Wish-list for Internet Explorer 10

Question

Hi everyone! I'm creating this post that allows you to request new features in Internet Explorer 10.

I'm doing this because I want to share my browsing experience and from others with Microsoft. IE need to catch up with others

 

Missing Features and things to review:

- Show windows and last tabs from the last time when Internet Explorer starts

- Allows URI texts written in webpages to be loaded by double clicks in a new tab (exemple: Text link addon for Firefox)

- A better bookmarks manager. (I have more than 168 bookmarks and it's impossible to manage them. I use Firefox to do that then I synchronize them)

- A redesigned windows for Internet Options. (Simple users don't understand most of the options, also give it a facelift)

- JSON or other mechanism. Why Internet Explorer still relies on internet shortcut located in the favorites folder of the user profile ? They can't have special characters, people don't search for favorites from the start menu...This folder should not exist anymore

- WebGl. I know your security concerns but please think about it.

- Improve the tracking protection. Even if it is about privacy I see a lot of people using it for blocking ads so why don't you improve it to support adblock plus list? It should support blocking and hiding elements.

- Internet Explorer x64 should be the default browser for Windows 8 x64 (also rewrite the JS engine in x64 for better performance)

- Extensions ? This one may never see the day! It is not attractive for developers, they prefer to code in Javascript and I can understand that.

- Autofill. How come? I mean how come the feature is not there already in 2011! This will be welcome on Metro IE plugin free.

- Password should be saved in a .sqlite file or other mechanism but please not in registry. You cannot export/import them and...

- Drop support of toolbars. Toolbars are ALWAYS cause of problems on browser, why do keep supporting them? Unless you like people saying Windows is slow. Companies should find another way to make money.

- Internet Explorer doesn't run smoothly enough .

- Add an icon in the search field to bookmark a site quickly.

- Ability to bookmark a website directly in a folder (not only the favorite bar)

- Get rid of the RSS support. What telemetry say ? I don't think people use this feature and I prefer to use a website or a metro app for that.

- Get rid or improve the "Suggested website" It is not good the way it is.

- A better tab page (there are a lot of mockups available if you need inspiration)

- Since IE9 when you do a search it only show 2 of your favorites and you have to expand the list. This is the most unwelcome feature, seriously why did you do that to us? There is no options to increase this number.

- Add more options to the right click menu. (and remove the export to excel)

- We can't middle click the home icon.

- Title tab are not dynamic. (Example You are not able to see if a new mail has arrived)

- Pinned website should accept BHO,activex but not toolbars (even if I don't use pinned websites)

- The design of Internet Explorer 9 is a good start but you should do better. I will not name a competitor because we all know the best!

- Use more prefetching and improve the rendering time.

- Merge the stop and reload icon

- You should force webmasters to update their website instead of supporting them by providing <meta http-equiv="X-UA-Compatible" content="IE=?" />.

- Compatibily view settings should not exist. ^^

- Go to copied address ctrl+shift+l should open a new tab instead of the current one

- Better spell checking. It is available in Windows 8 but the MSSpellCheckingFacilit.exe still have bugs. People have noticed slowing in webpages.

- Paste as text

- Auto Paste and Go (as soon as you paste a url in the address bar it should go to the website. With an option to disable it in case)

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Revue du Geek | Déployer Windows 7 avec MDT 2010

Answer 1

Yannick, are you sure they (the IE team) gonna take our comments in here while there are tons of requests on connect -- UNATTENDED ---?
Anyhow, here is my list:

• Better password management: if I clicked no to save password on one site, then there is no option to reverse the decision and the dialog to save password wouldn't appear for that site. Only way to get it back is to go to Tools > Advanced > Reset... Learn from FF!
• Ctrl + [click] Back or Forward button should open the target page in new tab, like all other major browsers.
• Quick tabs (Ctrl+Q) is a cool feature, should be enabled by default. (Internet options > General > Settings [under Tabs] > [check] Enable Quick Tabs...)
• Display memory usage by each tab in quick-tabs view.
• Many people don't know if IE has ability to search History. Why? Because it's buried deep inside the menu. Option need to be always visible in History pane.
• History must have a calendar. Like the one we have in Windows Explorer search when we type -> "date: ". Only the dates on which there was some activity should be enabled.

I even hate to install extra download manager app!!

