LOGIN | REGISTER NOW | SUBSCRIBE
 
print Printable version 
Most Read Latest News Blog Resources
Does Windows cost Microsoft opportunities?
Microsoft's decision to focus .NET on Windows is stifling innovation due to the specter of...

Mono brings .NET to Android
At Microsoft MIX, Mono will unveil the ability to port .NET applications to the Android op...

Going 'all in' on .NET as default runtime
Programmers for Windows Phone 7 will need to use Silverlight and XNA for development

Digg!  Digg
Reddit  Reddit
Slashdot  Slashdot
Share on facebook  Facebook
Share on Twitter  Twitter

IE8 beta lets users cover their tracks


By David Worthington
August 29, 2008 — 
On Wednesday, a beta refresh of Microsoft Internet Explorer 8 that includes new privacy and search features became available for download.
 
End users are the target audience for beta 2. It introduces granular privacy settings that Microsoft has dubbed InPrivate browsing and InPrivate blocking. InPrivate helps users cover their tracks as they browse by informing them about cookies that may observe their browsing history and permitting them to selectively remove those cookies.

Likewise, it eliminates all traces of a browsing session, leaving no user names, passwords or search queries behind.

“[InPrivate browsing] is a double-edged sword,” said Laura DiDio, a principal analyst with Information Technology Intelligence Corp. “It is good for home users, but at work, presumably it will have the same features for corporate users, which might not be something that is welcomed by supervisors.”

With InPrivate blocking, users may subscribe to lists of Web sites to block or allow. Other changes that target the user experience are crash recovery, a “diagnose connection problem” button, the ability to reopen closed tabs, and Compatibility View, which permits users to view Web sites that are "broken" by IE8’s standards compliance.

IE8 has three rendering modes: the default “full standards” mode that has already passed the Web Standards Project’s Acid2 test and supports CSS 2.1; a mode that supports W3C standards in the same way as IE7; and a “quirks mode” that maintains compatibility with earlier editions of the browser.

It also selectively implements parts of the HTML 5 draft specification, including cross-document messaging, a client-side storage API, network connection awareness and a window location hash meant to place Web applications into the browser's back/forward stack.

Microsoft has added new search features to help users find what they are looking for on the Web. One of those is the Instant Search box, a feature that pulls up search results from the user’s chosen search provider and the user's browser history within the box.

The other is a little less conventional: suggested sites. IE8 makes recommendations about other, related sites that might be of interest to the user. It is not enabled by default.

The new search features fit within a concept that Microsoft is calling “Reach Beyond the Page.” As previously reported, other features in that concept are “Activities,” which is essentially a dialog box that lists available Web services when a user selects text, and “WebSlices,” which gives end users the ability to subscribe to portion of a Web page, including Silverlight controls.


Related Search Term(s): browsers, security, Microsoft


Share this link: http://www.sdtimes.com/link/32796
 

Add comment


Name*
Email*  
Country     


  • Comment
  • Preview
Loading



 
 
 
 
News on Monday
more>>
SharePoint Tech Report
more>>


   

 
 
Download Current Issue
ISSUE 3/15/2010 PDF

Need Back Issues?
DOWNLOAD HERE

Receive the print Edition?


 
blogs tab
Google Code turns 5
Google Code Turns 5, and adds a Paxos Algorithm to make the system more stable and reliable.
03/17/2010 11:16 AM EST

Test your Visual Studio 2010 know-how
Microsoft is offering free beta certification exams for Visual Studio 2010.
03/17/2010 11:08 AM EST

Microsoft lifts the hood on IE9
Microsoft is previewing IE9.
03/16/2010 01:10 PM EST

 

Events calendar tab
EclipseCon
3/22/2010 to 3/25/2010
Santa Clara, Calif.
The Eclipse Foundation

DevConnections
4/12/2010 to 4/14/2010
Las Vegas
Penton Media

MySQL Conf. and Expo
4/12/2010 to 4/15/2010
Santa Clara, Calif.
O'Reilly Media

High Performance Computing Linux Financial Markets
4/19/2010
New York City
Flagg Management

Informix User Conf.
4/25/2010 to 4/28/2010
Overland Park, Kans.
IIUG