IE9: 5 ways it cuts browser clutter

[Night Hawk]

IE9: 5 ways it cuts browser clutter

By Shane O'Neill
September 16, 2010 05:14 PM ET

CIO - It's a little ironic that the main focus of yesterday's Internet Explorer 9 beta launch event in San Francisco was to de-emphasize the browser itself.

The modern browser, with all its tabs, buttons and search fields, has become too cumbersome and draws attention away from what consumers and business users really care about: Web sites. IE competitors Firefox and Chrome are also stripping down their browser interfaces to the bare essentials.

"People go to the Web for sites, and Web sites have become boxed in by the browser," said Dean Hachamovitch, Microsoft's Internet Explorer GM, in his keynote. "With IE9 we are unboxing the Web browser experience so users can focus on sites."

To this end, Microsoft has created IE9 as a browser that "uses the whole PC" - meaning that the rendering of text and graphics has moved from the CPU of a computer to the GPU (graphics processing unit) for more power and speed. IE9 is also offering more support for HTML5, an increasingly popular standard for developers to create rich media on Web sites.

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[Hondajt]

I really like IE8. I don't think I notice the browser at all when I am reading an online article or surfing forums. Not to say it can't be approved, (like hidden tabs and such) but overall, I think IE8 is hard to beat.

 

[Gornot]

Hidden toolbars would be a great idea. As IE9b is now, I have to choose to either display the bookmarks toolbar (which looks ugly and annoying in this version) or use the bookmarks icon, which is kind of complicated because my bookmarks are quite heavily structured and organized, with tons of subfolders and stuff.

But I do agree that this minimalistic approach is much more suitable, at least for me, as I never needed things like the search bar (due to Google being my homepage and now having the search bar inside the address bar just like Chrome) and the menu bar is completely useless to me.

Though I already saw negative comments on the new UI, I hope that Microsoft develops the final version of 9 to be more customizable by users (in case they actually don't make any drastic changes to the UI).

If all goes well, IE9 could have even better community support from users (than IE8) in terms of add-ons and extensions and stuff, and that would seriously make IE "top-notch".

 

[Night Hawk]

Well you have to remember that IE 9 presently is still "in beta form" not being a final version and why the appearance is a little ruff at this time. Compare the original wallpaper 7 comes with to get an idea of how a simply change will dress Windows up considerably when the time comes for the finished version of IE 9.

What threw me at first was not finding the menu bar you expect to see and have to follow specific instructions just to see that available! That was a little bir of hindsight by MS and not simply being able to right click and check that off for display as well as the Favorites bar.

At present they are staying with the basics while development is still in progress as far as options like addons. The placement of the home page button next to the address bar saves the need for the command bar showing.

That cuts down the need for one toolbar there just that as well as Feeds, Page, Read Mail, Print, Safety, Tools and Help. Speaking about "clutter" I have to right click just to clean those off all but the home page icon when any fresh install of 7 goes on!

In case anyone hasn't already posted a link for this you can download and review the Internet Explorer 9 Beta Product Guide

Thai is seen in both PDF and XPS printer formats for looking over all the new features that will be seen in the finished version.

 

[Gornot]

Yeah, I checked out it out trying to figure out how I can restore previously dismissed thumbnails on the New Tab page.

 

[Joan Archer]

Thanks for the link Night Hawk, I'll have a read of it when I have a bit more time. I know that so far I like the new IE, it's cleaner and faster and after all that's what I need a browser for, to get me quickly to web pages and allow me to see them on screen without it taking up more room the the site.

I'm still using it in it's default set up, the only toolbar I have showing is Roboform, I'll use it like this for a while and see what if any tweaks I need to do, but so far I haven't missed the Menu bar or the Favourites. I know it's only a click to get them when needed so I'll see how things go for a while before I mess it up.

 

[bigcitycat]

I like IE9 and chrome but until either can do what noscript can do in Firefox I have no intention of switching.

 

[lordvader]

In IE9 we have to hit ALT + H to see List Menu
how can we see that menu all the time


Please

 

[Night Hawk]

In IE9 we have to hit ALT + H to see List Menu
how can we see that menu all the time


Please

The ALT+H was never seen at the MS page. Neither was the guide Brink wrote up for keeping the menu bar enabled all the time seen until asking that same question right after the download and install on the 15th. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/111483-internet-explorer-9-turn-menu-bar-always.html

So far I'm trying to get used to the reversed arrangement of things. Besides the Favorites bar for having a select list of sites(SF included) on a preferred list the main favorites section there looks like a library!

 

[lordvader]

In IE9 we have to hit ALT + H to see List Menu
how can we see that menu all the time


Please

The ALT+H was never seen at the MS page. Neither was the guide Brink wrote up for keeping the menu bar enabled all the time seen until asking that same question right after the download and install on the 15th. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/111483-internet-explorer-9-turn-menu-bar-always.html

So far I'm trying to get used to the reversed arrangement of things. Besides the Favorites bar for having a select list of sites(SF included) on a preferred list the main favorites section there looks like a library!

Thank you

 

[Night Hawk]

In IE9 we have to hit ALT + H to see List Menu
how can we see that menu all the time


Please

The ALT+H was never seen at the MS page. Neither was the guide Brink wrote up for keeping the menu bar enabled all the time seen until asking that same question right after the download and install on the 15th. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/111483-internet-explorer-9-turn-menu-bar-always.html

So far I'm trying to get used to the reversed arrangement of things. Besides the Favorites bar for having a select list of sites(SF included) on a preferred list the main favorites section there looks like a library!

Thank you

You're welcome! I ran right into that one wednesday until someone else had spotted the guide before I did and pointed it out. Even the right click option didn't work until I followed the instructions there for getting the menu bar and other things working.