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Internet Explorer Suggestions

  1. Show load time in status bar
  2. Restore the last closed window
  3. Improved management of External Tools
  4. Tabbed Browsing
  5. Web pages saved to the local machine need to contain the URL address
  6. Windows Update on the Tools menu is inconsistent with other Microsoft products
  7. Live Bookmarks
  8. Improved Download Management
  9. Stored Password Management
  10. Separate the IE Engine from Windows
  11. Add more to Windows not IE
  12. Select multiple pieces of text
  13. Set a Proxy server and forgot
  14. Option to print the computer name when printing webpages
  15. Add another property Document size including images
  16. Options - Why are some "enable" and some "disable"
  17. Add spell checking
  18. Run IE6 and IE7 side by side on the same PC
  19. Add a description and URL for each one in Add-ons
  20. Add a check box on download file dialog
  21. Awesome Address Bar

  1. Show load time in status bar

    When IE finishes loading a page, the status bar simply displays a 'Done'. What is should display is  'Done. Load Time xx seconds'. This will help both the developer and the typical user to detect performance issues. This is a standard in Rules to Better Windows Forms.

  2. Restore the last closed window

    Quite often I accidentally close an IE window by mistake. It would be very handy to be able to reopen the last closed window using an File-Re-open Last Window option. Not sure if this can happen, but when I accidentally close an IE window by mistake, I would like to be able to do a Control+Z to undo it and have the window open again. I would like to reboot my PC and all my IE windows come back. Note: Firefox allows you reopen your tabs when you install a plug-in.

  3. Improved management of External Tools

    Crazy Browser supports a custom list of external tools. IE should support this or similar in addition to the basic list of programs for email, news, and editing. Currently, to edit the list of external tools you often need to use a registry hack. IE should allow you to set custom executables as external tools in the Internet Options dialog. This would let me use lots of automated tools that are command-line driven.

    IExplore
    Figure: Crazy Browser's list of external tools

    And please make it consistent with Visual Studio.NET Tools External Tools

    Visual Studio.NET
    Figure: Visual Studio has an external tools option

  4. Tabbed browsing

    It is quite obvious that tabs, such as those used in Mozilla Firefox and Visual Studio .NET are here to stay. In today's world where people have more and more applications open, tabs help to reduce clutter in the taskbar.

  5. Web pages saved to the local machine need to contain the URL address

    When you save a document from IE using the browser's 'Save As...' feature, when you look at the HTML, you will see a comment showing the URL address it was when you saved it. This way you can always know where that particular document came from without having to keep the URLs somewhere else or manually editing the document. I want it to go a step further by adding an info bar.

    Eg. When you open up a page from C:\dataAdam\Test.htm then there should be an info bar like this that says This is a Saved Copy of the web page www.ssw.com.au.... Click here to load the page.

    Address
    Figure: An info bar offering to open the live page would be goods

  6. Windows Update on the Tools menu is inconsistent with other Microsoft products

    The menu location of "Window Update" on IE is inconsistent with other Microsoft products. On IE it is located on the Tools menu (Tools -> Windows Update), but on other Microsoft products (including Visual Studio and Office XP) it is located on the Help menu (Help -> Check for Updates).

  7. Live Bookmarks

    There is no need for a full RSS reader in IE. However the Live Bookmarks feature in Mozilla Firefox is simple and effective. It creates a special folder in your bookmarks list and adds a separate link inside that folder for each post in the RSS feed.

    If there is an .rss file then this icon shows the .rss reference is pulled from the META tag eg. <link id="RSSLink" title="RSS" type="application/rss+xml" rel="alternate" href="http://blogs.ssw.com.au/andrewweaver/rss.aspx"></link>

    Live book marks
    Figure: Live Bookmarks in Firefox

  8. Improved Download Management

    It would be good if there were better download features similar to those found in other programs (eg. Firefox, Getright Lite etc). Getright Lite allows the user to have more options of views to see a transfer queue, download later, throttle the download.

    I shouldn't need 3rd party software to be able to resume a download! The download manager in IE should be able to handle the situations like connection drop.

    Figure: Bad Example - IE's download window is too simply, there is no way to resume an interrupted download session

    We have also tested this on Vista/IE7+, however it's kind of sad, there is no improvement. Also, when I disconnect the Internet connection, the download window is just staying there, no indication of the status at all.

