Internet Explorer 7: Is Your Site Ready?

Potentially greater interesting than a new phonebook’s arrival is the deliberate automatic replacement of Microsoft’s net browser, Internet Explorer. If you have not heard about it, and I’m sure most of you have, Microsoft is planning to launch the first and most important upgrade to Internet Explorer because of IE6 in 2001. With many new capabilities, safety upgrades, and changes to the middle software program, it’s a completely new browser that can unexpectedly be the primary browser of an amazing 70% or more of your audience. Is your site equipped for that? If you don’t know, now’s the time to discover.

At a few factors at some stage in the next few months (the fourth region of this 12 months,) Microsoft might be rolling out this improvement as a high-priority, automated update. That method that most Windows XP customers will, without a doubt, be online sooner or later while they may acquire a popup alert from the system tray announcing that updates are prepared for their computer. Virtually overnight, you may discover most of your website visitors have made the transfer.

Those people who automatically use different browsers or look at our websites in more than one browser will discover numerous very familiar matters incorporated into IE7. I even have mixed feelings about this. On the other hand, I’m satisfied with their changes and upgrades. Still, on the opposite, I find it demanding that a majority of non-technically-orientated web customers will assume those as Microsoft improvements rather than Microsoft seeking to catch up with all people else’s gains.

Still, there is a lot to be satisfied with on this upgrade. Some of the it-like improved net standards and CSS guides, may require adjustments for some websites (That’s a terrific element, truly.), and several, like RSS integration, are an opportunity to offer new services and gain a bigger target market.

Internet Explorer 7

Tabbed Browsing

That’s proper; tabbed browsing has subsequently made its way to Internet Explorer (boldly going wherein all and sundry else has been for some time.) If you’re like me and you often ought to have some of the packages walking concurrently and then ought to open numerous unique browsers to evaluate page layouts, then you may recognize this addition. I can sooner or later have ONE window of Internet Explorer open with some of the web pages displayed in exceptional tabs (as I always could in different browsers.)

My only regret here is that there may no longer be a good, all-reason, go-browser compatible script to automatically open outside hyperlinks in new tabs in preference to new windows. This would make a pleasant addition to Paul Boag’s External Links script that I (like many others) use so significantly. However, I’m positive that one will come alongside subsequently.

RSS Integration

This is, in reality, a wonderful characteristic. I realize it’s already a widespread part of different browsers; however, because 70% to 90% of your users are browsing the net with nothing, Internet Explorer’s sudden capability to study and join RSS feeds properly in their browser could be a completely new feature. If your online website already has an RSS feed, then now is the time to begin planning how to promote it to an extra major-flow target audience in addition to how you might make it a greater outstanding part of your pages. If your site does not, then now’s the time to start operating on one.

The new feed button for IE7 stays grayed out and inactive while viewing pages without a recognizable feed (RSS1, RSS2, Atom, etc.) and then springs to bright, orange existence while viewing a page with one. I do not know approximately you. However, I’d adore it to be one of MY sites where a user first notices this unusual new button. You comprehend it has to be attempted as a minimum as soon as you look at what it does, and what it does is tell your users that there is even more content material to be had out of your website than they may have ever been aware of in any other case.

The drop-down listing to have feeds and feeds next to the button is a capability supply of misunderstanding for non-technical users. Still, most will sincerely click on the principle button and get the topmost default feed. However, upon clicking it, they now get not most effective a new feed web page, a few useful data about meals, and a way to use them. My favorite element, even though, is the bolded assertion in the yellow container that asserts, “You are viewing a feed that regularly incorporates up-to-date content material.” That’s almost an unsolicited advertisement for viewing your feed. I need to thank Microsoft for including that.

They’ve even gone a step further and added a sidebar allowing customers to sort or filter out your feed with the aid of date, name, author, or even category. Using this manner, you’ve assigned those categories to every feed content. A little careful forethought on this branch may want to the internet you some permanent, new website users viewing your content and, extra special, specifically, if you pad each RSS “submit” with a few types of incentives to click on again through to your major pages.

Extensibility

One of the issues that Internet Explorer has constantly had turned into its inherent lack of extensibility. It turned into a proprietary Microsoft utility intended to do only what Microsoft had in mind once they shipped it-not anything more. This erroneous approach froze it into being a passive browser. With its several extensions, Firefox modified all that at the side of all of us’s concept of what a browser might be and what it may do.

With IE7, Microsoft has made the mildness of following this method visible, and they’re no longer stepping in with nothing. They’re beginning right out with a few heavy-hitters, of which at once stuck my eye: the Developer Toolbar-the Internet Explorer solution to Chris Pederick’s critical Web Developer add-in for Firefox-and Fiddler that is an HTTP Debugger that lets you mess around round in that unique pot of code.

In terms of direction, it remains to be seen if they can harness the voluntary developer network that Firefox has. However, they’re off to an amazing start. At least this kind of “elevating the bar” from side to side among the diverse browsers will continue to benefit us in the trenches.

Security Features

After taking it on the chin for a long time, Microsoft has gotten downright severe with protection- possibly a little overboard in some extreme methods. One of the higher aspects of this new security recognition is their phishing clear-out. IE7 will block get admission to (or at least warn you about) faux websites that are fake to rely on websites to get you to show private statistics, download malignant software, or look around while it loads crap onto your pc in the background.

Internet practitioner. Twitter expert. Analyst. Communicator. Thinker. Coffee advocate.
Spent a year testing the market for sock monkeys in Naples, FL. My current pet project is donating robotic shrimp in Hanford, CA. Spent several months getting my feet wet with weed whackers worldwide. Spent 2001-2006 training shaving cream in Hanford, CA. Crossed the country lecturing about bathtub gin in West Palm Beach, FL. Spent 2001-2007 implementing licorice with no outside help.