• "Create Download" in IE download manager (scenario with details: https://connect.microsoft.com/IE/feedback/details/625057/create-download-in-ie-download-manager)
• Download progress in bytes and its multiples rather than only %age completed (like 483MBs of 4.7GBs). Adjust it under locations column or in braces after %age completed... it's not like there is no space at all!
• Some intuitive way to display the download progress. Perhaps like Windows 8's file copy dialog.
• Categories in download manager.
• Torrents support in download manager.

Nonetheless, there is a major issue with this world's fastest browser... (I hate to spread it but just hoping that they might take interest and fix it in next release) https://connect.microsoft.com/IE/feedback/details/680378/a-dom-manipulation-test-ie-performance

That's all for now. 

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- a citizen of Microsoft Developer Network.

Answer 2

1. If the user opens a bookmarked page, he has no visual indicator that the page is already bookmarked. May be the 'star' icon should glow?

2. Support lightweight, JavaScript, HTML and CSS based extensions.

3. Internet Explorer does not have a legitimate UI element to incorporate extensions. Consider an add-on like LastPass. Currently it adds a full tool-bar like row to the IE Window, thereby wasting precious vertical screen estate, which incidentally the tab-next-to-address bar design was supposed to save. See how Chrome and Safari implement it. Another example of such extension/add-on is avast! Web Rep.

4. Support right-click on links on more websites. Currently I cannot right click on video links appearing in the right-rail on a typical YouTube page, while I can do that perfectly in Chrome, Firefox and Safari.

5. Provide an option to open the download manager in a new tab like Opera.

Answer 3

Requests

• Sandbox all browser windows/tabs & browser itself.  Google Chrome has done this really well.
• Browser plugin's should be updated automatically (such as Flash).
• Bookmark syncing feature... maybe have bookmarks sync to Skydrive?

Answer 4

• Metro-style IE10 needs to find a way of supporting Lastpass.

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http://sqlblog.com/blogs/jamie_thomson/ | @jamiet | About me

Answer 5

Thanks Yannick.

My wish list is encapsulated within a single concept, described @

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/windowsdeveloperpreviewgeneral/thread/4f367181-33a7-402b-af9d-a2b5779f38f2

 

Answer 6

I would vote for something like the Firefox Addon Yet Another Smooth Scrolling (which is awesome) but with a better and more advanced User Experience.

 

My scenario is that I have multiple input devices, a touchpad, a touchscreen, a trackball, a wacom graphics tablet with scrolling panels and so forth! All of these devices have different control/response ratios i.e sensitivity to movement, acceleration and momentum. Sometimes tiny movements cause massive scrolling movements and vice versa.

 

I would love the browser to be able to detect what device was being used and set its scrolling properties appropriately for a fast and fluid scrolling experience independent of the input device used. I should not need to choose what settings are currently applied, I should have a central control panel to make the settings for each device as I prefer and then they should be automatically applied based on the input device sending the scrolling signals.

 

I have found that the manufacturers of the devices sometimes provide a means to control these settings (Wacom/Kensington) in different programs and sometimes they don't. Still I have found the superior control offered by the Firefox Addon Yet Another Smooth Scrolling to be superb and better than the fine tuning capabilites provided by the device maker. In Yet Another Smooth Scrolling you can have three profiles which offer settings, the trouble is that you have to manually select what profile is applied, I'd like this to be automatic.

 

Not to much to ask is it?

 

I hope this feedback makes it back to those who can make a difference!

 

Thanks

 

Austin

 

 

Answer 7

Requests

• Sandbox all browser windows/tabs & browser itself.  Google Chrome has done this really well.
• Browser plugin's should be updated automatically (such as Flash).
• Bookmark syncing feature... maybe have bookmarks sync to Skydrive?

I second Malebolgia's suggestion about bookmark/favorite sync with SkyDrive. More detail on https://connect.microsoft.com/IE/feedback/details/643240/sync-favorites-with-skydrive-an-idea-to-enhance-personalization-experience

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- a citizen of Microsoft Developer Network.

Answer 8

Love the feedback in this thread... For my part I'm pretty happy with a version that doesn't constantly give me "Windows is busy messages" when I try to close a tab, and that is equally (or better) compability wise with firefox and chrome... For some customers we had to uninstall IE9 and go back to IE8...

/ Johan

 

 

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Regards / Johan Arwidmark Twitter: @jarwidmark Blog: http://www.deploymentresearch.com FB: www.facebook.com/deploymentresearch

Answer 9

Love the feedback in this thread... For my part I'm pretty happy with a version that doesn't constantly give me "Windows is busy messages" when I try to close a tab, and that is equally (or better) compability wise with firefox and chrome... For some customers we had to uninstall IE9 and go back to IE8...

