (or extensions) and should be greatly praised.

    There are also many other improvements in the way of URL and International Domain hanlding, but I find the address bar protection a bit nice. This mean that no matter what kind of window IE7 opens from a website, the address bar will always be present. This is much more intuitive than Firefox’s idea of showing the URL in the title bar. It means that you will always know what website a window has come from.

  5. Standards Support

    Well, everyone knows how IE has been the past about web standards support. IE7 claims to make strides in fixing it, but of course, like all but Safari, Kornqueorer, and i hear Opera 9, it fails the Acid2 test. The addition of RSS and Atom support is a plus. I am in the procoess of checking how it fairs with the W3C Test pages for CSS 2.1. I’ll post the results on a later page.