Three Ways Web Browsing Changes With IE10 in Windows 8 | Network World.  (No longer available online. Original text included below.)

While Metro apps for both Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome have been recently announced, users are getting a chance to actually use the Metro app for IE10 in the Windows 8 Consumer Preview. Providing a full screen browsing window, and touch friendly controls, the experience is similar to browsers on smartphones and tablets, even if you use it on a desktop or laptop. 

In the Building Windows 8 blog, Rob Mauceri, the group program manager for Internet Explorer explains the changes to IE10 and how the Metro interface is different. The new additions can be broken down into three categories: Metro Styling, Connecting Sites & Apps, and Security & Privacy.

1. Metro Styling

The first thing that is apparent in IE10’s Metro interface is that the browser is “full screen edge-to-edge”, and though a navigation bar appears at the bottom of the screen when you first open the app, it disappears when not needed. Without visible controls on the screen, new users will take some time to learn how to navigate. Touch friendly gestures such as swiping left and right work on touch capable devices, but those with mouse and keyboard will find the interface less intuitive. Moving towards the left or right edges of the screen with a mouse reveals arrows equivalent to the forward and previous page commands in most browsers. Right-clicking reveals the navigation bar on the bottom of the screen, necessary for typing in a new URL, and displays any open tabs or windows at the top of the screen, providing the ability to switch between them. When typing a URL, “Navigation Tiles” appear that show frequently visited sites and those you’ve previously pinned. The tiles are filtered as you type, providing a way to click or tap a site after only a few keystrokes.

[Image navigation.png: IE10’s Navigation bar and Tabs are displayed]

2. Connecting Sites & Apps

Since Metro is a web-like interface, Mauceri points out it “blurs the boundaries between the web and apps”. This becomes apparent when using the Snap feature, which allows the screen to be shared by two apps. IE10 can take up the majority of the screen with a web-page, while what looks like a sidebar can contain another app like Messaging or Mail. While in IE10, the Charms that open on the right edge of the screen are supported, with Search using your default Internet search engine, Settings providing options for how the browser behaves, and Share sending “a rich link preview with image, description, and hyperlink” to apps like Mail that support it.  The tiles for websites that are pinned to the Start screen can display dynamic information like notifications or messages if the website supports that feature.  

[Image snap.png: Snap allows IE10 to share the screen]

[Image share.png: IE10 can share rich information with supported apps]

3. Security & Privacy

IE10 uses the same security and privacy related features that were included in IE9. This includes SmartScreen, XSS filtering, Application Reputation, InPrivate browsing, Tracking Protection, and hang detection and recovery. IE10 improves on InPrivate browsing by allowing it to be run “per-tab”, which prevents browsing in that tab from leaving behind any cached data, including history or cookies. New to IE10 is “Enhanced Protected mode”, which provides better isolation of website content when multiple tabs are open, preventing a malicious web-page from accessing any of your other open tabs.