I’ve used Internet Explorer less and less over the past few months, with Firefox now my browser of choice. Thus I was less interested in the release of IE 7 than I was with Firefox 2. But my Firefox 2 upgrade went so smoothly, I decided to go ahead and make the jump to IE 7 on my home computer the other night.

I couldn’t help but notice one thing right off the bat: compared to Firefox, IE 7 took about 10x as long to install and required a system restart. What’s the point of owning the operating system if you have to reboot after installing an application? But I digress.

After installing and starting up IE 7, the most noticeable change is its “redesigned, streamlined interface.” Apparently, the menu bar has been deemed superfluous (though it’s easily accessible by tapping the Alt key). The back, forward, refresh, stop, and home buttons are split apart and can now be found in three areas of the page. I’m definitely still getting used to that change. Here’s a screen capture of the top of the IE 7 window, so you can see what I mean.

There are some nice improvements over IE 6. Here are my favorites:

Essential “Catch-up” Features
IE 7 comes more than five years after IE 6 was released, and in that time Internet Explorer has fallen behind Firefox and other browsers in functionality. IE 7 catches up in several areas: it now offers tabbed browsing, has an integrated search box, and pages are automatically scaled to fit on a page when you print a web page (no more cutting off the right edge).

Page Zoom
If you’ve ever visited a web page with tiny fonts, IE 7’s new Page Zoom will appeal to you. Unlike the “increase/decrease font” option in IE 6 (and Firefox), IE 7 zooms the whole page, graphics and all, from 10% to 1000% of normal size. Here’s an example of 100% and 150% zoom:

     

     

Built-in RSS Feed Reader
IE 7 detects any RSS feeds on a web page, and offers a simple process to subscribe to feeds. Feeds are stored in the revamped “favorites center” and display directly in the browser for easy access to changing content.

Security Enhancements
IE 7 promises to be significantly safer and more secure than IE 6, with a phishing filter and tools to limit spyware and virus infestations.

Internet Explorer 7 at Wabash
Computer labs and classroom projection systems will be upgraded to IE 7 during the semester break. Microsoft has announced that they will deliver IE 7 via automatic update, but IT Services will disable this update until after January 1 for most office computers, so that office computers and classrooms will stay on the same version.

IT Services is supporting IE 7 now, and faculty and staff can upgrade manually at any time. To install the new version, click here to get started. As always, feel free to contact the Help Desk for assistance.

Internet Explorer 7 Training
To help with the transition from IE 6 to IE 7, IT Services will offer three demonstrations of IE 7, as follows:

  • Monday, October 30, 2-3pm in Baxter 214
  • Tuesday, October 31, 2:30-3:30pm in Baxter 214 (immediately before the Community Meeting)
  • Thursday, November 2, 3-4pm in Baxter 214

For those who prefer to wait to upgrade, we will repeat this demo later in the semester, and during the semester break.