Internet Explorer 11: A Substantial Review of the Top 4 Web Browsers in the Planet Today – Part 3 of
“Internet Explorer has added great features, but it still can't catch up to the best web browsers.”
That was the verdict of 10Top10Reviews for Internet Explorer 11. The latest version (v11.0.12) of Internet Explorer from Microsoft was released in September 2014. Based on NetMarketShare report, Internet Explorer currently has the largest desktop browser share, with 58.18% as of Jan ’15.
IE11 only runs on latest versions of Windows – 7, 8 and 8.1.
Apps
IE11 can be downloaded straight from Microsoft Download Center. Users can leverage the full capability of IE11 in Windows 8.1 where they can create active and seamless experience between apps and web apps. It is only through Windows 8.1 you can be able to access the Windows Store where you can download apps that integrates with IE 11.
Aside from the built-in apps in Windows 8, Microsoft also offers help in developing, improving and marketing Windows apps. I will discuss more about this in the Extensibility section.
Reviews
PCMag sees IE11 as faster and more-standards compliant than its predecessors.
IE11 for me is a user-friendly web browser. I’m a Chrome user. But when I first tried using IE11, I found out that there are many similarities between the two web browsers, particularly in the User Interface. Having an improved UI, with Bing as search engine, and having better safety features that are running at the background, I think it’s about time to bring IE back to my screen.
10TopTenReviews also noticed the updates in IE11 that were effectively designed to tighten security loopholes in modern internet browsing. The Do not Track (DNT) feature, for example, enhances privacy by not allowing websites to track users’ activities. The review site gives IE11 with a score of 8.6/10 for beefing up its security features to combat phishing and malware threats.
User Interface
If you’re using IE11 on Windows 7, adding/changing themes would be closer to not than impossible. But with Windows 8.1, the sky is the limit for adding themes, installing apps, and managing add-ons.
IE11’s window, controls, tabs, and the search field (called One Box) will give you a smart and clean browsing experience.
There is a hidden gem in IE11’s UI that when discovered can boost your browsing experience. I’m talking about the “Go to pinned sites” menu under the Tools icon which allows you to pin a site on your taskbar by simply dragging it. When you click this menu, it will take you to the Internet Explorer Gallery where you can select a site to pin from a list of Pinned Sites. I suggest that you explore more this amazing option.
Privacy and Security
Internet Explorer actively blocks 99.9% of socially-engineered malware with Smart Screen Filter technology. This claim of Microsoft is absolutely true. Some of the improved security and privacy features in IE11 are InPrivate Browsing, Turn on Tracking Protection, Pop-up Blocker, and ActiveX Filtering.
You can also report unsafe website to Microsoft if you think that it is a phishing website or it is linked to malicious software. Also part of the security feature is the Performance Dashboard where you can monitor in real-time the performance of your computer’s CPU and memory.
Standards Support
Good news for developers! IE11 supports modern web standards including Web Graphics Library (WebGL), Canvas 2D L2 extensions, media source extensions, full screen API, and mutation observers like DOM4 and DOM 5.3. IE11 also supports standards-based features in the areas of adaptive streaming, content protection, and captioning with HTML5 video.
Extensibility
Developers can use the new F12 Developer Tools, a built-in tool in IE11 which can be opened by pressing F12 on your keyboard, in debugging code, solving display issues, improving performance, and increasing the stability of web pages.
IE11 extensibility even goes beyond that. Microsoft feeds developers with free tools.
App developers who want to build on Windows phone environment can download for free the Windows Phone Dev Center app. Visual Studio Express 2013 for Web is also available as a free development environment for building, testing and deploying web standard applications including ASP.Net, Internet Information Services (IIS), Azure and SQL Server.
It is clear indeed that IE11 offers smarter web browsing, faster navigation, enhanced security features, and improved compatibility with web standards, browsers, and websites.
Next on my review list: Mozilla Firefox
