Internet Explorer 9 beta out

I like it; of course, doing web development I need to have some IE installed, glad I can have something better than IE8.

I really like the web pins + notifications and will most likely implement this.

Hardware acceleration is great, though we'll see which browser ships with it first.

Tearing off Tabs + Aero Snap. Opera has had this since Windows 7 shipped. I use it a lot.

The One Box. Opera has had combined address/search bar + history/bookmark suggestions for a very long time. I also use it a lot.

New Tab page. Opera has had this for a long time. I use it a lot.

Standards. I did a quick test with an HTML5 + CSS3 + Ajax website (validated to the most recent draft) I'm building and it doesn't yet support HTML5 Forms or CSS3 text-shadow.

The UI is good, I like minimal UIs. Opera and then Chrome have had this minimal UI for a very long time though.

I still don't get why they keep using separate buttons for refresh and stop or why they keep the home button on the side opposite to the back button. At least you can put the stop/refresh on the left. I also continue to shake my head why Ctrl + Middle Click doesn't reset the zoom.

The developer tools seem unchanged from IE8, i.e. good but not as good as Opera's Dragonfly. Maybe we'll get improvements in the final version.

Overall, it's a great beta and a much needed update to the market share leader. Hopefully MS will push this as a priority update when it ships.
 
Not perfectly bugfree, though.
Sometimes it doesn't load the whole layout and/or pictures at least on vBulletin boards, so far the "solution" I've used is opening few tabs from the same forum 'till I get one that works and close the others (at B3D, I had to open 2 extra tabs to get it done, at MuroBBS just one). Refreshing the page doesn't work.

I also am kinda disappointed how this doesn't really show if it's still loading a page - I had to confirm wikipedia really was down for me on another browser.
 
Not perfectly bugfree, though.
Sometimes it doesn't load the whole layout and/or pictures at least on vBulletin boards, so far the "solution" I've used is opening few tabs from the same forum 'till I get one that works and close the others (at B3D, I had to open 2 extra tabs to get it done, at MuroBBS just one). Refreshing the page doesn't work.

Haven't encountered that. I am finding the font rendering a bit... off though. It's not the hardware acceleration because turning that off doesn't yield any differences and selecting compatibility view does. Worst of all is that it has layout implications.

I also am kinda disappointed how this doesn't really show if it's still loading a page - I had to confirm wikipedia really was down for me on another browser.

It's not very reliable but you should have a progress indicator on each tab.
 
Be sure to update your flash player for more IE9 improvements.

http://labs.adobe.com/downloads/flashplayer10.html

Adobe® Flash® Player "Square" is a preview release that enables native 64-bit support on Linux, Mac OS, and Windows operating systems, as well as enhanced support for Microsoft Internet Explorer 9 beta.

We have made this preview available so that users can test existing content and new platforms for compatibility and stability. Because this is a preview version of Flash Player, we don’t expect it to be as stable as a final release version of Flash Player. Use caution when installing Flash Player "Square" on production machines.

The key new capabilities in the Flash Player "Square" preview are:

* 64-bit support — Native support for 64-bit operating systems and 64-bit web browsers on Linux, Mac OS, and Windows.
* Internet Explorer 9 hardware accelerated rendering support — Enhanced support for Internet Explorer 9 Beta. It takes advantage of hardware accelerated graphics in Internet Explorer 9 Beta, utilizing hardware rendering surfaces to improve graphics performance and enable seamless composition.
 
I runs nicely. Though the save password dialogue just disappears, Firefox bookmarks get imported from the administrator account it seems and there is no session management. I have to save bookmarks and then the tab groups are lost.
64bit Flash is very nice I think. :)


edit:
It's nice that IE doesn't "remember" the window size when I maximize it vertically.
 
Wheee, it certainly does appear to be fairly zippy. It going to take a little time getting used to proper hardware AA'ed fonts in some cases by the looks of it.
 
Its extremely fast for me. I never really had a fav over firefox or ie8 but ie9 is faster than both on my system. I'm very happy so far
 
I still don't get why they keep using separate buttons for refresh and stop
Because refresh and stop do different things? ;)

Very fast here also, though there is no 64 bit version of Silverlight.
So IE9 is inherently 64-bit now? That'd be cool, there's almost zero 64-bit programs out there apart from certain (often commercial) productivity software, even though 64-bit OS installs are becoming increasingly common these days.
 
Because refresh and stop do different things? ;)

While that's true, think of what he's asking: explain an instance where you'd use BOTH at the same time? You're either stopping the page from loading, or you're reloading the page. There's no logical reason why it cannot be a 'shared' button like several other browsers have implemented.

