A Modern Internet Explorer 10 for Windows 8
Windows 8, the new operating system from Microsoft, will also be ushering in a new browser called Internet Explorer 10. And for the first time ever, there will be two versions of the browser running on the same OS: a standard desktop app and a Modern-style one. We tell you what to expect.
A Faster & Safer Internet Explorer 10
Internet Explorer, Microsoft's very own Internet browser, and one of the most widely used browsers today, has been the butt of many a joke on the Web for an inordinately long time, with many poking fun at it for its sluggish performance and various security vulnerabilities. But what was the last version of Internet Explorer that you've actually used? Are you just buying into the idea put forward by the hive-mind without using your own discretionary abilities? Perhaps the release of Windows 8 is the best time to give the much maligned browser another shot before you head out and start installing alternatives.
On to its tenth installment now, Internet Explorer 10 (IE10) has been specifically optimized for performance with Microsoft’s new operating system. What's different this time round is that there are two versions of IE10 running on the same OS. There's a standard desktop app and a Modern-style, touch-focused app. Users can switch between the two as and when they please.
In terms of looks and aesthetics (and even the workings), Internet Explorer 10 for the desktop is a spiritual successor to Internet Explorer 9. So for this article, we will focus our attention on the Modern-style version of IE10.
IE10 for the desktop looks and works (for the most part) like IE9.
Modern IE: Less Browser, More Web
In our previous article, we talked about the some of the key Modern-style apps in Windows 8. IE10 has also gotten the Modern UI treatment, and has its own app for the Modern environment. In Microsoft's own words, the Modern-style IE10 "puts the focus on the web, not the browser." And it's not hard to see why.
For a start, IE10 offers edge-to-edge browsing by having the webpage take up the whole screen. If you thought browser design couldn't get any more minimalist, this version of IE10 will prove you wrong. And like all the other Modern-style apps, it works best if you've a touch-enabled device: you can tap to open a link, pinch to zoom into an image, and flick to scroll through webpages. But credit to Microsoft, despite its focus on touch, we found it to work reasonably well with a traditional keyboard and mouse.
To reveal app commands and other controls, just swipe in from the top or bottom edge of the screen. (To learn more about the common touch gestures in Windows 8, and their keyboard and mouse equivalents, check out this article.) You'll see a bar at the top that contains all your opened pages. To open a new blank page, tap the '+' button. The 'More' button (the one with three horizontal dots) will reveal two additional options: to close all other tabs except the page that you're on, and to create a new InPrivate tab. The latter is a feature that's also present in the desktop version of IE10. Basically, it's a privacy mode that lets you surf the Web without leaving a trace. Information such as webpage history, form data and passwords, and address bar info aren't stored. The same goes for cookies and temporary Internet files at the end of each InPrivate browsing session.
For keyboard warriors, here are a few keyboard shortcuts to manage tabs:-
- Ctrl + T creates a new tab
- Ctrl + Tab switches between opened tabs
- Ctrl + W closes the current opened tab
- Ctrl + Shift + P creates a new InPrivate tab
To reveal app commands and other controls, just swipe in from the top or bottom edge of the screen. Or, right-click on an empty space. Take note that the tab switcher bar is at the top, while the navigation bar is at the bottom - the orientation is opposite to what's usually expected.
If you're using a mouse, instead of dragging the cursor to the navigation controls at the bottom, hover around the center of the left or right edge of the screen to get the on-screen back or forward button.
InPrivate browsing mode can be activated on a per tab basis. You can easily tell that you're in an InPrivate mode by the blue tag in the tab switcher, or in the URL bar.
More Navigational Options
Unlike what you're usually accustomed to, the navigation bar is now located at the bottom. Fortunately, you've the usual forward, back, and refresh navigation buttons. You can also pin a webpage to the Start screen, or add it to your favorites list via the 'pin' button that's also on the navigation bar.
A few more interesting options are revealed when you click on the Tool icon. You can search for specific text on a page, or request to view the page on the desktop version of IE (especially when you come across a page that doesn't work properly in the Modern-style version of IE10 due to a lack of plug-ins). In addition, there's a 'Get app for this site' option. Essentially, what it does is it lets you know if the website that you're surfing on has an app. If it does, hitting the button will bring you to the Windows Store to download the app.
So after adding favorites, how do you find them? Simply bring up the navigation bar and click on the URL field; your frequently visited and favorite webpages will show up as tiles.
The Tool button presents you with three options: to get an app for the site you're visiting (if it has one), find text on the current page, and open the page on the desktop versions of IE10.
The location bar is an 'omnibar' which means that you can type both URLs and search terms in it. For search, the Bing search engine is used (of course).
