Microsoft’s Internet Explorer has been playing catch-up with the more popular — and dare we say “modern” — web browsers out there like Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome for the last few years. It has been a laughing stock before the last couple of versions because of its knack for being an enemy to web designers everywhere, mostly because it basically has its own set of standards. Yes, the last couple of versions have improved a lot and it remains to be one of the top three web browsers in terms of usage worldwide, falling behind Firefox and Chrome, but it seems like Internet Explorer is finally doing its own thing and not just trying to catch up with the Chrome and Firefox’s features. Here are five (5) things about Internet Explorer 10 that should tickle our fancy:
1. Total Immersion with Metro
The Metro style experience in the forthcoming Windows 8 promises an immersive navigation experience. This smooth and almost effortless way of navigating through your system can also be found in IE10. It is designed to let users focus on what content they browse and not how they browse, which means that there’s a possibility that users may actually forget that they’re using a web browser, or at least a type of web browser as they know it right now.
2. Super Sensitive
IE10 and Windows 8 have been designed to be experienced on mobile devices that support touch technology, but this doesn’t mean that Microsoft has forgotten about you keyboard-typin’ and mouse-wieldin’ people out there. The Metro style has been optimized to offer the smoothest touch browsing experience possible and the most responsive keyboard and mouse navigation so far in the history of Internet Explorer.
3. Navigate When You Need It
To bring the focus more on the actual websites you are browsing. Internet Explorer 10 gives you all the space you need to view the website by having the navigation bar disappear when you don’t need it. It slides back out when you need any of the controls on the bar such as buttons for Back, Forward, Stop and Refresh, pinning sites to the Start screen, and the address bar.
4. Charms
Windows 8 introduces Charms, which are basically common actions that you will most likely continue doing even in this radically new computing experience. Some of these Charms, four to be exact, are supported within IE10 itself. Aside from the highly intuitive navigation bar, the Charms bar also only appears if you need to use the Share, Search, Devices, and Settings Charms.
5. Site Tiles
The Windows 8 Start Screen is not just a prettier version of the usual Windows desktop. It is literally where you can start working or browsing. It’s just like those home page services that give you an easy to access home page on your browser where you can access all kinds of services without opening multiple tabs first. Instead of just having handing links to applications, you can also have links to websites you have pinned via IE10.
The Bottom Line
For people who have been frustrated with earlier versions of Internet Explorer and have found solace in the arms of another web browser, it’s going to be hard to trust IE again. However, Windows 8 and all the cool new developments are compelling enough to make people try IE10 at least. Probably.
