Internet Explorer 8

What we liked:
Internet Explorer 7 was a leap forward from the aging IE6, but it still lagged a long way behind the competition. IE8 does some catching up, introducing a clutch of smart new features. These include an InPrivate Browsing mode, that conceals your online activities, as-you-type search suggestions that also show images where relevant, session saving, crash recovery and a SmartScreen Filter to protect you from malicious sites.

The two biggest additions to the browser are Accelerators (called Activities in earlier releases) and Web Slices. Accelerators add contextual options to the page. Highlight some text or a link on a website and a small blue button will appear next to it. Click this to view the options on offer, such as blogging or emailing the selection with Windows Live, searching with Google and translating or mapping with Live Search. You can easily find and add more Accelerators by clicking the link in the menu.

Web Slices is an alternative to web feeds and lets you subscribe to a particular portion of a site. Digg’s Top Ten, for example, or MSN headlines. If the page you’re on supports this feature, the feed icon will turn green, indicating there’s a slice available to subscribe to. For a list of slices, go to http://ieaddons.com/en/webslices.

How it can be improved:
IE8 is still not as compliant with web standards as other browsers. If a page doesn’t load properly, there’s a compatibility mode that displays it in an (even-less-compliant) IE7 view. While IE8 is faster than its predecessor, it’s not as fast as the competition, and it still lacks the add-on support of Firefox. The interface could be better, too. It’s good to see the main menu bar back, but its new position under the address bar just looks wrong.

Our verdict:
IE8 is a giant leap forward and it’s good to see some innovation from Microsoft. New features such as Web Slices are welcome additions, but it will need to receive third-party support to prove really useful.

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