Thread: Internet Explorer 9 beta

could confuse some users until they work out how to find all the functions that used to be available from drop-down menus in IE8 and earlier versions of the browser. In tests, we found the IE9 beta stable and responsive, and we had few problems accessing web sites, although some web-based applications required us to hit the compatibility button (introduced in lE8) before they would display properly. One of the more interesting new features in IE9 is the way it makes better use of modern PC hardware.



As well as a new JavaScript engine that can take advantage of multi-core processors to share the processing load, lE9 uses Microsoft's DirectXAPls to accelerate graphics and sound. Microsoft provides a demonstration of the performance boost this can give with an animated fish tank, accessible from its IE Test Drive site. On our test PC, [E9 was able to keep up a decent rate of 60 frames per second when animating 100 on-screen fish, whereas Firefox could only manage a relatively sluggish seven to 10 frames per second with the same scene.

However, users should not get the impression that I E9 is suddenly leading the way in browser innovation. Some new features of this beta, such as the ability to 'tear off a tab as a separate browser window, are already supported in the latest version ofFirefox. The HTMLS demos on Microsoft's IE Test Drive page also appear to work equally well with Firefox, while we found that some CSS3 effects, such as applying shadows behind text, are already implemented in release versions ofFirefox, but not supported in the lE9 beta.
Nevertheless, Microsoft has greatly improved its compliance with web standards. Under the Acid3 test from the Web Standards Project, IE9 scores an impressive 95 out of 100,just beating Firefox 3.6 which scores 94.

Other new features ofIE9 include the ability to pin a web site to the taskbar in Windows 7, which provides a shortcut from which users can open favourite web sites directly. Sites that are pinned this way can add jump lists (pop-up menus introduced in Windows 7) to access web pages or features. This even extends to play and pause controls for embedded media objects inside pinned web sites. Microsoft also provides a demonstration of this on its IE Test Drive page.