IE7 Beta 2 Preview

From MS website:

Thank you for choosing Microsoft and for trying this pre-release software. Everyone on the Internet Explorer team wants to make your web browsing experience safer and easier. We welcome your feedback.

IE7 Beta Download

I started using this Beta 2 Preview last week when it came out this past week and so far I have not had any significant crashes.

The new minimal interface – read reduced and reconfigured toolbars – does take some getting used to.  Buttons are in a few different spots but I am slowly adapting as I use it more.

Toolbars can be modified some however, they do not currently hold their new position after you close the browser.  One big thing I am having a hard time with is getting used to browsing with tabs – I keep wanting to exit the whole window and I keep forgetting to open new pages in new tabs instead of new windows.  Unfortunately I can find no setting to automatically open new links in a new tab so I have to remember to right click to do that.

There is the Phishing Filter which can check websites you visit to see if they have been reported as malicous sites.  Just like the SPAM programs that use Black and White lists – this will only be as good as the information it uses.

The browser does not support CSS2 – I can tell this because of a WordPress plug in I use called Tiger Admin.  It uses CSS2 to create a new interface to the WP Dashboard and in this beta preview it does not work.  In Firefox it works very well.  Hopefully MS will be able to get IE7 working properly with CSS2.

I will close with what I call a cool feature – the Quick Tab function.  When more than one tab is open a small button appears to the left of the tab listing.  Here is what you get when you push that button:

Quicktabs

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Richard Hay  (3356 Posts)

Richard is the Owner of WindowsObserver.com and has been involved in tech for over 25 years. His first website – AnotherWin95.com – came online in 1995. Back then he used GeoCities Web Hosting for it and what you see here today is the result of the work he has continued on the site since 1995. In January 2010 his community contributions were recognized by Microsoft when he was awarded the Most Valuable Professional (MVP) Award for Windows Desktop Experience. In January 2011 he was renewed as a Microsoft MVP but in a new category called Windows Expert - Consumer and in January 2012 he received the award for the third time.