Microsoft Internet Explorer 5

Internet Explorer is no longer an application. Facing a long battle with the US Government over Windows integration and innovation, Microsoft has reclassified the IE product line as a software platform.
Evidence for this is of the ‘six of one, half-a-dozen of another’ variety: instead of being a browser, Internet Explorer 5 provides system-level Internet services to the operating system (as does IE4). However, these services have been available to Windows applications via ActiveX controls since Version 3.0. Actual system-level integration in this release of IE5, as in IE4, is fairly superficial. It is restricted mainly to allowing the directory and some of the hard drive contents to be examined in the browser Window. Of course there’s also the Active Desktop, but it lacks sensible and practical applications.
Out of character for an early prerelease, IE5 is quite stable and functioned perfectly in conjunction with APC’s de facto stability test, Lotus Notes.
As is fitting for a developer release, and a Web developer release at that (IE5 is available for download from Microsoft’s SiteBuilder Network site), most of the changes relate to the way IE handles Web content.
XML (Extensible Markup Language) is an HTML superset which allows the creation of custom tags that can define both the positioning and data-content type of an object. IE5 lets page authors mix and match the use of HTML and XML as well as allowing Cascading Style Sheet properties to be applied directly to the XML data types. This means that a page developer can define a style that persists across a range of pages, and within those pages, XML data will be presented in a consistent manner.
According to Microsoft, IE5 matches the W3C’s definition of dynamic HTML better than IE4, and will enable developers to produce DHTML that works better across browsers. 1E5 also includes better support for what Microsoft calls HTML applications — HTML files saved with an HTA extension will be viewed in their own windows, without IE5’s menu and toolbars. This capability was present in IE4,
but now HTML applications can be made simply by changing the extension of the HTML file.
Header information is used to automatically detect a document’s expiry date: if the document is still current, the browser will use a cached version instead of going online to retrieve it. Many sites using cookies to customise their appearance for a
particular user will be able to phase them out and use XML to allow the persistence of any object on a given page. Page authors will be able to use this feature to increase the personalisation of any given page for an individual user, and users will benefit from not having to continually reestablish their positions at frequently visited sites.
Page objects can also be defined in relation to the function of any other object on the page. For developers, this means a reduction in the amount of scripting required for any given object. Microsoft provides the example of a table whose font size is set to 20% of the table’s width. When the page is resized, the font automatically resizes without the need to query a server.
Despite its apparent stability, end users determined to stay on the cutting edge will be disappointed with IE5’s virtually unchanged interface and the minimally modified mail client — developers and IS staff, on the other hand, will probably heave a sigh of relief. When IE5 breaks cover, however, those with a large stable of
up-to-date Microsoft applications will be delighted to be able to drag an object from the browser Window to another frame or
application — or even onto the Active Desktop itself. IE’s reduced footprint will also be appreciated; it is down from around 95M to 72M for a full installation. A minimal installation obviously further reduces this footprint and provides users with more options in selecting the components they do and don’t want. The |ava Virtual Machine (JVM) is one of these optional components, although it’s unclear whether IE5 will allow a third-party JVM to be used in its place.
IE5 pushes Microsoft’s vision of integration a step further, although it’s apparent that the company can’t quite make up its mind exactly what this integration means. If it means using the browser window as a central access point for all local, network
and Internet data, then IE5, in its current form, fails to the same extent as IE4 and for the same reason — the integration is not seamless. Want proof? While you’re browsing HTML content, type Ctrl-O and then C: in the subsequent dialog box. This should provide a list of the contents of your primary local drive. Type Ctrl-O again and nothing happens. That’s not integration.