WML Tech Updates

The two most popular browsers have new versions available for download! I have already been using both, and man are they getting slicker! For those who traditionally only use IE, just a warning before you download. The interface has changed dramatically, so be forewarned that things are changing! I’ll be downloading these to the public workstations soon, too.

Mozilla Firefox 2 came out on October 24th. It didn’t change drastically, and you may not even notice the changes unless you are a die-hard Firefox user. Its new features are:

• improved tabbed browsing
• search suggestions
• spelling suggestions
• options to subscribe to a feed as a Live Bookmark, using a Web service such as Bloglines, My Yahoo!, or Google Reader, or the client side reader of your choice
• increased phishing protection and security
• even more customizations
• even more add-ons

Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 came out about 2 weeks ago. If you currently use Firefox, you’ll notice that IE has leveled the playing field by adding the features that Firefox, Safari, or Opera have had for quite some time now. But IE still holds about 85% of the browser market share, so now we can just wait to see what Firefox will do to keep ahead in the Browser wars. Anyway, IE’s new features include:

• a redesigned, more streamlined interface
• more security
• tabbed browsing
  • tabs can be organized into groups and viewed in thumbnail form using the Quick Tabs feature
• web search multiple search engines (not simultaneous – that would be a metasearch) right from the toolbar
• when printing website, you’ll be offered a “shrink to fit” feature
• an antiphishing filter warns users who are about to visit spoofed web sites
• easy discovery, reading and subscription to RSS feeds
• and two things I like:
  • it will finally handle the alpha channels correctly for transparent PNG images
  • improved support for cascading style sheets (CSS)