IE 7 to take a cue from Firefox

Cnet News ^ | 05/17/2005 | Renai LeMay

[Panerai]

Microsoft has confirmed that its upcoming version of Internet Explorer will include tabbed browsing, a feature made popular by competitors Opera Software and Firefox.

In a Microsoft blog, IE product unit manager Dean Hachamovitch told consumers not to expect too much from tabbed browsing in IE's beta offering.

"The tabbed browsing experience in the upcoming IE 7 beta is pretty basic," he said. "The main goal for tabs in our beta release is to make sure our implementation delivers on compatibility and security. The variety of IE configurations and add-ins across the Internet is tremendous."

Hachamovitch said his team would seek feedback to help iron out bugs in the feature. "We've also looked closely at reported vulnerabilities in other implementations of tabbed browsing," he said.

The IE executive also explained the motivation behind keeping the feature--which has been available for some years in competing products--out of IE until now.

"Some people have asked why we didn't put tabs in IE sooner," he said. "Initially, we had some concerns around complexity and consistency--will it confuse users more than it benefits them? Is it confusing if IE has tabs, but other core parts of the Windows experience, like Windows Media Player or the shell, don't have tabs?"

[martin_fierro]

In a Microsoft blog, IE product unit manager Dean Hachamovitch told consumers not to expect too much from tabbed browsing in IE's beta offering.

Don't worry, Dean. I won't.

[andyk]

tabbed browsing

Can I assume this means web pages within a tab control within one browser window, as opposed to having multiple browser windows open?

[Terpfen]

The IEBlog also confirmed some CSS rendering changes (bugfixes mainly, no new tag support or the removal of IE-only tags) and transparent PNG support.

Honestly, this sounds like a token update. Unless IE7 will pass the Acid2 test, it really won't have anything over Firefox.

[flashbunny]

I certainly won't either, since I'll keep on using firefox.

[savedbygrace]

"Some people have asked why we didn't put tabs in IE sooner," he said. "Initially, we had some concerns around complexity and consistency--will it confuse users more than it benefits them? Is it confusing if IE has tabs, but other core parts of the Windows experience, like Windows Media Player or the shell, don't have tabs?"

"We at Microsoft have built our business on the principle that our customer are doorpost stupid. Have a nice day."

[Brett66]

Will it give more control over downloadable applets, i.e. spyware? Will it integrate pop-up blockers into it or do you need third-party software to do that?

[keat]

Looking forward to tabbed browsing in IE ... with one tab.

[Paleo Conservative]

But it w-i--l----l b------e m-------u

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[flashbunny]

Yes. It's a great feature that you can do a lot with. For example I have my mouse wheel set to open a link in a new tab when I click on it. The tab loads in the background and the focus stays on the current tab until I switch.

I have shortcuts set up so my aux mouse button switches tab and another aux mouse button closes tabs.

[djf]

IE keeps track of every page you ever visited. Even after you flush the cache. I imagine it tells the folks in Redmond once in a while. You have to come up in dos mode to purge the indexes.

Firefox does not.

[FreedomPoster]

Did you know that in Firefox, clicking the scroll wheel on a tab, closes the tab? Something I learned in the last couple of weeks.

[MediaMole]

"We at Microsoft have built our business on the principle that our customer are doorpost stupid. Have a nice day."

Have they ever been proved wrong?

[evolved_rage]

IE product unit manager Dean Hachamovitch

Hatch-ham-of-bitch...As product unit manager, he's giving birth to a pig!!!

[Mr. Blonde]

This is microsoft we are talking about. No doubt it will only be tabbed browsing.

I have a question for Firefox users, does anyone know how to get recently visited pages to come to the top of the address drop down menu?

[blues_guitarist]

"IE 7 to take a cue from Firefox . . ."

Ha ha! Good luck!

[flashbunny]

I did not know that!

I have it set up with my mouse software to have what is referred to as button 5 issue the command to close the tab from anywhere within the tab window - which means I don't have waste any time going up to the tab itself.

[blueberry12]

I'd rather stick to IE6. That's good enough.

With each new version, Microsoft includes some more problems.

[Bommer]

Dean Hachamovitch told consumers not to expect too much from tabbed browsing in IE's beta offering.

"The tabbed browsing experience in the upcoming IE 7 beta is pretty basic," he said. i>

wow. cutting edge. this is why microcrap is on the bleeding edge of technology. it adopts standards already profected by others and makes them $hittier

[Astronaut]

Wow. Tabbed browsing. What an innovation. If this was still the year 2000.