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Chapter 7

CHAPTER 7

Navigating the Web with Internet

Explorer 7

7

Back in the late 1990s, Internet Explorer became the top choice for browsing the

Web by offering innovative features and being the best of its class. While other

browsers from those heady, fast-paced days of the World Wide Web’s early evolu-

tion have all but disappeared, Internet Explorer has continued. It now dominates the

web browser market, but for a while it lost something special. Namely, it lost some

of the cutting-edge innovation that made it the leader in the first place. With Ver-

sion 7, though, Internet Explorer regains its place as a cutting-edge web browser

with innovations worthy of applause.

Windows Vista includes Internet Explorer 7 as the default program for accessing web

pages. Internet Explorer 7 is also available as a free download for anyone using Win-

dows XP or Windows Server 2003. This newest version of Internet Explorer features

a streamlined interface that increases the viewing area for web pages, tabbed brows-

ing for easier navigation when you are viewing multiple web pages, and an extensive

security shield that is designed to safeguard the integrity of your computer and pro-

tect your personal information.

Whether you are a novice or a pro, you’ll find that Internet Explorer 7 is easier to

work with than previous releases and that it offers more possibilities for customiza-

tion and optimization. Before you race off to customize and optimize Internet

Explorer 7, however, you should take a few minutes to get to know its new inter-

face, as discussed in the first part of this chapter. You’ll then be better prepared for

the advanced discussion in the second part of this chapter, in which I cover new fea-

tures and new ways of performing familiar tasks.

Getting Started with Internet Explorer 7

You can start Internet Explorer 7 by selecting Internet Explorer on the Start menu or

by clicking Internet Explorer on the Quick Launch Toolbar. When you are browsing

the Internet, Internet Explorer 7 runs in an enhanced security mode, called Pro-

tected Mode, by default. You can also start Internet Explorer 7 in a locked-down

mode, called No Adds-ons Mode, by clicking Start

➝ Accessories ➝ System Tools ➝

Getting Started with Internet Explorer 7

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Internet Explorer (No Add-ons). In this special, locked-down mode, Internet

Explorer runs without ActiveX controls or browser extensions.

With Internet Explorer 7, Microsoft shows that it has clearly been listening to cus-

tomers and watching the competition. As you can see in Figure 7-1, Internet

Explorer 7 has a redesigned interface that maximizes web page display while reduc-

ing the toolbar size, uses tabs instead of separate windows, and features an inte-

grated Web Search box.

Tabbed browsing is the enhancement that has the most significant impact on the

way you browse the Web. With tabbed browsing, you can open new browser pages

in a separate tab rather than in a separate window. In this way, tabbed browsing

helps you organize web pages so that you can easily navigate among them simply by

clicking tabs. While Internet Explorer still allows you to open new windows by

pressing Ctrl-N or selecting Page

➝ New Window, you may not need to do this and

may instead want to open a new tab.

Each Internet Explorer window can have up to eight pages open on separate tabs.

You can open a page in a new tab in several ways. You can hold the Ctrl key while

clicking a link to open the referenced page in a new tab. You can display a new tab

by pressing Ctrl-T and then typing the desired web page address in the Address field.

As Internet Explorer always displays the New Tab button to the right of the last tab

in the line of available tabs, you can also click this button and then type the desired

web page address in the Address field.

Figure 7-1. Internet Explorer 7’s new look and feel

Favorites center

Add to favorites

Quick tabs

Tabs list Tabs New tab button Web Search box

Page title

Address bar

Status bar