[originally posted Thu 09/16/10; updated 9/23/10]
IE9 is out in beta and should be out in general by the end of the year. I’ve run it a very short time. So far, I’m underwhelmed. (As I am by Google Chrome, although Chrome has been buggy for me.) I’m wed to Firefox because of the Add-ons and Greasemonkey scripts. Some of them are just too useful to give up. (Scripts, especially, because they place fewer demands on the system and they are often hackable.)
The obvious innovation in IE9 is placing the tabs to the right of the address bar – I’ve never seen that. This gives you an extra vertical line of space (as does dropping the status bar, which I prefer to see). However, that also leaves less room for legible tabs. (I’m surprised Microsoft didn’t make this Taskbar-like with icons only.)
[update 9/23/10]
Sebastian Anthony addresses one of my first concerns: the space available for tabs. On the one hand, I should have guessed this address bar is resizable. On the other hand, such hidden features vex most users. (Still, I should have tried.)
This is why you should use Internet Explorer 9
Moving on (I’ve calmed down now), the unified tab-and-address bar area, which has received a lot of flak for being too small for power-users, is resizable! You can simply make the address bar narrower, leaving more space for tabs. More space is also dedicated to tabs on wider displays: screen widths over 1280 pixels (i.e. every power-user) have two thirds of that space reserved for tabs — it’s only on smaller screens that the address bar occupies half the width (and it’s still resizable!)
This is why you should use Internet Explorer 9
[/end update]
Start with this short overview, but note some of these features are common to other browsers and there is no mention nere of what Ed Bott considers the killer feature.
Five things average users will love about Internet Explorer 9
Now that the initial hands-on reports are out and the beta download for Internet Explorer 9 is publicly available, IE loyalists (and those who simply didn’t realize there were other browsers) can finally get a taste of competitive, fast, modern browser. IE9 has a lot of great features which more savvy users know about, understand, and love — like solid HTML5, faster JavaScript engine, and hardware acceleration — but there’s also a lot for the Average Joe to love, too!
Five things average users will love about Internet Explorer 9
In the next article, the How-To-Geek does its usual thorough job with lots of screenshots, ending with a link to the beta. (Big download.)
Internet Explorer 9 Screenshot Tour: It’s Got a Completely New Interface – How-To Geek
Today Microsoft finally released the newest version of Internet Explorer, complete with hardware acceleration, web standards support, and a completely redesigned interface focused on using web sites as applications. Join us for a tour of the features in Internet Explorer 9.
Internet Explorer 9 Screenshot Tour: It’s Got a Completely New Interface – How-To Geek
Ed Bott has a very thorough consideration.
Internet Explorer 9 beta review: Microsoft reinvents the browser | ZDNet
I’ve been using the IE9 beta extensively on multiple PCs, including my primary desktop and notebook computers. Based on that experience, I have some preliminary answers to the questions you’re asking: Is it fast enough? Is it compatible enough? Is it cool enough to win back former IE users who have switched to other browsers, first to Firefox and more recently to Google Chrome? And will this shiny new browser be able to rehabilitate the tarnished Internet Explorer brand?
Internet Explorer 9 beta review: Microsoft reinvents the browser | ZDNet
Pinned taskbar icons are cool. (Not sure yet about sites – site groups, yes!) Jumplists are THE killer feature of Windows 7. (Right-click a taskbar icon or look for fly-out menus on the Start menu.) Smart jumplists improve any application, including IE9. Customizable jumplists would be great. (Yes, pinning to jumplists is great, but we could do more.)
If you decide to uninstall the beta, see Revert Back to IE 8 from Internet Explorer 9 Beta – How-To Geek
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