A few days ago, Microsoft Corp. finally declared that its new Web browser, Microsoft Internet Explorer 7, passed all its beta tests and is now available for downloading by everybody. So let’s start with the address you’ll need to do that:
www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/downloads/default.mspx
The reason I think you should get rid of MSIE 6, or whatever you’re limping along with, is that love ’em or hate ’em, Microsoft’s software engineers delivered a truly grand set of improvements this time.
Keep in mind that with the recent arrival of Windows Media Player version 10 and now the advent of MSIE 7, we’re all getting a pretty good look at the most visible parts of the long-awaited Vista operating system that Microsoft says will arrive early next year.
The sweeping changes over the MSIE browser version 6 include both safety and usability fixes. The most obvious one is the greatly reduced size of the toolbar display at the top of the page. The old icons have either shrunk or vanished.
This one move makes the browser display fill more of each Web page and, combined with a number of new features for zooming and quick display of open pages, lets users get much more out of each page visited.
Above all, the display is based on a change from ordinary screen fonts to alphabets based on the True Type used in modern Windows applications. The result is a delightfully crisp look to written material. And if a Web site uses tiny type, a quick click on an icon in the new toolbar lets you enlarge the page by percentages of 125, 150, 200 and 400.
Gloriously, the zoom also works on graphics, letting you expand photographs to expose details that are flat-out missed otherwise.
On the topic of zooming, you’ll also be happy to see a new printer feature that automatically reduces the size of a page so that it will print out in either portrait or landscape orientation without stuff running off the page.
This works by calling up a print preview page that will show how the printout will look at different sizes, while automatically justifying things to fit the chosen format. Lovers of recipes will rejoice, along with blog watchers and assorted fans of hard copies.
Slim new look
As to look and feel, most visible are the new back and forward arrows that, instead of being on different sides of the bar, are now a pair of aqua blue pointers right next to each other. This alone will save heavy users miles of mouse movement over coming years.
Gone are those fat icons for Files and Favorites and Bookmarks and History and such. They are replaced with a nicely intuitive row of text reading File, Edit, View, Favorites, Tools and Help.
Above those commands is the address line showing current location on the Web and a new Search Box designated with a magnifying glass icon. A tiny down arrow lets users set the box to any of the big search engines including MSN Search, Google and Yahoo. Users can take their pick or use a command to find other providers.
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This takes you to a page where a great many search places can be added, such as Amazon, eBay, About, Ask, Best Buy, Target, Wal-Mart and USA Today. Any one of the search services can be set as the default and the arrow will henceforth display links to any of the sites you add.
Tabs built in
Another section displays the crown jewel of the new Microsoft browser: Tabs that can be used to each hold a single Web page, thus letting a user instantly move from one to the other.
You start with a Tab for your home page and then create a new one for your e-mail, another for a favorite news site, another for sports or whatever mix you want. Thereafter, each resource displays instantly with a click of the tab.
And as Tabs build up, you can use the mouse to move them to the front or back of the line to keep your best stuff closest to the left of the display. If you haven’t used Tabs, that may not sound like a big deal. But veteran Tabsters will know it rocks, as the young ‘uns say.
Microsoft was scorned and berated for years for lacking Tabs as the feature was built in to competing browsers Mozilla Firefox and Opera.
The boring part of this story may well be the best part of all because it includes a raft of security changes made under the hood that are not always visible but that help deflect things like the phishing bait and switch scams that direct users to phony Web sites that are copies of valid locations.
At the programming level, MSIE now directly implements the hot new Web enhancements called Ajax, instead of using its own Active X as a bridge.
It may be too late for the Windows wonks to win back defectors lost to Opera and Firefox, but let me tell them one and all that MSIE 7 is well worth a look-see. As for the rest of us, I can just say hallelujah.
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Binary beat readers can participate in the column at chicagotribune.com/askjim, or e-mail [email protected]. Snail-mail him in Room 400, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60611.