Internet Explorer 7 (Beta Codename: Vista) - First Look

I've been using IE 7 beta for the past month and it's time for a review. Well, when IE versions 6.0, 5.5 and 5.0 were released, not much changes were noticed in terms of appearance / UI. So, if you think it will be the same case for IE 7.0 then I would say "Dude, You're wrong!!!".

So what's the big deal about this? Well, there is Tabbed Browsing for one. Yup, we know that Johnny is a little late; Opera had it, Firefox came with it and Netscape has it and it's good that IE 7 has come up with it. There is a change in Back & Forward control buttons; They are grouped together with a single list instead of each having a individual history list. The Stop & Refresh buttons are placed next to address bar, which makes some sense really. If you're one like me who would install a google toolbar or yahoo toolbar or MSN toolbar only to only make a quick search, Here's Quick Search for you on the same place where you find it in Firefox (Yes, Top Right). The default search engine is MSN (Need i mention it???); ofcourse you can change it to any search engine of your like and don't forget to set it to default, else, it would be MSN again. And there is the support for RSS feeds and the Favorites and History are a little enhanced and would be called Favorites center.

Aren't you still convinced? Okay, You're the one who argues "My existing non-IE browser has all these features already. What's the new about it?". Now read the new features... Quick tabs - helps you see a thumbnail view of all the open tabs, so that you can navigate between tabs. One click "home page" toolbar control where you can add/remove/change the homepage. A new "Add-on Manager" to manage your IE plugins / add-ons. Popup blocker is pretty much the same but there is this new "Phishing filter" for a secured browsing experience. And believe me, this version has really improved in terms of webpage printing. The "Print preview" is rocking and  you can print the page in a screen-condensed format where the entire page fits your paper. Apart from the text size, you can also control the zoom of the web page. You can zoom it from 10% to 1000% and even to a custom size, if you want.

But still if you're a little hesitant about the Vista, there's still time for you. You can wait till the final version roll out or you can just upgrade your IE and still continue with your current non-IE browser. But do remember that you will have to upgrade to this SOMEDAY, SOMETIME.