With contrast to the “Internet Explorer – World’s Worst Browser” article I made on November 21st last year, Microsoft proved me wrong with their newly released Internet Explorer 8 (IE8) this March 19th 2009.

I’m a person who likes to give constructive comments, but after using Internet Explorer 8 for some time, I realized that there’re not many constructive comments! In fact, I think I will have to give a round of applause to Microsoft because they are now a step more advanced and faster than their competitors.

New Feature

Microsoft introduced some new toys to enhance our browsing experience. A few of those would be Accelerator, Improved Search, Webslice and InPrivate browsing.

Accelerator 

I think of all features implemented, support for this new Accelerator feature will be massive. When I say massive, I mean support from all the big and popular websites. Why? Because Accelerator actually allows you to choose which service you want to use in just a click away (yes, you don’t even need to remember the names !!).

The services include Blog, Define (mainly dictionary & Wiki), Search Engine, Email, Maps and Translators. All internet users would at least use one of these features, there’s no escaping from the IE8’s Accelerator!

The Accelerator is available for usage right after you install Internet Explorer 8. It’s easy, all you need to do is

1. Select and add your favourite Accelerators at ieaddons.com.
2. Define your favourite services for to default at “Manage Add-ons”.
3. Start using the services in any website with just a click away!

For my case, I’ve chosen Dictionary.com, Google maps, Google Search, Gmail and Google Translator. If I have no idea what “easy” means, I’ll just have to highlight the text, click on the Accelerator Icon and press “Define with Dictionary.com”. A new tab would popup from dictionary.com and tells me what “easy” means.

Same goes to addresses, if I’m searching for “UNSW”, I just have to highlight the text, click on the Accelerator Icon and press “Map with Google Maps”. A new tab from Google Maps would popup and shows me where UNSW is.

Aren’t these functions great? I am waiting for wordpress to build their add-ons as well so that with a click of a button next time I can be directed straight to this editor.

Improved Search

While other search tabs only suggest or shows you texts, the improved Internet 8 search tab comes up with pictures! This is called “Visual Search” and can be seen especially when searching in Wikipedia.

Microsoft also claimed that Internet Explorer 8 also has an improved address bar. But from what I can see, it’s not as good. We will discuss more about that in part II.

Webslice

Have you ever watched a TV where you could open up a different channel at one of the corner of the screen? Webslice works that way too! But unlike TV, the website you want to bookmark must support Webslice. The Webslice icon must appear for you to bookmark it as a Webslice.

So far I’ve only discovered that the Weather Forcast from Live Search and Ebay is using Slice.

What you do is

1. You search for sliceable things
   
2. Click the icon to slice it (bookmark it)
3. Click on the bookmark and enjoy the little sneak peak (or updates) of other websites.
   

InPrivate Browsing

Visiting porn websites Browsing under an invisible cloak has never been easier with the introduction of InPrivate Browsing. Your browsing activities, history and cookies are saved. Great stuff, since all these are not saved, you can now turn on InPrivate Browsing in computer cafes and do your stuff without worrying about your cookies or passwords saved in other PCs.

To be continued - In the next part I will talk about the things Internet Explorer 8 has improved and what Microsoft should do to retain their #1 browser status in the internet world. Subscribe to RSS feed so you won’t miss out.