/ Johan

 

 

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Regards / Johan Arwidmark Twitter: @jarwidmark Blog: http://www.deploymentresearch.com FB: www.facebook.com/deploymentresearch

Just today, I was trying to convince someone to install only IE9 browser in Windows 7... The guy told me that sometimes on IE8 and 9, a tab crashes in such a way that it doesn't respond to refresh and any URL entered (otherwise click and scroll is working and there is no sign of busy waitng or crash report). OAN, he said in that situation opening a new tab in the same window and entering the URL works fine! Is there anything like that reported by the customers?

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- a citizen of Microsoft Developer Network.

Answer 10

Initially I didn't like IE9 very much, but I've grown to like it slowly and it's now my primary browser. However, I do not agree with the approach Microsoft is taking with IE. It is taking away without any user choice options that have been in IE and people depend on for years. I agree some want a clean, clutter-free experience but others want power browsing with all the bells and whistles. Why not offer a balance by hiding/turning off features by default but giving *users* the choice to turn on the features they want? While IE9 was being developed, the feedback I posted on Connect which also received several up votes btw resulted in zero visible changes in the shipping version of IE9, so you have no idea what customers want from IE. I posted feedback very actively on the IE blog and on Connect during IE9 development but to no avail. There are many many users at Connect and at Microsoft's forums who are asking for features which Microsoft removed instead of hiding from IE9. Clearly, the design of IE9 is so heavily influenced by a select few at Microsoft who want a minimal chrome that they have zero consideration for users who prefer a more full featured UI with more buttons and indicators. The IE9 experience for me is full of compromises for me compared to IE8 and I expect something to be done in this regard for IE10. Btw I love what you have done previously with IE7 and IE8 and also love all the rendering engine and performance improvements in IE9. In fact, now that Metro style IE is also available, this might be a very good opportunity to restore some lost power to the desktop IE experience. I want these please re-considered for IE10:

1. Dedicated search box with OpenSearch provider discovery and sound notification. Allow me to explain the request for dedicated search box:

* You don't discover new OpenSearch search providers any more with a sound or visual indication.

* If you search with say search engine 1, to search with the same search terms using a different engine 2 after you have searched with one and navigated elsewhere, you have to copy paste the search terms in the address bar or type them again.

* You only see icons now for search providers, no quick way to view their textual name, many search providers don't supply favicons and hovering over each search provider icon is time consuming and confusing with many providers showing the magnifying glass icon.

* You can't quickly switch between 2 search engines using the keyboard using the same search terms. e.g. Ctrl+E, then Down arrow key. I know Ctrl-E now takes focus to one box but selecting another search provider using keyboard isn't easy after that.

* You have to remember the keywords for searches. i.e. 'gi' for Google images, 'gm' for Google Maps which I don't want to.

* The terms from a search box on a web page do not sync with search terms in the one box (as it has to show the address there!)

* Whenever I search from the IE9 address bar with the search terms inside quotes, I get a blank page that says "Internet Explorer has modified this page to help prevent cross-site scripting." Doesn't happen when I don't use quotes.

* Searching from address bar was always available in IE right since IE6 even before IE7 added the search box. So please please add the search box back for IE10 will full IE8-like functionality

2. Tab list menu button (Ctrl+Shift+Q) - feature which IE7 and IE8 offered. A list style view of tabs is important. It was very useful and more importantly it took a very tiny amount of space in the browser chrome (just a very tiny dropdown arrow).

3. Fully functional status bar with page loading errors and Done message on status bar, a progress bar, Protected Mode status and zone information, cookie blocked icon and website privacy policy/report. Again, the status bar in Windows Explorer is being made more useful for the Windows 8 release

4. Notification bar should appear above the status bar if the status bar is enabled, it should not cover the status bar

5. Completed MB and progress bar for downloads, no % complete is not enough, MB completed is required

6. Download complete notification with only a sound like IE8 offered instead of both a sound and a visual notification

7. Prompt for location for each download like IE8 allowed. I do not want a default download location.

 

8. Local help files! Seriously WTH?

9. Option to turn off reputation-based downloading for power users without turning off SmartScreen

10. Not disable BHOs and addons in Pinned Site mode in desktop IE10.

11. JavaScript interpreter in the 64-bit version

12. Fully customizable position of toolbars and address bar - feature which IE6 offered

13. Automatically restore previous session option - feature which IE7 offered

14. Bring back the stop button! Stop and Refresh should never have been combined. Stop is for stopping the loading of a page and Refresh is for reloading the page. How can you just assume whenever I want to stop the page from loading, I want to Refresh it as well? For partially loaded pages, Stop button was very useful to stop content which took a lot of bandwidth like a HUGE image from downloading. Stop button is also used to stop GIF animations from playing. Please reinstate it. Now Esc is the only way to stop a page from loading.

