Microsoft has launched the second beta version of Internet Explorer 8. Here Web User News Editor Ben Camm-Jones looks at the new features in Microsoft's latest browser.

Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 - watch the video

At first glance, the interface of IE8 Beta 2 looks very similar to that of IE7. However, there are a number of new features in IE8 which, though they might not be immediately apparent, should enhance the surfing experience.

Smart Address Bar
If you're familiar with the Smart Location Bar in Firefox 3, also known as the 'Awesome Bar', IE8's Smart Address Bar is based on a similar concept, but goes a couple of steps further. When you type a part of a web address or web page title into the address bar, a list of sites that you've visited comes up.

Where it differs from Firefox is that it presents the sites to you in categories, so you can see which are sites you've bookmarked, which are in your browsing history and so on. You can also delete sites from this list.

Accelerators
One of the main aims in the creation of IE8 is to let surfers access web services without leaving the web page that they are on. Imagine the scenario – you find a website that has the name and address of a restaurant that you'd like to visit. With Accelerators (referred to as Activities in the first beta version of IE8), you simply highlight the postcode and a small icon pops up next to the highlighted text.

Click on the icon, and a drop-down menu of web services appears. From this list, you can select a mapping service, which will then present you with a map of the area. All this is done without you having to leave the page you were on. If you want to look more closely at the map, you can click on it and it will open in a new tab.

Web Slices
Another feature that will let you to stay on the webpage you are looking at while accessing other online services at the same time is Web Slices. With this feature, you can have tabs that let you see your Facebook friends' status updates, for example, or the top stories in Digg.

Tab Groups
When you click on a link in a webpage, and then click on another link within that one, you could run the risk of losing the tab that you were initially on. The idea of Tab Groups is to colour-code the webpages that you open so you can tell them apart and recognise which other pages they relate to. It's a fairly simple idea but should help you get back to where you were without a fuss.

Security
There are several improvements to the security features of Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 from the previous version of Internet Explorer, including a phishing filter that is much more in-your-face, using the colour red to give you a very clear warning that the site you are about to visit is not approved.

Also there is a safetly filter that prevents a particular type of attack called cross-site scripting or XSS. It automatically detects attacks that are intended to steal your login details when, for example, visiting a banking website.

Compatibility View
Ever visited a website where the page doesn't load properly? It's a dead certainty that you will hit refresh to see if it loads properly the second time, and sometimes it will. However, problems such as this are often caused by developers designing sites for browsers that are now obsolete.

Compatibility View is IE8's solution to this problem. A button, placed right next to the refresh button, will let you apply Compatibility View to a webpage that doesn't load correctly, so you can see the layout of the site as the developer intended.

IE8 will remember the sites that are designed for older browsers and automatically apply this feature whenever you revisit the site. It will also intelligently adapt if the site is redesigned to be compliant with new browsers.

InPrivate Browsing
This feature has already become known as 'porn mode' among some industry commentators, though it does have some legitimate uses as well. For example, if you are using a communal PC, enabling this mode will ensure that the browser keeps no information about what you've been doing online. No history, no passwords, no cookies, nothing.

So, for online banking on a shared PC it would be ideal, or for buying a present that you want to keep secret from a family member perhaps. However, we imagine it will see a fair amount of use among those who want to view adult material too.

Initial impressions
Microsoft is very keen to emphasise that the performance of IE8 Beta 2 in terms of speed isn't a reflection of how fast the final version of the browser is going to be – those improvements will be made once the feedback from Beta 2 has been collected. In terms of the features it is offering, though, it looks to be streets ahead of the competition.

Firefox 3's 'Awesome Bar' isn't as well-organised as IE8's Smart Address Bar, and the Web Slices and Accelerators are a real step forward for a browser as they simply require enabling rather than being downloaded and installed like a typical add-on.

Perhaps the most exciting part of the launch is Microsoft's adoption of open web standards in this version of IE, which has a great deal to do with some of the new features. Though it might not stop the company getting stick from some quarters, it can only be seen as a step in the right direction.

However, as with all beta versions, there will be bugs and how many there are will be crucial to when the first Release Candidate and the final version are available to surfers.

What do you think of Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2? Have your say in the Web User forums.

You can also check out our Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 video walkthrough.

IE8 Beta 2 download: www.microsoft.com/ie8

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