The Good:
Internet Explorer has a notorious reputation for freezing and generally failing at most things except things you don't want it to do and now it’s like an old veteran, struggling against the tide. This browser is definitely a new release of an old classic; in this review I'm going to be delving into the depths of Internet Explorer 8 in the hope of finding gold rather than lead…
- Useful Plug-ins: toolbars are reliable, useful and easy to download.
- Average: Internet Explorer 8 is a jack of all trades when it comes to design and efficiency
- Inconsistent Design: On Vista, Internet Explorer 8 looks completely different to IE 8 on XP.
Internet Explorer has a notorious reputation for freezing and generally failing at most things except things you don't want it to do and now it’s like an old veteran, struggling against the tide. This browser is definitely a new release of an old classic; in this review I'm going to be delving into the depths of Internet Explorer 8 in the hope of finding gold rather than lead…
Features and Design
On Vista , basically all Microsoft have done with the design of the browser is textured the browser better, so it appears glossy with some nice gradient effects. Although it looks glossy and well designed on Vista , on XP it’s a different story. On XP it looks suspiciously similar to Internet Explorer 7. I’m reviewing Internet Explorer 8 on Windows Vista though. It keeps the same Internet Explorer layout though – URL bar at the top (with the usual forward, back buttons etc), Bookmarks bar below and then followed by the tabs and options bar – including the tabs (surprisingly) and the three different options menus (Page, Safety and Tools) on the right, along with the Home button, the RSS reader button (a very useful feature, and one that many browsers lack) and all the usual buttons like Print, Mail, Help etc. One advantage of Internet Explorer 8 is that it has add-ons in the form of toolbars which are generally reliable, useful and easy to download.
Efficiency
I f anything, the problem with Internet Explorer 8 is that it’s a jack of all trades. It's too average. It doesn't specialize in anything, sometimes that's a good thing, but it also means that it’s average at everything and in some areas you want a bit more than average. For a default browser it’s okay for efficiency; it works. But that's all it does, most of the time it runs at a decent pace without freezing too much, but if there are any problems, it’s often hard to find the right things to change, and sometimes they aren't even there. Security, along with most of the browser's functions is average – it is there, working away in the background but if you were hoping to change some settings, then you're done for. It works but not much else.
In conclusion, Internet Explorer 8 has one major flaw; being too average. This has been the trouble with Internet Explorer for as long as I can remember and I think it always will be. There some advantages over other browsers but not many and although it’s better than its predecessor, Internet Explorer 7, I still wouldn't choose Internet Explorer 8 over any of the other, major browsers.