15. Ability to change pinned site shortcut icon - like a regular .URL shortcut allows

16. Setting to make "Save as" the default button in the download option instead of Save. I prefer to have control every time I download a file and the click target (the little dropdown) to show the other options like "Save as", "save and open" is so small that it annoys me to hell. Save as needs to be default, not Save. Another issue with using "Save" is that IE9 does not prompt you if you use 'Save' to download a file that you have already downloaded. It downloads the same file again and renames it silently! 

17. When working offline on Windows 7, Internet Explorer 9 automatically goes online if the web page is not available offline without giving the user the option to stay offline.

18.  When clearing browsing history from within the browser, there is no progress bar or any sort of indication. Instead, a visual notification is shown on the notification bar which has to be closed by the user to see underlying page content. As if I needed to know that that history has been cleared when I just did it myself.

Almost all of these are regressions/step back from previous versions of IE so I expect them to be handled with priority. The search box, status bar features and tab list are the absolutely most critically requested features on Connect yet IE9 did not add them back. If these features are added back, then it will be a truly no compromise experience and with Metro IE serving minimalists needs, desktop IE10 needs them.

Answer 11

2. Tab list menu button (Ctrl+Shift+Q) - feature which IE7 and IE8 offered. A list style view of tabs is important. It was very useful and more importantly it took a very tiny amount of space in the browser chrome (just a very tiny dropdown arrow).

Quick Tabs? It is available in IE9. See my first post above. The only problem is; it is not enabled by default. I explained how to enable it:

Quick tabs (Ctrl+Q) is a cool feature, should be enabled by default. (Internet options > General > Settings [under Tabs] > [check] Enable Quick Tabs...)

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- a citizen of Microsoft Developer Network.

Answer 12

- A simplified security zone.(remove also extra settings)

- If you have downloaded more than one file, the download notification bars are overlapped. Then you have to click the close button one by one.

- The yellow color is not good for the notification bar because many times people didn't see it and still don't get use to it.

- Add site to Start menu should be removed.

- Support two or more languages for spell checking in Windows 8.

- A simplified privacy windows to manage Browsing and Download History, third-party Cookies.

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Revue du Geek | Déployer Windows 7 avec MDT 2010

Answer 13

Here is my response to your suggestions:

• Your suggestion "Show windows and tabs from the last time when Internet Explorer starts" is a bad idea. I wouldn't mind being able to look back through a few "last sessions" rather than just having one "Reopen last session" button, but ususally, when I close Internet Explorer, I'm done with it, period. When I reopen Internet Explorer, I don't want to see the last website I used, I want to start over, and I hate it when browsers implement this reloading behavior by default.
• Webmasters should not be forced to update their websites because Internet Explorer stops working with the older sites. For some webmasters (and I know one), this would be a huge amount of extra work and effort that would essentially accomplish nothing. Imagine that Microsoft actually did this. Either everyone with an older computer wouldn't be able to use the site properly, or everyone with a newer computer would see a broken version of the site. There are some people who still design websites in Microsoft FrontPage and are unwilling to move to a different web design program. Forcing this change would only cause problems for the Internet and decrease Internet Explorer's market share more.
• The Stop and Refresh icons should never be combined, because this is unnecessary and adds an extra layer of complication that users don't want. I was never a fan of the combined Refresh/Go button, since it does get a little confusing every once in a while.
• Auto paste and go would also be a problem because some users may want to wait before actually clicking "go." Requring users to click an extra button to turn this off would be pointless.
• Get rid of RSS support? What if someone is actually using it? They wouldn't want to see it taken away.
• I would like to see Microsoft make 64-bit Internet Explorer the default, or at least add the option to set it as the default, in order to convince developers to start writing 64-bit versions of plugins (ex. Flash Player).
• What's wrong with the design of Internet Explorer 9? I like it because it can be differnet things to differnet people. For some, they can have an experience like Google Chrome, and for me, Internet Explorer 9's UI looks just like Internet Explorer 8's because that's how I like web browsers (Microsoft can learn from this for the design of Windows 8). Actually, this reconfigured Internet Explorer post should be a huge wake-up call to Microsoft about what's wrong with expecing us to use Metro like it is in the Developer Preview.
• Also, the idea of a combined Search/Address bar that was supposedly "introduced" by Google Chrome's Omnibar is preposterous. That was how Internet Explorer 6 (!) worked. There is nothing modern about this design; it is a step backward, and I hate it when I type in a search term that automatically brings up a website that I don't want to see. Also, whenever I type in a search term that involves looking up a specific file (ex. town.mid or rundll32.exe), Internet Explorer always thinks I'm looking for a website with that domain. If I typed this into a Search box, that wouldn't happen.

