Have a laugh...download IE7
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Dr Lobster*
- Posts: 2123
- Joined: Sat 30 Aug, 2003 20.14
great feature that... i'm using a plugin in firefox called viamatic foxposefusionlad wrote:Just trying it out now. I do like the 'thumbnails' of all the different IE windows you have open. Easy to jump from window to window.
Upload service: http://www.metropol247.co.uk/uploadservice
Back on the subject of using IE7 in standalone mode alongside IE6 ... there is a reason why this is known to break IE6
It was a cumulative update for IE that, as well patching some bugs in IE6, also broke the standalone mode for IE.
The IE boffins at Redmond must've thought, "If it ain't broken, don't fix it. If it IS broken, break it some more!"
Joking aside, there is now an (unofficial) IE7 Standalone Launch Script available for those still brave (or stupid)
enough to actually want to use IE7 Beta 2. If it breaks your IE6 and/or Windows, blame the man who wrote it!
It was a cumulative update for IE that, as well patching some bugs in IE6, also broke the standalone mode for IE.
The IE boffins at Redmond must've thought, "If it ain't broken, don't fix it. If it IS broken, break it some more!"
Joking aside, there is now an (unofficial) IE7 Standalone Launch Script available for those still brave (or stupid)
enough to actually want to use IE7 Beta 2. If it breaks your IE6 and/or Windows, blame the man who wrote it!
I went for the hybrid installation where you use WinRAR to get both versions of IE running. All worked fine for a day, but now I can't get IE6 to work at all, luckily I rarely use my desktop now anyway, but definately not putting the IE7 beta on ny laptop.
On the plus side, I like the new default font, it's much clearer than the old one, tabs are a great feature once you learn to appreciate them, and as others have noted, the new rendering engine is noticeably faster than the old Trident engine.
However, none of this can forgive the absolutely hideous interface. The basic design of the IE6 interface may well date back over 10 years to IE3, but I honestly saw nothing wrong with it. This new 'simplified' one is awful, combining the toolbar and the address bar onto a single line is awkward to use, and relocating the menu bar after a 21-year old precedent (yes Windows really is that old now) of it being directly underneath the title bar is a terrible idea - it's just change for changes' sake. And on the menu bar - I've somehow removed it entirely from the screen and can't seem to find any way of getting it back.
Hopefully this new interface is some sort of conceptial thing which will be improved before the final release, but really, with IE3 they got the basic user interface which a web browser needs more or less right. With IE4 they cemented it. It's quite rightly stayed the same ever since. Roll out flashy new icons if they will, but beyond that and introducing tabs, there are no other changes which needed to be made to the UI.
This all smacks to me of the damage that was done to Netscape once it finally climbed out of it's version 4 rut - some huge improvements were introduced, but because these weren't immediately visible the UI was completely overhauled for no good reason and the new look actually has functionality that was vastly inferior to it's predecessor.
I'm hoping that the final release of IE7 doesn't have this interface.
On the plus side, I like the new default font, it's much clearer than the old one, tabs are a great feature once you learn to appreciate them, and as others have noted, the new rendering engine is noticeably faster than the old Trident engine.
However, none of this can forgive the absolutely hideous interface. The basic design of the IE6 interface may well date back over 10 years to IE3, but I honestly saw nothing wrong with it. This new 'simplified' one is awful, combining the toolbar and the address bar onto a single line is awkward to use, and relocating the menu bar after a 21-year old precedent (yes Windows really is that old now) of it being directly underneath the title bar is a terrible idea - it's just change for changes' sake. And on the menu bar - I've somehow removed it entirely from the screen and can't seem to find any way of getting it back.
Hopefully this new interface is some sort of conceptial thing which will be improved before the final release, but really, with IE3 they got the basic user interface which a web browser needs more or less right. With IE4 they cemented it. It's quite rightly stayed the same ever since. Roll out flashy new icons if they will, but beyond that and introducing tabs, there are no other changes which needed to be made to the UI.
This all smacks to me of the damage that was done to Netscape once it finally climbed out of it's version 4 rut - some huge improvements were introduced, but because these weren't immediately visible the UI was completely overhauled for no good reason and the new look actually has functionality that was vastly inferior to it's predecessor.
I'm hoping that the final release of IE7 doesn't have this interface.
IE7 does not have a new rendering engine. It still uses the crappy old "Trident" engine, albeit slightly updated. They've slightlycwathen wrote: . . . the new rendering engine is noticeably faster than the old Trident engine.
improved the compliance to web standards, and made it a little bit faster, but it's still the same engine they've used since 1997.
They'll probably put a new rendering engine into it, in time for when IE7 is finalised later this year. If anything, as I've always
said, Microsoft seriously need to scrap the old "Trident" engine introduced in IE4, and replace it with a completely new one.
Or, at the very least, port the superior "Tasman" rendering engine they used in IE and the MSN Internet Service for Mac.
Whatever they've done to it it's definately a lot faster.DJGM wrote:They'll probably put a new rendering engine into it, in time for when IE7 is finalised later this year. If anything, as I've always said, Microsoft seriously need to scrap the old "Trident" engine introduced in IE4, and replace it with a completely new one. Or, at the very least, port the superior "Tasman" rendering engine they used in IE and the MSN Internet Service for Mac.
I don't think the interface would be half as odd if they had the menu where it used to be, but kept the rest of it.
however they seem to want to get shot of menus, judging by Office 2014 (or whenever it's supposedly coming out now)
"He has to be larger than bacon"