Internet Explorer 4.0

The worlds last browser

Yup, the browser wars which have raged for over five chaotic years are finally over. At the very beginning of the conflict there were a lot of browsers to choose from; Cello, Slipknot, Netscape and ofcourse the worlds first browser, NCSA Mosaic. The number of combatants gradually declined till there were only two left, Netscape and Microsoft; and now there's only one: Microsoft. Microsoft's IE 4.0 is so good, it stomps Communicator right into the ground. I have never seen a more impressive Internet software suite nor one which integrates better with Windows95. This potential for integration with the operating system was the reason Microsoft was destined to win from the very start.

IE 4.0 is just a continuation of Microsoft's much touted philosophy of 'Embracing and Extending'. As MSDOS grew bigger and more feature rich, utility makers like PC-Tools, Mace and Norton gradually disappeared. Now that IE 4.0 will become part of the Windows95 operating system, the end of all other Windows95 browsers isn't far. They may struggle on for some time, but their fate is clear. Even if IE 4.0 were just an average browser (which it isn't), it would take a lot of convincing to make me spend a couple of hours downloading 15Mb worth of Communicator to replace it.

But IE 4.0 is more than just a browser, it's a Windows upgrade. Once you've installed it, your Desktop undergoes some radical surgery and becomes....(Drum roll please!) The Active Desktop. The Active Desktop is much more responsive than the old passive one. The computer keeps a track of your mouse movements and when it passes over an icon, the pointer metamorphoses into a hand, which is exactly what happens in a browser when you pass over a hotlink. Icons no longer require to be double clicked, a single click will suffice (Though you can change that with View->Options). In fact, what's happened is that the old Windows Explorer has been replaced by a newer version which closely resembles IE 4.0 (the browser) and treats your computer like a Web site on the Internet. Every folder is now treated like an HTML page and every icon is an <A HREF > </A> as far as Windows is concerned. Since every folder, including the Desktop, is now considered an HTML page, you can now right click within any folder and customize it using HTML!! You can even embed Java applets or ActiveX objects within your folders, or place Macromedia presentation (or any other Plugin) within them (We'll show you how later). In fact, anything you can do on a Web page on the Internet, you can now do within a folder. For proof of this amazing accomplishment, jump over to Control Panel to see an example of a Java applet working from within a folder. If you still can't believe your eyes, open a DOS window and go to C:\Windows\Web and say dir *.htm. You'll see some HTML files displayed. Open mycomp.htm and there you have it, the HTML source of your My Computer folder. Don't touch the file yet, we'll demolish it later.

The Active Desktop is just as amazing. Microsoft has finally realized that we don't view our office desks as conglomerations of files and folders, rather as a place where we do our work and interact with people. So they've turned the Active Desktop into a window to the Internet or your local Intranet. You can now place Desktop Components, an example of which is that orange egg thingy you get by default, which can do and be just about anything. They can be a Java applet or an ActiveX object or even a Web page! Fear not, we'll explain how to create your own components and place them on the desktop.

But before we proceed, a word of caution about IE 4.0....

It's BUGGY!

IE 4.0 is extremely unstable and buggier than your windscreen after a drive in the woods. It can and will hang without any reason at any time. In fact, we've noticed that if you don't work on the computer from some time, Windows95 hangs!! We've devoted two whole computer to IE 4.0, one has 32 Mb of RAM and the other with 64Mb. Some examples from Microsoft's site worked fine on the 32Mb machine, but gave GPF's on the 64 Mb machine. Others worked on the 64Mb machine but hung the other and a few refused to work no matter where we ran them. Also be sure to backup before you install, because when IE goes, it takes Windows down south with it. We've already had to reinstall Windows95 once after explorer.exe itself started to give us GPF's!

Microsoft also assumes you'll like IE 4.0 so much that you won't even think about uninstalling it, so the uninstall feature rarely works. If you install IE 4.0 you'll probably have to live with it's eccentricities for a long, long time.

Beta software certainly isn't for the faint hearted, yet IE 4.0 isn't meant for general release just yet. It's a 'Developer Release' which means only people who don't mind losing their lives work should download and use it. The final, hopefully less buggy version, will be released sometime in September.

IE 4.0, The Browser

The actual browser portion of IE 4.0 isn't very different from IE 3.0. The interface is pretty much the same and so's it's penchant to hang ever so often. Yet there are some small but thoughtful additions. There's a new browse off-line feature under File which makes browsing ofline a much more pleasurable experience than before. The printing option is now smarter and allows you to print any HTML document and all the other documents linked to it. Organizing your favorites is easier too and just right click in the favorites windows and choose View -> Thumbnails to view the thumbnail images of the Web pages. If the pages aren't in the cache, they will be downloaded and displayed.

The biggest change is the all new Search button. When you click on the button, it opens a new pane with the names of various search engines inside. Click on any and enter your query. The pane on the right will hold the response. If you grow tired of searching, simply click on the search button again and the search window will disappear. You can also customize the search button. Simply drag a link to your favorite search engine, e.g. Yahoo to the search button and drop it there. When asked whether you want to make this the default search site, click OK. Next go to View->Options->Navigation and uncheck the Use IE4 search option.

