I tried the new and improved Windows Internet Explorer 7 a few days ago; it sat in the Automatic Updater, and despite me being an avid
FireFox-user, I decided to try the new IE7.
Well, after installation through automatic updates, my machine wanted me to reboot. Seems logical, seeing that Internet Explorer is heavily integrated into Windows, but annoying nonetheless.
Upon opening, the browser clearly shows a facelift and some useful additions as well; tabbed browsing being one of them.
It's nice to see that they used the same hotkeys as FF does and that you can type away, right away in the address bar because of the selected "about:Tabs" (or about:blank). Previous versions just stated "about:blank" when showing a blank page, and as little action it may require; having to press Alt-D (or move the mouse and click, as most people do) every time you open a new window is annoying.
You have to set some options when starting the browser for the first time, and it lets you set the search engine of your choice; very nice. One click on Google and the browser installs it, and you can set it as default by checking a box. Multiple search engines are possible as well, and they are listed alphabetically, so Windows Live Search is filed under W. ;)
A new button: "quick tabs", which switches to an overview of the open tabs. Whether this is useful or not when you have a gazillion tabs open, remains to be seen; I never needed it though.
More annoying things; you can't move the address bar next to the menu bar (default off) anymore, nor can you move the browserbuttons next to it. A pity, as I like to compact such things as much as possible. Note; this isn't possible under Firefox either, but it was under IE6, so...
Strange thing about the RSS-button is that it apparently only checks for feeds when the page already has been opened. One of the benefits of an RSS-feed is that you can check whether there's been an update BEFORE you open the page.
When subscribing to a feed, it asks you where IE7 should put the subscription (under RSS feeds, ofcourse), but when I close the tab, the RSS-button turns gray again, and I can't see the feed anywhere, not even in a logical spot.
My verdict on this version: close, but no cigar. Tabbed browsing is a brilliant thing, and that being available in IE7 without having to resort to a skin like CrazyBrowser is very nice in itself. But that's not going to get me switching back to IE. I like FireFox, and as long as the changes in IE7 remain as they are now, I see no reason whatsoever to use it the way I use FireFox.
I told you it was a quick look. ;)
Cheers, K.