Microsoft’s Russian website appears to have leaked the first true screenshot of IE9. While the company suggested so far that the interface will not be changed from IE8, it now seems that IE9 will get a dramatically different look and look and feel much more like Google’s Chrome. The site also reveals the major new features – such as the focus on content that will turn websites into apps and enable users to display two pages in one browser window.
IE9 Screenshot; Image courtesy of ZDNet
ZDNet’s Mary-Jo Foley was able to grab a screenshot of the page before it was pulled shortly after that. Like its rivals, IE9 will have fewer buttons and show only the back and forward button to the left of the URL bar, as well as a search bar and a home, bookmark and reload button. The page has been pulled, but Yahoo’s search has the cached page still available.
In addition to Microsoft’s decision to finally remove the ugly 2 pixel frame inside the browser window, the website states that the browser is “not overloaded with navigation elements” and focusing on content instead. Apparently the “back” button is now “safer” and the search box “protects the user’s personal data”. As Chrome 6, IE9 also merges many menus into just one. Microsoft said that only those tools that are necessary for navigation are now in the user’s field of view.
IE9 will also bring back the concept of website apps. Windows 7 can run websites without opening IE9 explicitly and enable users to create icons for websites. This concept has been around for a while and has been features especially in the initial release of Chrome. This time, however, Microsoft take sit a step further and adds a preview capability of those websites for the Windows 7 taskbar.
There is a new feature called Aero Snap, which apparently enables users to quickly view two sites or pages next to each other in the same browser window. It is enabled by dragging two pages to the opposite sites of the browser window.
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