Answer 14

- Get rid of the RSS support. What telemetry say ? I don't think people use this feature and I prefer to use a website or a metro app for that.

PLEASE NO. The RSS reader is simple and efficient. Has easy way to see unread news and middle click to open in new tab easily.
Why would I need to go to some website or metro app for this?

For other things, more or less agreed.

Answer 15

PLEASE NO. The RSS reader is simple and efficient. Has easy way to see unread news and middle click to open in new tab easily.

Because you didn't try yet google reader :)

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Revue du Geek | Déployer Windows 7 avec MDT 2010

Answer 16

Here is my response to your suggestions:

• I would like to see Microsoft make 64-bit Internet Explorer the default, or at least add the option to set it as the default, in order to convince developers to start writing 64-bit versions of plugins (ex. Flash Player).

Unless I'm misinterpreting what this setting does, it's already there...

 

 

-Noel

Answer 17

@Noel, just wondering: does IE10 32/64-bit both run Chakra or Chakra-like JS engine running on a seprate core?

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- a citizen of Microsoft Developer Network.

Answer 18

@Real McCoy, I said nothing about Quick Tabs (Ctrl+Q). I said "Tab List" (Ctrl+Shift+Q) which is completely different from Quick Tabs. Is it so difficult to understand the difference between Ctrl+Q and Ctrl+Shift+Q? Try both in IE8.

Answer 19

I thought its typo on your side! (lol). Hey, I don’t have IE8 anymore, but I guess it’s the arrow at the end of tab list which brings the dropdown list with all the open tabs! Btw, amen to anything related to better Tab management.

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- a citizen of Microsoft Developer Network.

Answer 20

@Noel, just wondering: does IE10 32/64-bit both run Chakra or Chakra-like JS engine running on a seprate core?

Good question...  As I recall the 64 bit IE9 did not run Chakra, while the 32 bit flavor did. 

 

I have heard that IE10 x64 does, in fact, use Chakra, but I don't know how to prove it...  Can you describe a straightforward way to determine that?  I'll be more than happy to boot up my Win8 x64 VM and check.

 

Edit:  I ran the SunSpider 0.9.1 JavaScript Benchmark on both the 32 and 64 bit IE10 and got VERY similar timings...  Notably with IE9 the timing differences are something like 4 to 1 between 64 and 32 bit.

 

32 Bit:

============================================
RESULTS (means and 95% confidence intervals)
--------------------------------------------
Total:                  323.5ms +/- 2.0%
--------------------------------------------

  3d:                    48.6ms +/- 3.3%
    cube:                23.5ms +/- 5.8%
    morph:                6.1ms +/- 6.7%
    raytrace:            19.0ms +/- 6.1%

  access:                33.3ms +/- 5.2%
    binary-trees:         8.5ms +/- 12.7%
    fannkuch:             8.8ms +/- 3.4%
    nbody:               12.1ms +/- 5.2%
    nsieve:               3.9ms +/- 13.5%

  bitops:                16.0ms +/- 9.2%
    3bit-bits-in-byte:    1.1ms +/- 20.5%
    bits-in-byte:         5.5ms +/- 12.6%
    bitwise-and:          5.5ms +/- 15.3%
    nsieve-bits:          3.9ms +/- 5.8%

  controlflow:            3.2ms +/- 9.4%
    recursive:            3.2ms +/- 9.4%

  crypto:                14.0ms +/- 8.7%
    aes:                  9.8ms +/- 6.7%
    md5:                  2.2ms +/- 29.9%
    sha1:                 2.0ms +/- 0.0%

  date:                  47.2ms +/- 3.9%
    format-tofte:        18.0ms +/- 5.3%
    format-xparb:        29.2ms +/- 4.3%

  math:                  22.8ms +/- 3.2%
    cordic:               0.9ms +/- 25.1%
    partial-sums:        16.9ms +/- 3.1%
    spectral-norm:        5.0ms +/- 13.5%

  regexp:                21.2ms +/- 2.1%
    dna:                 21.2ms +/- 2.1%

  string:               117.2ms +/- 2.6%
    base64:               4.9ms +/- 10.8%
    fasta:               22.5ms +/- 3.7%
    tagcloud:            43.2ms +/- 3.7%
    unpack-code:         28.7ms +/- 5.0%
    validate-input:      17.9ms +/- 4.0%