I'll have to go download this and check it out, as it sounds interesting...
 
there is no session management.

There is, to some extent anyway.
If your computer had for example crashed, it would ask do you want to restore that session.
Also under "File" (click alt to get them visible) there's "New session" option
 
While that's true, think of what he's asking: explain an instance where you'd use BOTH at the same time? You're either stopping the page from loading, or you're reloading the page. There's no logical reason why it cannot be a 'shared' button like several other browsers have implemented.

I'll have to go download this and check it out, as it sounds interesting...
If a page doesn't load, I'd try to reload it immediately, without stopping first. A combined button is fancy, but then you have to click twice.
I like these on the right of the URL bar too, I'd only need them for the current URL anyway - Stop I actually never use.

I don't like not having a seperate history button though. I'd want one next to the back/forward buttons.
The URL bar seems to be much better than Firefox's version - the new tab page too.

There is, to some extent anyway.
If your computer had for example crashed, it would ask do you want to restore that session.
Also under "File" (click alt to get them visible) there's "New session" option
Thanks, I forgot the reopen last session button. It only saves one window unfortunately - I'm a bit spoiled by Firefox 4 tab management. :)
 
While that's true, think of what he's asking: explain an instance where you'd use BOTH at the same time? You're either stopping the page from loading, or you're reloading the page. There's no logical reason why it cannot be a 'shared' button like several other browsers have implemented.

Thank you.

If a page doesn't load, I'd try to reload it immediately, without stopping first. A combined button is fancy, but then you have to click twice.
I like these on the right of the URL bar too, I'd only need them for the current URL anyway - Stop I actually never use.

How many times does that problem presents itself? Mostly if there are connection problems on the client/server's end. In this situation having to click a button twice is minor compared to the fact you'll never see the page at all until the network connection is reestablished. It's also offset by the fact there's one less button for the user to worry about for 100% of the time you're looking at the browser which MS admits being one of the goals for IE9. While there's no clear answer, IMHO the benefits are worth it.

Most telling, however, is why did Microsoft combine the two buttons in Windows Explorer but not IE? On previous versions of IE I suppose they wanted to keep it consistent with XP's explorer but IE9 won't be available for that OS.

I don't like not having a seperate history button though. I'd want one next to the back/forward buttons.

Click-drag the back or forward buttons for the history, just like Opera (okay, I'll stop ;) ). Alternatively you can right-click for the same functionality.
 
In this situation having to click a button twice is minor compared to the fact you'll never see the page at all until the network connection is reestablished. It's also offset by the fact there's one less button for the user to worry about for 100% of the time you're looking at the browser
Please... If you "worry" about having a stop AND a refresh button visible "100% of the time", then you need therapy.

The saving is so insignificant as to be completely negligible, and perhaps completely offset by those users who become confused by a button which changes behavior depending on what might not be very clear circumstances to some.

There's no real benefits to be found, I can't think of any better use for those ~150 square pixels of screen estate if the stop/reload buttons were combined. IE8's UI already is very streamlined.
 
Ugh, IE 9 might be faster, but the UI is a horrorshow. This is totally and completely unuseable. I wonder if it's possible to get it at least looking closer to IE 8.

Wow, this is REALLY a disaster of a UI, IMO. Not happy at all. And if there are ways to customize the UI, it's non-obvious. Bleh, horrible horrible horrible UI.

At least let me move my tabs under the address bar, put the freaking bookmarks/favorites back to the left, give me back the option to add tabs to homepage through the home button like before, gah. This is just an absolutely incredibly F-d up UI.

Holy crap tab management is a freaking nightmare now with it being on the same freaking line as the address bar. And give me my gdamn search box back, I DO NOT want to use the address bar for that. My god, the UI designers were freaking idiots.

Oh god, and horror of horrors, searches now go in the same space as last websites visited? What the heck kind of drugs were they using when they made this crappy UI? I'm completely flabbergasted.

Wow, this whole UI is so freaking disjointed. If you pin favorites as a panel it pins it where it used to be before. Only problem being is that before it made sense since it was right below the favoites button. Now it's on the other side of the freaking screen. I might be able to get used to this if I could move the tabs back to where they were. This tabs on top shit is absolutely idiotic. Especially when it has to share space with the address bar.

Gah, what sucks the most is that it'll either be choose another browser with a potentially crappy UI or be forced to use this crappy UI.

Regards,
SB

Editing as I go until someone posts something below this.
 
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