Some of you out there may be aware of the feature in web browsers where you can increase/decrease the text size. Even though I champion Firefox as my primary web browser, I admit that Opera 9 and Internet Explorer 7 do resize things better for overall readability. See video below for the reasons why.

The beta edition of IE 8 was released so I downloaded it and gave it a go.

First I will state that this is a beta product and certain things don’t work correctly, so unless you’re a web designer/developer, stick with your current browser (be it IE 7, Firefox, Opera or whatever you currently use).

The short list of things that don’t work correctly / aren’t finished just yet

Unable to select text via keyboard or mouse in form fields on some web sites

When typing text in a form field I will sometimes use my SHIFT and arrow keys to highlight text, then do a CTRL+C to copy to the clipboard. On certain web sites I found this didn’t work.

Letter spacing and word spacing CSS rules not recognized

With CSS you can set the spacing of letters and words with certain CSS rules. IE 8 doesn’t recognize these at present (but IE 7 does).

Drop-down menus in "Programs" section of Internet Options sometimes do not work

I noticed when going to select default actions/programs in that section the menus were a bit "argumentative" and wouldn’t activate unless I clicked on them several times.

Help menu is IE 7 and not IE 8

Pressing F1 on the keyboard brings up help for IE 7.

. . .

I’m sure I’ll find other little oddities in this beta browser.

The short list of things that do work correctly / better in IE 8

Tabs are much faster on load

The first thing I immediately noticed is that the tabs work much better. They load much faster whether activated by mouse or CTRL+T. When switching tabs I also noticed that was faster as well.

Flash seems to work more smoothly

On flash-intensive web sites the browser had a lot less "chop" compared to IE 7. In addition the animations had the same fluid nature they do in Firefox (something much appreciated).

Internet Options cleaned up in some areas

It’s now a bit easier to find your way around while in Internet Options. Certain things were "clustered" together, meaning it takes less clicks to navigate to certain settings.

Any visual differences?

None that I could see. It looks identical to IE 7.

What matters in IE 8 is the "guts" that allow for better faster web browsing.

New Stuff in IE 8

Two new items for IE 8 are "Activities" and "Slices".

Activity example: You highlight a portion of text on a web page and right click. The context menu appears with new choices. You can blog it (Live Spaces), define it, map it, search with Google and so on.

Microsoft defines a slice like this: "Developers can mark parts of webpages as "WebSlices" and enable users to monitor information they rely on as they move about the web"

I have absolutely no idea what that means, said sincerely. If anyone wants to chime in and give a "WebSlice" example I’d be more than happy to listen.

Is IE 8 a Firefox killer?

No, for the reason Firefox still rules in the plugins department (but IE is catching up).

However, I can guarantee this will be the first IE you will actually enjoy using since version 5. I found myself using IE 8 and saying to myself "Hey, this isn’t half bad" because it’s not as bulky or clumsy. Things run faster and smoother and it works well.

Once it’s out of beta stage I’ll definitely be first in line to upgrade to the official release version. This isn’t to say I’m switching back to IE from Firefox, however as most people know there are some sites that just "like" IE better where you’re forced to use it.

Final words (for now)

My initial impression is that it at least keeps up with Firefox in the speed department, and the less time I have to wait, the better. Part of the reason I can’t stand IE 7 is because of its slowness. IE 8 on the other hand is a definite improvement.

Microsoft is on the right track with IE 8. When the finished version is released this is going to be a no-brainer upgrade.

Back in the days of olde (i.e. late 90s) web browsers were distinctively different in the way they worked as far as user commands were concerned. Today all of them act more or less identical to each other. I personally feel this is good because when going from one browser to the next there’s not too much of a learning curve, if any at all.

My favorite shortcuts are the ones that require the absolute least amount of effort to do, such as single-key functions or double-clicking a mouse in a certain spot.

I’ll be going over a few (but not all) of these shortcuts in the "big three" web browsers: Internet Explorer 7 (IE7), Firefox 2 (FF2) and Opera 9.26 (OP9).

Keystroke: CTRL+T
Function: Open new tab
Works in: IE7 FF2 OP9

Keystroke: CTRL+W
Function: Close currently selected tab
Works in: IE7 FF2 OP9

Keystroke for only one tab open: CTRL+W
Function: Closes browser
Works in: IE7 FF2

Keystroke: F5
Function: Refresh/Reload web page
Works in: IE7 FF2 OP9

Keystroke: F6
Function: Go to address (URL) bar
Works in: IE7 FF2

Keystroke: / (forward slash)
Function: Quick-find text in current web page
Works in: FF2 OP9

Keystroke: Home
Function: Go to top of current web page
Works in: IE7 FF2 OP9

Keystroke: End
Function: Go to bottom of current web page
Works in: IE7 FF2 OP9

Keystroke: CTRL+(number of tab)
Function: Go to specific tab by order of load (CTRL+1, CTRL+2, etc.)
Works in: IE7 FF2

Mouse: Double-click in blank area of tab bar
Function: Opens new blank tab
Works in: IE7 FF2 OP9

Mouse+Keyboard: ALT+Scroll
Function: Scroll by line
Works in: FF2

Mouse+Keyboard: SHIFT+Scroll (up or down)
Function: Go back/forward thru web page history
Works in: IE7 FF2 OP9

As you can see, most functions are more or less identical across all browsers. The two that are almost identical to each other are IE and FF. There’s very little FF can do that IE can’t.

Opera, while a great browser, seems to be the only one that falls behind in the shortcut department. F6 has been "go to address" bar pretty much ever since web browsers were invented, yet Opera doesn’t do it. Yes, I know you can do a CTRL+L for the same function but it shouldn’t take two keys when you can do it in just one. A nitpick? Yes, obviously. But hey, I notice these things, what can I say..