 

64 Bit: 

============================================
RESULTS (means and 95% confidence intervals)
--------------------------------------------
Total:                  331.3ms +/- 0.9%
--------------------------------------------

  3d:                    50.3ms +/- 2.7%
    cube:                23.3ms +/- 5.4%
    morph:                6.1ms +/- 3.7%
    raytrace:            20.9ms +/- 4.1%

  access:                33.8ms +/- 2.8%
    binary-trees:         8.5ms +/- 7.1%
    fannkuch:             8.8ms +/- 5.1%
    nbody:               12.4ms +/- 5.6%
    nsieve:               4.1ms +/- 5.5%

  bitops:                15.9ms +/- 4.5%
    3bit-bits-in-byte:    0.9ms +/- 25.1%
    bits-in-byte:         5.5ms +/- 6.8%
    bitwise-and:          5.6ms +/- 8.9%
    nsieve-bits:          3.9ms +/- 5.8%

  controlflow:            2.8ms +/- 10.8%
    recursive:            2.8ms +/- 10.8%

  crypto:                15.2ms +/- 5.3%
    aes:                 10.3ms +/- 4.7%
    md5:                  2.8ms +/- 10.8%
    sha1:                 2.1ms +/- 10.8%

  date:                  50.1ms +/- 2.0%
    format-tofte:        19.1ms +/- 3.7%
    format-xparb:        31.0ms +/- 3.1%

  math:                  23.1ms +/- 1.8%
    cordic:               0.8ms +/- 37.7%
    partial-sums:        17.0ms +/- 0.0%
    spectral-norm:        5.3ms +/- 6.5%

  regexp:                21.0ms +/- 4.5%
    dna:                 21.0ms +/- 4.5%

  string:               119.1ms +/- 1.5%
    base64:               4.8ms +/- 6.3%
    fasta:               23.1ms +/- 1.8%
    tagcloud:            44.3ms +/- 2.0%
    unpack-code:         28.3ms +/- 4.5%
    validate-input:      18.6ms +/- 7.1%

 

-Noel

Answer 21

Maybe this is the wrong thread and maybe I missed someone pointing out the same thing but there are quite a few glaring omittions in the current metro version of IE:

1. No plug-in support: Casual browsers will want to be able to view videos in Flash and Silverlight formats. Omitting support for this ruins the casual browsing experience. In addition to video those web sites that use flash based menus will also be unusable. In desktop mode if you click on a link in anything (e-mail, Word document) it opens the link in the metro version of IE. If that link was for a web page containing Flash or Silverlight video you know have to remember to bring up the app bar, select the document icon, and select "view in desktop". Nice round trip with how many extra steps? I spoke with the engineer at Build (during the ask the experts) session who said he was responsible for removing plug-in support from Metro IE. He said it wouldn't be too hard to put it back. I suspect that would be against the master plan of Sinofsky of "No Chrome, even if it hurts. They want to leverage their Windows monopoly to "encourage" people to move their video content to HTML5 video "standards" and to move away from Flash based menus and other web artifacts. I'm sure Apple just loves them for throwing their weight in on this. Until this happens the web is going to be a pretty broken experience. Thanks Sinofsky.
2. No immediate history in forward and back buttons: long press on the buttons should reviews this history list. This is useful when you visit a Microsoft site which automatically logs you into Live/Passport. Once that happens it's difficult to return to the previous page because the previous page is the Live login page which redirects you forward. Being able to bring up the back button history is very useful in getting unstuck from the undesired behavior.
3. No favorites: Having to resort to pinning my favorite web sites to the start screen is not the answer. That would burry the start screen to the point it was unusable. At minimal Metro IE needs to have a means of saving an address as a favorite and recalling it through the search feature in the charms bar a favorites icon in the app bar. In any case the store for favorites should be the same for both the desktop and metro version of IE. Don't make people keep two lists of favorites!
4. Back button is buried: When you search you typically get a list of results, drill into an item of interest, and then return to the search results list via the back button. This task tasks twice the effort because you know have to bring up the app bar to reveal the back button each and every time you want to return to the search results. While I appreciate the chromeless look of Metro IE this is going just too far.

