Microsoft’s Internet Explorer 8 to be made available later today
- IE8 Accelerator lets you search text phrases through apps like Live Spaces, Encarta, Live Maps, Translate or developer-based links.
SHOWCASE: Earlier today, Microsoft Corp. announced the availability of the full version of Internet Explorer 8, the new Web browser of course, after being on beta for quite some time now. Downloadable from here starting from noon EDT on March 19 (or about 3:00am South-east Asian time on 20 March, Friday), IE8 will be available in 25 languages and feature a faster, easier and leading-edge security-focused browser (or so the PR says here).
The Singapore team from HardwareZone.com attended a media preview of the announcement earlier this morning, which includes a run-through of features like Accelerators, Web Slices and an Instant Search Box.
The team has covered the Beta version before and you can read about it here.
If you’re not the type to read, check out our Gallery of screenshots which explain some of the key features of IE8 after the jump.
- Web Slices lets you keep up with frequently updated sites direct from your Favorites Bar. To add a Web Slice to the Favorites Bar, click on the green Web Slice icon on the upper-right hand corner of the browser.
- When info gets updated on the site (like a new bid to an auction), the Web Slice on your Favorites Bar gets highlighted. Click on it and you get a preview of it. Click it to go directly to the site.
- The Smart Address Bar auto-completes URL entries based on previous surfing history and bookmarks. The search box searches visually as well, if there are related images to your search and will display them if available.
- The Find button is now a browser button with the press of a hot key. It used to pop up and block your view of the browser.
- Similar to Apple Safari's Private Browsing or Google's Incognito mode, IE8's InPrivate lets you surf a site without leaving a trace of your presence, normally created via cookies, temporary Internet files, history and so on.
- IE8 also has a function that allows you to browse previously closed tabbed pages, start InPrivate browsing or use the Accelerator feature at a glance.
- Tab browsing now color-coordinates parent and child tabs so that you can easily associate same page links and sub-links.
- Probably the biggest feature for IE8 is the Accelerator, which enhances the way you copy and paste. When you highlight a line of text and right click it, you can search the phrase through Microsoft apps like Live Spaces, Encarta, Live Maps, Translate or email it. Developers can also create their own Accelerators for a more diverse selection of options.
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