Should I download Explorer 8?

[napi21]

I just received a link from MS to download Explorer 8. Do any of you have any experience with it, and should I try it or not? BTW I;ve been running /Explorer 7 and have no problems if any reak consequences,

[hobbit709]

1. Why use Internet Exploder in the first place?

I refuse to use it. Firefox, Seamonkey, Opera, tin cans on a string would be more secure and less of a resource hog.

[napi21]

2. Awe. Habit I guess. I've been using E forever, and I guess I'm just

afraid of changing. I know a lot of you hate MS, but as a non techie, I've been very happy with all the MS stuff. I had 3 Logitec wireless keyboards that all croaked in a little over a year. I changed to a MS keyboard & mouse and I like it much better. When I was working, our IT guys tried many different programs for lots of different tasks & had thousands of conflicts before they finally conceded to installing the MS product and the problems were all gone.

All I wanted to know was if anyone tried IE 8 and were they happy with it.

[ChromeFoundry]

3. Before you download IE8...

Install FireFox. It does not replace IE, it just adds another browser option.

I installed FF about 6 mos. ago. I always used IE7 because much of the Web development I do is on a MS platform and a lot of it is for Intranet sites that require their users to use IE and not FF.

I can honestly say, I prefer FF over IE, if for no other reason, the speed it launches and loads pages is way, way, way faster than IE7 (maybe I need two more "ways" in there). True, IE8 is supposed to load faster then IE7... but shouldn't that have been taken care of in IE3? This is the same problem as MS Office 2007 exhibits.

I'd wait at least another two months, so that MS can release the first 100 patches for IE security and compatibility issues. If you choose not to test drive FF, I understand, but the changes in IE8 are fairly drastic and MS does not have a good track record lately with new versions of their software products. Let the others find all the bugs...it will actually save you some time and frustration at the end of the day. Sorry for the rant.

[madokie]

5. Yes I have and I like it fine

but of course I don't like firefox one itty bittie bit. Firefox is slow in comparison to ie8 and I don't like the way it refreshes a page.

[Duer 157099]

4. I can tell you about the biggest change in IE8

At least the only one that interests me at all, since I use Firefox but am aware of IE only insofar as it affects website development.

IE8 incorporates a very significant change that most other browsers already use - it has to do with the coding end of things, and essentially makes it a bazillion times easier for web developers. So my prediction is that very very soon, web coders are going to stop engaging in the tortuous gymnastics they've had to do so that web pages render properly in IE-pre8.

At least that's my understanding. No doubt some generous or pragmatic coders will continue to support IE6/7 etc just because they've learned long ago how to do so, but I predict that it falls off sooner than it would have in the past, just because of how dramatic the change is.

(For the technically interested, it has to do with being able to use table tags in CSS)

[no name no slogan]

8. Sounds like a case of SS, DD once again

CSS glitches have been going on with IE and Netscape/Firefox since they started supporting CSS0 back in version 4 (over a decade ago now). And still, neither browser can still support the standards 100%, or even 90% for that matter. All the while, they keep on adding their proprietary crap to the mix instead of just FOLLOWING THE STANDARD WHICH THEY HELPED CREATE.

The only safe bet is to design pages that follow the standards, browser renderings be damned. Keep your presentation layer out of your content logic, and you'll be fine.

It's ridiculous. I've been doing web development for over a decade now, and we're still fighting the same stupid battles we've fought since the bad old days of the version 4 browsers.

[Deja Q]

16. I'm increasingly in the field too... at what point do you decide "

Absolute frigging funk and wagnall nonsense; I'm supporting only x, y, and z and the others can comply or bugger off"?

IE is a given, as is Firefox, maybe Opera as it's popular on PDAs/Smartphones/et al, but then for the portable units that wonderful 320x200 screen goes nowhere very fast. Even 640x480 is a real pain in the spam because you can't read the shrunken text... increase the text size and you're just about in the same quandary as using 320x200 anyway... :puke:

[trotsky]

6. It seems pretty good.

Firefox is still my primary browser, but I use IE for certain tasks at work. I do have to say that it's noticeably faster than IE7 ever was.

[marybourg]

7. I'm a very low-level user. I downloaded it last week because

N.Y. Times had become much toooo slow. Now NY Times is much faster, but: "paste" command no longer works from drop-down menu ('tho CTL -V still works) and it loses my passwords, like for this site, very frequently. Actually fewer problems than I've had with other upgrades.

[truedelphi]

9. We've had Ie8 for ten days. Here my report on the bad things about Ie8:

It makes it very hard to "copy" certain things.

I need to copy URL addresses. On seven, I just highlighted the URL. On eight, when I highlight the URL, and hit "copy" -- then Ie8 on its own, copies the entire URL PLUS the friggin' article. Which is not what I want.

So I do it over again, and eventually it gives up and gives me what I want. But it is a struggle. Sometimes ten minutes.

My husband uses a lot of email and database stuff, and he has spent literrallly hours over the last week trying to save his work, only tohave Ie8 NOT SAVE it. He loses all his work.

The Ie8 will not let him send a direct message in twitter, either. Doing something related to "mime"

SO DON't DOWNLOAD unless you are really unhappy with seven (We weren't even unhappy with seven - just thought we'd do the more
advanced thing.)

[MyNameGoesHere]

14. that is not something i have seen

on IE8, which i have been using for almost 6 months or more now. Seems like you are having other issues besides IE8

[IDemo]

10. Anyone tried Google Chrome yet? Is it worth a try?

[RoyGBiv]

11. Possibly ...

It's nothing special, imo. It's very lightweight at the moment and has a decent base upon which to build a very good application.

There are some rendering issues with various websites, and the extensibility of something like Firefox is not present at the moment.

Also, when you install it, you install Google's updater service, which I find quite annoying. I don't need that or want it.

In any case, I tried it. It was fine, but Opera and Firefox are still superior, imo.

[Sentath]

12. I have and like it, but I blocked the updater service

with Spybot's TeaTimer.

I check for updates every few days and whenever I hear about something new making the rounds.

[RoyGBiv]

15. Completely OT: Teatime ...

Every time I see mention of that, I think of Terry Pratchett and Hogfather.

Mr. Teatime, Mr. Teh-ah-tim-eh if you please. Everyone gets it wrong. :)

[charlie]

13. It also plonks its dumb ass where it sees fit without asking.

If you're someone who likes to keep apps separate from the OS partition, you're out of luck.

And where does it go? On Windows, even pushy ill-mannered software use the Program Files folder, but not Google:

c:/Documents and Settings/USERNAME/Local Settings/Application Data/Google/Chrome/Application/chrome.exe

[sam sarrha]

17. i hated it. Chrome, couldn't deal with Favorites.. couldn't find them.. got rid of it