Don't get me wrong: I do like the Metro version of IE but I'm afraid I and many others will avoid it like the plague if these issues aren't resolved. So far from the Building Windows 8 blogs we've heard Sinofsky and crew justify their choices. I have yet to hear them same "Yeah we got that wrong and we're working on that" or "I understand what you are saying and we are working to fix that." Based on that I suspect Metro IE will never support plug-ins and other choices where it's chrome (and functionality) vs. form, form will win the day.

Answer 22

@Noel, thanks for the response. Sunspider is a good benchmark for JS performance and http://test262.ecmascript.org/ is official benchmark for JS conformance (compliance). I guess IE10 is the only browser passing over 99% in ECMA test... as it fails only 3 test whereas Chrome, FF and even IE9 fails lot of them!!

 

@xpclient, I just discovered another cool feature of IE9. The recently closed tabs list. Right click any tab and it will show the expandable option which opens the list. I guess the new version requires something like:

Marriage of Quick Tabs and Tab List!

Like an icon/button on the main UI to open Quick-tabs kindda overlaying and transparent view with small thumbnails of opened tabs.

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- a citizen of Microsoft Developer Network.

Answer 23

Hi,

• Internet Explorer should not rely on Windows Search Service to search for favorites and history
• The tool button (Alt + X) should have more items (also with icons like the command bars) to get rid of the menu bars and the command bars. It was the idea with IE9
• Add like a star icon in the search bar to let you know if the current website is already bookmarked

Ms should focus on reimaging IE10 like Windows 8 instead of adding feature that no one uses like webslices, pinned websites, website in start menu.
How many millions users did they lose because of Adblock Plus in firefox. And still in 2011 there is no extensions support like major browser does. Obviously they will lose market share again and again.
Beside it is pleasant to see what they are doing now with the web standard (html5, css3...)

Like what it is never to late to wake up

Answer 24

1. I agree with Christel V's idea to have icons in the menu. The tools menu and Internet options menu looks like Windows 2000 UI! With few icons and restructuring might make it more sexier..
2. The search in favorites/history is buried deep inside. They should bring it to the main pane of Favorite/History sections and like Christel V. said, there must be some kind of indication for the website that is already bookmarked.
3. Reimagine the address-bar in such a way that it should reside inside the tab it belongs with page-title at the top... it might give a fresh look and feel and make sense in order to buy some more room for tab .. resulting in a cleaner interface... The hanging address bar, with option to hide! Some (better) variant of this: https://byfiles.storage.live.com/y1p072LlAM7hcKGSOqHxRgfh5FLBadkIh_N16mmD0J3Yi8hbu1lIATmnUvWbia2shgjASzZXMH55WF4pZZfmApYKQ/Hanging%20addressbar.jpg

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- a citizen of Microsoft Developer Network.

Answer 25

Hi Yannick,

 

- I would like to see the favorites functionality including the management window upgraded significantly
- It would be nice to have access to a portable version of IE
- I had the thought it would be good to have some kind of built-in Anti-Virus, not sure if that could work
- It would be nice if the title bar was smaller when not in full screen
- It would help if the menu items on the main menu would be available in the tool menu ( alt-x ), so that
    when you do not have the menu showing you still had access to the functions
- I agree with others that the CTRL-Q functionality should be enabled by default

 

Paul Jorgensen
www.justcode.ca 

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Paul Jorgensen www.justcode.ca

Answer 26

When selecting multiple urls from a webpage, the right click context menu should also have these options:
- Copy all URIs
- Open all in new tabs

When you do a right click on a picture, the context menu should also have these options:
- View image (in a new tab)
- Copy image
- Copy image location

- Also add view selection source (to see the code source of the selected text)

 

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Revue du Geek | Déployer Windows 7 avec MDT 2010

Answer 27

- Also add view selection source (to see the code source of the selected text)

I agree and there is more to it..

Possible Extensibility in F12 Developer Tools

1. While inspecting with the F12 developer tools, the asynchronous page update doesn't immediately update the code in devtools’ HTML tab. We need to close and reopen devtools to seek the updated code.
2. When we click 'edit' in the HTML tab, it should narrow down the code to that of the selected tag and it's innerHTML (only) in edit mode.
3. Implement autocomplete for Style while creating or editing rules in both CSS and HTML tabs.
4. Preview of images onmouseover in tags such as <img src=....>, <input type=image....> or image embedded in stylesheet.
5. Implement an easy way to add a new Style rule in HTML tab rather than switching to the CSS tab. For example; pressing <enter> for the first time should highlight-to-edit the name of the selected rule, next <enter> should switch the focus to that rule’s value then next rule's name and its value and since so forth, until it reaches the end of "that selector" (only). After that, the next <enter> should cause the creation of new rule's name-value pair under that selector. So this way, if the users have to create new rule promptly, rather than going to CSS tab and find the selector then right click to select AddRule, within the (right-side: Styles of) HTML tab, they select the last value of the desired selector and hit enter to create a new rule.

