If you are the kind ' what's the big deal with IE9 or Chrome or safari', u better stop reading this. This is supposed to be a tale of frustration regarding the browser giants.So, leave this post if you are that kind, and haven't left yet :).
So, there was the announcement of IE9, how do i get to know all this small 'uselss' news!?You can't kill time at IIT.You always have time left-out.Little interest, is all that required! I was seriously looking ahead for some VOIP providers.........let me tell all this useless story about why the interest over IE9' after it's.., u can call it review.
I hate that restart after installation
First, installing the IE9. This is often overlooked whenever a software is reviewd (best call it an App). I tried more than 5 times to install the IE9 Beta before its release as tech enthusiast. All unsuccesful. May be I don't know how to keep my vista clean, which is why the installation problem.Let me not blame IE9 for this.So finally it's released.I downlaoded the tiny installer, not the usual 'exe', which is the only available one for vista.It goes on to downlaod further installation files without telling me the size or approximate time. This is a serious issue, for folks who have limited usage, or limited speed. It took some decent time to finish the installtion.
Did i say 'finish'. No, not yet.IE9 is product of Microsoft, and here I am trying to install it on it's native windows OS, damn, and it asks me for a re-boot !!Look at chrome, even if you install 10's of apps n extensions, it doesn't even ask for a browser restart, such smooth installtions, who doesn't like it! And here is IE9, itself the family of microsoft asks a complete system reboot.Well, embracing latest trends in digital tech is what makes us geeky, not just 'Zuck' level coding.
Damn Yeah.....'Your websites shine on IE9'
So, in spite of the disappointment I went on to close all my activities on the comp to enjoy IE9 experience, and clicked to reboot. Damn again, its making those 'Configuring updates XX% complete' thing. And I waited like an apple fan in the 1-mile que to buy that iThing, for it to restart! I was really eager to try IE9, partly because, the most ethical company in the world, Microsoft, is so dedicated to push the web forward by setting up a special site to kill its own previous IE's. And also I found on the web that MS took a flying leap in IE9's improvements.
So, finally the installation is complete.Click! Here it is, unlike a modern Chrome browser it takes a stunningly longer time for initial loading, far better than previous IEs though :). Wow!! The websites 'truly shine' in latest IE9.Thanx to such larger vertical size. Tabs truly revolutioned! Tabs are picked off, from down-address position to the right of it, making wider space than ever.And also they look elegant.You won't even feel the existanece of browser.The websites are Stand-Out entities in IE9, 'Your websites do shine in IE9"
Omni-box finally in IE9 too
One more major step-up in IE is the address bar+search like the omni-box in Chrome.But this unified address and search box became so standard in modern browsers, that you may completly overlook this issue, if you are an avid Chrome user, habituated to omni box.
Finally,you can feel the smoothness of Chrome in IE too, be it in flipping tabs, navigating. No no...not as smooth as in chrome. I just checked it again.Try this.Open some 5-6 tabs(can be empty) in IE and in chrome. Hit Ctrl-tab, little slower, to shift between the tabs. Felt the difference in smoothness from Chrome!!?In IE9 it kind of shakes up when you flip tabs, whereas in Chrome its seemless.
Nothing is perfect...so here !one problem
One usability problem now. Suppose you have some 5 tabs opened and you are on 2nd tab now,reading something, and you need to search something related to the one you are reading, you will open up the sixth tab n get the info.You wanna go back to the previous tab you were on.But,woolaa! u are lost now.The tabs are so tiny, as the address-bar n tabs-bar are sitting on same height, and look so identical that its not an easy step backward!Though this issue is the classic browser issue in other browsers too, the single line for search-box n tabs elevates this issue further in IE9. Color coded tabs come into rescue. If the new tab originates from the one you are in they will be of same color.A very good usability feature.
Add-on's!! Nobody knows more than the Google
Next, the add-on's or the extensions as you call it in chrome and safari. Either Firefox and Chrome truly excel at this and way ahead even Safari too, or the IE9 is too far behind from the standard set by Chrome, even with the latest update.There are two issues regarding add-on's. One is how easy you can find the add-on you are looking for, and the other, how easy does it get installed, develoeper population is not an issue as the skills on three browsers is entirely not different.
This is exactly where my frustration started. IE9 literally sucks at both of these. One example suffices to establish the point.I went to ie-add-on site, and typed the ubiquitous 'Ad Block' add-on in Bing's search box residing on the site. I am shocked to see 'No results found'. (http://bit.ly/f1iTdS)The site did look full of add-on's.I don't know if i have to blame the aspiring BING search or the IE9 add-on repository for being not able to find. So, my freind, it's not an easy task to find what you are looking for here.
Now the second issue, with semi-broken heart I browsed the gallery of add-on's to finally find a useful add-on, only to further discover that i need to download the add-on pack, manually and have it installed. Crazy....i didn't proceed folks, IITD sucks! hell of bandwidth limits!! So, the installation issue too sucks in IE9.
Chrome Rocks !!
Contrary to this, Google excels in both of these issues with it's Chrome. Try the same search in Chrome's extension gallery to find more than 150 meaningful results(http://bit.ly/f6KFxC)!! And the installtion is instantanous and seemless, as you don't need to restart the browser unlike in Mozilla.
There is no trace of imrpovement with the regard to 'internet options'.Its again the same old rigid pop-up as in previous IEs, with no added usabilities.Whereas the latest addition to Chrome, the unified 'preferences' or 'internet options' option in chrome, that opens up in an extra tab is revolutionary, no need of digital literacy, type in the options you want to tweak in the search-box, wohla there it is, it lists all the occurances in preferences of the word!! Revolutionary it is.
I had been saying to myself, no Bing doesn't suck, neither does MS suck, but literally Microsoft sucks.And this time a real Good-Bye to Microsoft!