    Figure: Bad Example - Vista/IE7's download window is simply hanging there when the connection drops
    Figure: Good Example - GetRight can help you to resume download and manage your sessions
    Figure: Good Example - FireFox has a download manager that allows you to restart an interrupted download session

    Note: Better download managers than the one that comes built into IE7

  9. Stored Password Management

    It would be nice if there was a safe password storage facility (like Password Minder) / Auto Form Filler found in MSN Desktop. I want to be able to view all the passwords I have stored for different sites, and be able to delete them.

  10. Separate the IE Engine from Windows

    Why havent Microsoft released IE 7? Because it is part of the OS. The only way they can do it would be via new versions of Windows or Service Packs. I dont agree with that. I think it should be separated from the OS for 2 reasons:

    • We need updates at least once a year
    • There could be a great reduction in security issues by separating this further from the OS and stopping buffer overruns. Firefox has 0 Critical Security Alerts since it came out mostly because it runs on the XUL framework with abstracts from the OS.

    Firefox http://secunia.com/product/4227/

    Firefox Alerts!
    Figure: Firefox errors

    http://secunia.com/product/11/*NOT GOOD*

    IE Alerts!
    Figure: IE errors

  11. Add more to Windows not IE

    The main purpose of Internet Explorer should be to render web pages. There is no point having a massive UI shell it should be kept to a minimum, just like it is now. If individuals need more they can download an add-on. This gives consumers more choices and is the way to go. I could add on the Google Toolbar or the Altavista Toolbar depending on my needs.

    Gestures are a very handy feature in some other browsers, such as Opera and Firefox, where specific mouse movements can be associated with actions. For example, holding down the button and moving the mouse to the right navigates forward in your browser history.

    It is clear to see the great ideas in Firefox, wouldn't it be even better if we could all use these innovations in our own Windows applications. Build them into Windows not into IE. Seeing these changes in the next service pack for windows would be great.

  12. Select multiple pieces of text

    Internet Explorer should have the ability to let us select multiple pieces of text. Sometimes we would like to select multiple pieces of text (usually links) and paste into a document.

    Microsoft Word
    Figure: We can select multiple pieces of text in Microsoft Word.

  13. Set a Proxy server and forgot

    When you get this

    IE - Cannot find server
    Figure: IE - Cannot find server.

    Sometimes it is purely because you added a proxy and you forgot.
    This info should show on the "Cannot find server" page with a button to open the "Local Area Network (LAN) Settings" dialog.

    LAN Settings - Proxy server is used
    Figure: LAN Settings - Proxy server is used.

  14. Option to print the computer name when printing webpages

    We should have a '&c' to show the computer name.

    Page Setup
    Figure: IE's page setup

    Read the same request for Microsoft Word on our Microsoft Office Suggestions.

  15. Add another property Document size including images

    The Page Properties in Internet Explorer is useful to view file size information of a web page. The file size displayed on this window however can confuse a user as it is unclear whether this figure includes images attached to that page.

    I would also like to see the file size displayed on this window including images attached to that page.

    Figure: Add a new property called Size including Images" under "Size"

  16. Options - Why are some "enable" and some "disable"

    The disable ones are unnecessarily hard to read.

    Figure: Internet Explorer 7 Options window

  17. Add spell checking

    IE should be able to do spell checking like how Firefox does.
    Figure: spell checking in Firefox

  18. Run IE6 and IE7 side by side on the same PC

    Why does the IE team not design you to run IE6 and IE7 side by side on the same PC?
    Seems a strange thing to not keep on shipping...

  19. Add a description and URL for each one in Add-ons

    We suggest that there are a description and URL for each one to get more info about each one (to help the user decide if they need the add-ons functionality)

    Figure: Manage Add-ons Dialogue in IE

  20. Add a check box on download file dialog

    Does the below dialog annoy everyone?

    Show Image but popup a download dialog
    Figure: Want to show a image but popup a download dialog

    Add check box: [x] Always do this action in future

  21. Awesome Address Bar

    How did I miss this, 2 words and I have found the URL?

    What a quick way to find a URL.

    Good address bar should like this
    Figure: IE need a better address bar like this.

Acknowledgements

Adam Cogan
Edward Forgacs
Joe Hardy
Tatham Oddie