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- a citizen of Microsoft Developer Network.

Answer 28

Scrolling is pretty laggy for some major websites. I can't understand how chrome and firefox beat microsoft on Windows
The developper tools are not good enough to compete with others.
IE without extensions (not binaries extensions) is not a attractive browser.
Even if we talk about IE9 market share, the downfall has already started.

Answer 29

Spellchecking is now a IE10 feature for Windows 7. Already available in Windows 8
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/ie/archive/2011/11/08/typing-with-speed-and-accuracy-in-ie10.aspx

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Revue du Geek | Déployer Windows 7 avec MDT 2010

Answer 30

Hi Yannick

Thanks for your post
This is my whishlist:

• Made Internet Explorer x64 the default browser for Windows 8
• A better management for tabs something like the Firefox Addon TabMix
• An enhanced developper tool like firebug
• A paste and go functionnality
• Improve the javascript engine speed
• plugin (firefox meaning) support and not the evilish extension

Mike

 

Answer 31

Extensibility for Adblocking that actually works like Adblock Plus for Firefox & Chrome. 

Countless millions of people must have dumped IE simply because of the lack of Adblock functionality.

The paid Simple Adblock almost got it right but you have to enable the otherwise unncessary & space wasting status bar to use it.

 

Answer 32

Extensibility for Adblocking that actually works like Adblock Plus for Firefox & Chrome. 

Countless millions of people must have dumped IE simply because of the lack of Adblock functionality.

That's totally true. Because of Adblock Plus some people will never come back to IE. It is the most popular extension.

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Revue du Geek | Déployer Windows 7 avec MDT 2010

Answer 33

Here's one that's stir up some debate:

Replace Javascript with C# (or create a C# alternative)

 

Javascript is suffering from all the bad design choices made in the past 20 years - but also have some goodies.. i'd say: Get rid of Javascript, with a C# variant that works with HTML5. 

Type-safe, class based, Closure enabled, Lambda enabled, DOM-oriented C#

I'm not talking about putting .NET into the browser, only reaplacing the syntax and the engine...

C# makes much more sence in 2011-2012 then an old type-invariant DOM Scripting language that suffers greately from being developed by too many people, incorporating too many standards and speed optimizations. 

I think Microsoft could do everything better by implementing a C# variant.. 

Answer 34

i've been using ie since 3.0 and despite trying all of the other major browsers now and then i always come back to ie
i'd like to make some suggestions based on my needs and features i've seen on other browsers and are missing on ie

1. Cookies

i like to set my privacy to auto block first and third party cookies, but now and then i have to add a site to the allowed list on the 'per site privacy' window, for login and stuff like that
if you set chrome to block cookies, whenever it blocks one, it shows an icon on the end of the omni bar that you can click to allow the site
on ie you have to click 'tools', 'ie options', 'privacy' then you have 2 options
- 'sites' and then paste the address
- 'advanced', 'prompt'
then 'ok', 'ok' again; and if you used the second option you have to comeback to set to 'block' again
quite some trouble. i have made a shortcut that opens the 'per user privacy' window using rundll32.exe, but come on... chrome makes this ultra simple, i'd love to have something like that on ie

2.

on chrome you can set the default font size, it's not a big deal, but i like this option, and its probably easy to implement

3.

chrome (again) has just implemented the ability to add users to the browse, i have not tested it yet, but if you can protect your user with a password and the browser remembers your usernames and passwords, that's awesome!

4.

i'm not a big fun of games but i've played at least 2 (flash) games on facebook that after a while got quite slow, 'backyard monsters' and 'heroes of neverwinter'
at first the games run just fine, but after you've made some progress they get stucky, even on low resolution
my hardware is pretty decent (core 2 duo t7700, geforce 9600m gt, 4gb ram) and even if i restart the notebook nothing changes
but if i play them on chrome they run just fine...
it's funny that the game only gets slow after some progress

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english is not my first language, sorry

Answer 35

Without adblock plus on IE, it doesn't worth it. MS should enhanced IE to support the real adblock plus filters with Element hiding.

the actual tracking protection list are not good enough!