Our favorite feature though is something called called 'flip ahead'. Say you're reading a five-page review on HardwareZone; with flip ahead enabled, instead of using the next page link, simply swipe across the page to go to the next page. What flip-ahead does is to cleverly figure what's the next logical page and when you swipe across to move to the next page, it will fetch the next page for display. Of course, this can only work when there's a straightforward page hierarchy such as a multi-page article. You can turn on flip-ahead through the Internet Options menu via the Settings Charm. Flip ahead is also available in the desktop version of IE10. The toggle can be found under Tools > Internet options > Advanced > Browsing. Note that the functionality of this feature depends on the site design and it may not work all the time.
Through the Settings Charm, you can gain access to more IE10 settings. You can delete browsing history, turn off or clear location permissions, or adjust webpage zooming ratios (from 50% to 400%). You can also turn on a neat feature called 'flip ahead'.
Regarding Adobe Flash
In September 2011, Microsoft went on the record to say that the Modern-style (then still called Metro-style) version of IE10 is going to be 'plug-in free'. The decision came after the company examined 97,000 web sites, and discovered that while 62% of them use Flash, many of those use it just so they can display advertisements, and the majority of them fall back to HTML5 if Flash isn't supported. In a nutshell, in order to view Flash and other plug-in content in Windows 8, the user has to switch to the desktop application of IE10.
Now, before you go pulling your hair out and lament that you can't play your Flash 10 videos and games in IE10, let us tell you that the situation has somewhat changed since the "no plug-in" comment. The final decision is that IE10 in Windows 8 will come with Flash. However, it's not in the form of a plug-in. What Microsoft has done is to work with Adobe to integrate Flash 11.3 right into both the Modern-style and desktop versions of IE10. (The latter will, as per usual, support other third-party plug-ins.) That being said, there are some differences between the two. For one, the Modern-style version of IE10 isn't getting the full version of Flash, so some Flash-based sites may still not work (especially those who don't work well with touch, like a reliance on double-click or rollover and rollout events) and you will need to turn to the desktop version which has the full version of Flash. More importantly, a website must be in the IE Compatibility View (CV) list before Modern IE can play its Flash content. For web developers, check out this documentation that details the compatibility guidelines for Flash content in IE10, and how to submit your sites for consideration for the CV list.
IE10 in Windows 8 ships with Flash 11.3 built right into the code.
Oops! Looks like while the main Disney website is on the IE Compatibility View list, the Disney Singapore website isn't. This is what we got in Modern UI based IE10.
Of course, the concern with Flash integrated into IE's code is one of security. This means that any security update has to come from Microsoft, via the Windows Update mechanism; users can't just download and run security patches from Adobe. We can only hope that the super-close collaboration between the two companies will also translate to faster and more timely security updates.
Update (Mar 12, 2013): Microsoft has announced that it'll be updating IE10 in Windows 8 and Windows RT to run Flash content by default. This means that instead of using the CV list as a whitelist, it'll now be used as a blacklist. You can read more about this change here.
Security Matters
Other than what we've mentioned above, security has also gotten a boost in IE10. For example, SmartScreen Filter (first seen in IE8) detects for phishing websites, and protects you from downloading and installing malicious software. Basically, it’ll check the reputation of webpages you’re surfing on, and screen files that you download from the Web, and let you know if something is amiss. Naturally, this has raised some privacy concerns, but Microsoft has responded by saying that they aren't building a historical database of program and user IP data, and all IP addresses in their logs are deleted periodically. If you're still feeling uncomfortable about SmartScreen, you can turn it off. Just search for 'action' in the Start screen, select 'Settings' from the results, followed by 'Action Center'. In Action Center, you'll see an option on the left that says 'Change Windows SmartScreen settings'.
Also new in IE10 is an 'Enhanced Protected Mode' (technical details here), which aims to protect your data even if a hacker has found a flaw in IE10. EPM is enabled by default on Modern IE10, but not on the desktop version. Why? Because EPM requires all processes to run in 64-bit. However, to ensure compatibility with plug-ins, the desktop version of IE10 has its tab or content processes run in 32-bit by default. In other words, when you enable EPM in the desktop version of IE10, it will switch to 64-bit tabs by default. This may 'break' certain plug-ins, but the good news is that you'll be given an option to load a 32-bit tab if the browser encounters a non-EPM-compatible plug-in.
To enable EPM in the desktop version of IE, go to Tools > Internet options > Advanced, and check 'Enable Enhanced Protected Mode'.
Final Thoughts
All in all, after using Modern IE10 for several months now, we can say for certain that it's a move in the right direction, at least from the user experience point of view. And it's a more than capable browser for Windows RT devices, which can only run Modern-style apps. It is however less efficient if you don't have a touch-enabled device though. In that case, the desktop version of IE10 is a better choice.
Loathe Modern IE? You can always set the desktop version to open links and even IE tiles by default. The settings can be found in the desktop app of IE, under Tools > Internet options > Programs.
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