New Internet Explorer 8 beta released

Microsoft has released the second beta version of its Internet Explorer 8 web browser, demonstrating many of the new features that users can expect to find in the final product.

The publicly available test version includes many new features, but the company warned that it does not yet include all the performance optimisation planned for the finished product.

As expected, the browser includes a new InPrivate mode that, when enabled, stops the browser from recording which sites are visited.

Any cookies required during the session are stored in memory, rather than on the hard disk.

An additional InPrivate Blocking tool allows users to control where information is transferred during the browsing session, using a combination of black- and white-listing.

This limits the information available to website visitor tracking systems, but it cannot be enabled for general browsing outside of InPrivate.

Other security features include an automatic filter that prevents cross-site scripting (XSS) attacks by scanning link query strings for external code. Rather than blocking the link, the tool simply removes the code link to render the site safe.

Besides security, most new features have been designed to limit the number of clicks required when performing common tasks.

A new ‘Accelerator Menu’ appears when text is highlighted on the page, allowing it to be quickly sent to another website; highlight a postcode, for example, and it can be sent to Google Maps. The secondary website appears in a small browsing window above the current page. Websites can create their own accelerators, which are defined using XML rather than Javascript or other programming code.

Similar interactive elements have been added to the browser’s search bar, which now displays live results in a dropdown menu when searching supported websites, and in the Webslice tool, which allows the user to store a miniature version of supported web pages in the toolbar for easy access.

Several major websites, including Ebay, Facebook and Yahoo, are already offering tailored services for the new beta browser.

“As people are using more and more other services, being in the browser is key to making sure that we engage with users,” said Ebay’s Cian Weeresinghe.

Despite this welter of new features, there are areas where IE8 seems to be simply catching up with features already present in rival products. Just as a mode similar to InPrivate can already be found in Apple’s Safari browser, the new beta includes a phishing and malware filter that blocks access to suspect sites and a keyword-searchable address bar similar to those launched in Firefox 3.

When asked whether he expected Internet Explorer 8 to have an effect on Ebay users’ choice of browser, Mr Weeresinghe was cautious.

“I think users are choosing browsers based on a whole host of other functionality,” he said.