Wednesday, 31 January 2007

Microsoft Asks for IE8 Suggestions

Microsoft has begun asking testers what they would like to view in its next Web browser, Internet Explorer 8. The web browser is scheduled to debut late 2008 or early 2009. The company wanted to know what new features to include apart from other questions.

On the other hand, rival Mozilla has reported in a wiki page its plans for the next version of Firefox, cdubbed 'Gran Paradiso'.

The IE team has said it will up IE's compliance with Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) standards with future releases [and]:

• 'Locking' a page to prevent users from accidentally navigating away from it
• Adding a 'Find on Page' capability
• Improving username/password management
• Restoring the 'Image Toolbar' provided in earlier IE 7 test builds
• Changing the download mechanism, perhaps eliminating the initial download to the 'temporary Internet files' folder
• Adding easily editable config files (similar to Firefox's userChrome.css and UserContent.css)
• Enabling draggable tabs from one IE window to another
• Configuring tabs so that each has its own private cookie cache
• Introducing new status bar info, possibly with fields such as 'last accessed by user' and 'window last updated'
• Enabling add-ons