I recently took Microsoft’s new browser offering IE8 for a spin. It’s been a while since I had to code a Web site to run in browsers. These days I focus my attention on the design of products and services for people, and IE8 would have to be one of the most high-profile software releases we’ve seen recently so it seemed worth a look at least.
Microsoft has been putting a lot more effort into the user experience of its software recently. There are clear indicators of the fruits of this effort in Office 2008, for example. So here are a few points I noticed in my tour of IE8.
Installation
Microsoft products always fill with me with a sense of trepidation. The installation process never seems to go smoothly, and take longer than they feel like they should. Downloading and installing IE8 was no exception. Five clicks on a Download option and I was finally into the actual installation process. I’m sure there are good reasons for each of those clicks, but it just reinforces the opening perception that the product may be more trouble than its worth.
Getting Started
Somewhat surprisingly (see above), once the software was installed the set up process was exceedingly smooth. Importing settings and bookmarks from Firefox went off without a hitch and I was ready to use IE8.
Initial Impression
The interface feels cluttered and confused. The header area particularly is full of options and icons – most of which are either ambiguously labeled or not labeled at all. The positioning of these items didn’t feel to be based on any particular prioritisation so I was constantly searching for the right icon to do the thing I needed. This included simple tasks like stopping a page mid-load; going back to the previous page; and accessing the File menu.
Performance
The speed of load and page rendering in IE8 is excellent. Sites like the Sydney Morning Herald, News, and the BBC all loaded quickly and displayed flawlessly.
Tabs & Tab Groups
The tabs in IE8 work in a common sense fashion, meeting the conventions established over the past few years. But IE8 takes this idea one step further through the use of colours to indicate groupings of tabs. Opening a new tab via a link from an existing tab adds that new tab to the same group – displayed in the same tab colour. Using the New Tab command (Ctrl+T) creates a new tab and tab group.
It is easy to rearrange tabs – clicking & dragging; and to move a tab from one group to another – clicking & dragging a tab into an existing group. The tab thumbnail view is a useful feature – similar to that seen on the iPhone – but it could do with the addition of clearer group indicators (the coloured outline is too subtle).
Accelerators
The addition of the Accelerators to IE8 is an interesting one. Accelerators provide contextual functionality to any highlight piece of text. Functions include Search and Translate – configurable to your search engine of choice. If third-party developers produce more of these plug-in features, the Accelerators may become a very effective way to extend the functionality of IE8 without recourse to upgrades and software updates.
If you’re running a Windows machine IE8 is worth a look.