IE 7 Beta
Since Firefox is bugging out on me, I’ve taken this opportunity to play with the IE 7 Beta. It’s…different. One of the things I really like about it is that each tab has an "X" on it, so you can close the tab using the "X", instead of having to use the "X" on the far right-hand side of the screen like in Firefox. However, it’s said that this feature is supposed to be included in Firefox 2.0.
It’s strange to not have the typical Microsoft menu at the top (File, Edit, View, etc.) Although it may be an improvement, relearning the locations of those menu items, locations that have been burned into your mind throughout the years of using Microsoft software, takes some getting used to.
There is a built-in search box to the right of the address bar. I’d like to move this to the usual lower-left position, but have not been able to figure out how yet, or if this is even possible. I couldn’t imagine a worse location for the search box, but I think the idea is to conserve screen space. The search box uses MSN search by default (of course), which has Google ranting and raving as of late. I personally find Google’s rile uncalled for — upon my first visit to google.com, a box displayed undearneath the search box, asking me: "Do You Want to Use Google as Your Default Search Engine?" One click, it’s done. Big deal.
Another oddity is that the History Button has been moved to a drop-down next to the Forward Arrow button, which is the same drop-down that holds your recent pages (shouldn’t that be next to the back button?) When doing research, I use the history button quite a bit, and I would like to at least have the option to move it to the toolbar, but it’s not even on the list of buttons you can add when you go to customize the toolbar.
Something I miss terribly is the "begin finding as you type" feature of Firefox, which lets you start typing a word while viewing a webpage and Firefox finds that word on the page as the "find" search box pops up as a toolbar on the bottom of the page. "Finding" in IE 7 involves clicking the drop-down next to the web search box and selecting the item "Find On This Page…" UGH.
However, I have to rave about the two best features in the IE7 Beta: first, Quick Tabs. Absolutely fabulous. One click and all your open tabs are dispalyed as thumbnails in a single window. A second favorite feature of mine is that you can save a group of open tabs as a favorite…very cool.
Overall, not bad for a beta, and certainly long overdue. I’m still experiencing some odd behavior - such as being warned by the anti-phishing filter when I know I’m on a safe site; also, there were even some issues with posting to this blog via Typepad. I suspect that it has to do with the "enable mixed content" feature, which I always had to "enable without prompting" in IE 6, but haven’t located in IE 7 (though I haven’t really looked just yet). Now, I’m off to explore the add-ons…
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Some of the things you mentioned are already available to Firefox users as extensions. Such as, each tab having an X on it that lets you close the tab.
Quick Tabs has also been done for Firefox, and it’s called foXpose. I’ve had it installed for quite some time.
But saving a group of tabs as a favorite? That’s something else. It makes me want to check out the IE 7 Beta, even though I’m worried it will not work properly with another program I use, Website Watcher.
P.S. The Google Toolbar for IE7: http://toolbar.google.com/T4
That’s true what you say about extensions, but this are built-in features of the beta, meaning that they will always be there. I love Firefox extensions, but we’re at the mercy of the developers to keep them updated with each new version.
Sarah, have you ever tried Maxthon? http://www.maxthon.com It has and has had most of the features you metion in the IE Beta for some time. They’re releasing their latest version, 2.0 soon as you can read on their blog and rumor has it that it will have a feature set that neither IE nor Firefox can compete with.
Ken
I just noticed, the latest version of Firefox has a feature, “Bookmark All Tabs”. It’s the same as Quick Tabs, from what I can tell.
I downloaded and installed IE 7 Beta anyway, just to check it out. It’s a good browser, but I think I will stick with Firefox for the time being.
As previous commenters have said, all those features can be achieved in Firefox. Also just to say, I don’t really use the “x” button…I just middle-click on the tab to close it.
I mainly use Firefox because when a security vulnerbility arises, I don’t have to wait 4 or 5 months until a patch is released. It’s more like a month and in many cases, less.
You can enable the old menus from the view menu option if you wish.
“I mainly use Firefox because when a security vulnerbility arises, I don’t have to wait 4 or 5 months until a patch is released. It’s more like a month and in many cases, less.”
That is a Myth, get the facts:
http://www.firefoxmyths.com
Daniel — nice! I hadn’t noticed that feature in the new version of Firefox — sweet!