Browser Know How – IE7

Internet Explorer 7 (IE7) came out approximately 6 years after Internet Explorer 6 (IE6), a very long time between any two versions of software, but especially on the Internet. During this time, Internet Explorer 6 was the most common browser, and Microsoft took that for granted, and other, better browsers, came out.

IE7 was Microsoft’s response to Firefox, Safari, and Opera. With 6 years to develop the next generation of browser, you would expect the new version to have any and every feature under the sun. So let’s look at what it got right vs. what is got wrong during this time.

What IE7 got right

• IE7 includes an decent RSS reader.  IE6 didn’t support RSS at all, and Firefox’s and Safari’s built in readers are adequate for those who only check a few feeds.  IE7 actually has a useful RSS reader that remembers what you have seen.
• Tabs – every other browser had them, and now IE does as well.
• Improved security – built in security features help you determine, and protect you, if a site is potentially unsafe or might try to steal your information.  The protections tend to fall into three separate categories:
  • unsafe JavaScript and active X controls.  By limiting the ability for these to run, it protects you from both bad & nefarious programmers.
  • phishing sites – these are sites which try to steal your information, usually by masquerading as another site (eBay, your bank, PayPal, etc)
  • checking for security certificates – while this isn’t new, they present the danger of a site which has a bad or out of date security certificate more prominently, to increase the chance of you noticing this error
• Improved compliance with web standards.
• Support for PNG – now transparencies work.  This is a huge improvement which can allow smaller, yet better looking, images to be displayed on web sites.

What IE7 missed

• The interface. How you use your software is important, and IE7 changed/moved many of the menus and buttons.  This makes if difficult to use until you get used to it.  After using IE7 for over 9 months, I can honestly say, I’m still not that used to it. And while some elements were moved to take up less space, the over all feel for the browser is that the buttons are larger, and have large soft rounded edges, which ends up taking up more space.
• Tabs – While IE7 has them, they seem to be thrown in as an after thought.  Launching a new tab takes longer in IE7 than any other browser.
• Compliance with web standards – IE7 is the second least compliant of the major browsers when it comes to web standards, only after IE6. While it made great strides forward, it still has a ways to go. This main affects web developers and web site owners as they have to craft work arounds to make a site work correctly in all the browsers, but this does lead to larger sites that take longer to download, and sites which are harder to maintain over time. The fact that IE6 and IE7 are not standards compliant, leads many websites to not fully utilize the web as they could.
• Tight Integration with Windows – the part which Microsoft argued about bundling IE6 with Windows, still exist.  This tight integration, makes it a little faster (supposedly), however, it also puts you at higher risk of being affected by malicious code.
• Their security model – IE security in many ways has two modes, off and on. These limitations cause major issues if something needs to run, but is blocked.  Unblocking that one site can often open the door for many more sites and/or operations.  The same features which make IE easy to integrate with back office applications, also allow your system to be hacked, and without an easy way to block sites and/or operations, users get limited to either not being able to run all of the features of a site, or risking getting hacked.
• Lack of performance – many performance test show IE to be one of the slowest browsers on the market.

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