Another thoughtful addition is Autocomplete. Just type in a URL and if you've been to it before, IE 4.0 will try and complete it for you. Type in the first few alphabets and then press the up and down arrow keys to cycle through recent URL's which begin with the characters you've typed. Or hold down the Ctrl key and click on the drop down box arrow. You'll be presented with a list of URL's which begin with the characters you've entered.

The best part about the browser are the subscriptions. Whenever you add a site to the favorites menu, you get the chance to include it's name in the subscriptions list. All the sites you subscribe too are periodically and automatically updated so that you can browse them off-line. This is a boon for me! I arrive for my morning classes at around seven a.m.. Before I start teaching, I always visit some of the computer news sites like www.news.com, www.tecweb.com etc. Since I haven't to much time or bandwidth, I surf with images off but even then it takes a while for a page to appear. Now, all I have to do is subscribe to the pages of my choice, connect to the Internet in the morning and go off for my classes. Whenever I take a short break from teaching, I can come down to my office and browse through the sites off-line and with the images on! Whenever a page is updated a red gleam appears at the corner of the subscriptions icon in the system tray.

The mail reader now supports IMAP4 and is quite good. I haven't used it much, but it's a definite improvement over Netscape mail which I have used. One nice touch is that under POP3, each message is displayed individually, so I don't have to wait for the whole lot to arrive before I started reading. A big plus when you get approximately 150 messages daily!

IE 4.0, The Desktop

The Active Desktop is perhaps the greatest feature of IE 4.0. It's easier to use and more intuitive than the old one. After using IE for some days, I now find it difficult to revert back to double-clicking on icons. The extreme customizability IE offers is a great plus. There's no end to the things you can do with HTML in your folders. But more about that later.

First, here are a some tips, tricks and some information about the desktop. Some I plagiarized from various Internet repositories, others I discovered myself. This list has grown so large that instead of writing them in paragraphs, I decided to use a bulleted list. I find it easier on the eyes and far more restful for my fingers! So go ahead, check 'em out.

One change that should tip you off about the radical nature of IE 4.0 is the change in the Start button title bar. It no longer reads Windows 95, it's now IE4 Preview release. .
The changes in the Start menu are more than skin deep. You can now freely drag and drop between menu's though this doesn't always work. There's also a new folder, Favorites which holds all the favorites defined in the browser. You can also add your own folders here enabling you to launch them quickly whenever needed.
The Taskbar has also changed some. There's a new icon at the lower right position which enables you to quickly access the desktop, great if you're the type who takes multitasking to its limits.
You can also right-click anywhere you want and a menu will pop up which has a new option, Toolbars. This option allows you to add the toolbar of your choice and as a plus, you can also click new toolbar and turn a folder into a toolbar! Try this out for sure.
Another cute feature is that you can now drag a toolbar to anywhere you want. Simply click on the handle (The two vertical lines at the extreme left) and drag the toolbar to any side of the screen. You can even drag it to the middle and leave it floating out there.
You can also turn the auto-hide feature on to save desktop space. Now the toolbar will only become visible when your mouse approaches it.
Another new feature is the Quick Launch toolbar on the Taskbar. It allows you to instantly access often used files and folders. You add icons to it by simply dragging them there, but you have to right-click and choose delete to remove them.
Right-clicking anywhere on the Desktop gives you a menu with a whole host of options. You can temporarily turn off the Active Desktop if it's getting too irritating. Or you can turn off the icons if they're getting in the way!
Clicking on properties in the menu reveals a new tab, the Desktop. This allows you to customize your Desktop settings. Clicking on new lets you add pictures or web sites as objects on the Desktop, just be sure to type http:// before a URL or else it won't work. You can also change the default HTML file which appears on the desktop. An important option is the ability to turn off the irritating IE 4.0 welcome screen. Check that box!
You can also change the order of the Desktop Components, deciding who appears in front of who is the objects overlap. Highlight a component and then click the arrows on the side. Moving a component to the bottom gives it the highest level of priority.
You can also 'minimize' a component if you want. Click on the lower right hand handle and drag it to the upper left hand handle. To maximize, simply do the opposite.
There's a new screen saver under the screen saver tab which displays a slide show of all the links you've subscribed to as well as all your favorite sites. Try it out.
Windows now also has a Task scheduler which is basically used to organize your subscriptions. It's quite easy to use and intuitive, you shouldn't have any problems at all.
Microsoft's also given you a simple Web publishing wizard. It's pretty simple and moronic and the only reason I'm mentioning it here to make this list seem larger.
Another nice touch is that if you set all Show all files and folders on in View->Options, Windows will display all the files and folders, however it now shades all files and folders which are hidden so that you can spot them easily.
If you right-click a folder icon, there's now a new check box in the properties menu; Thumbnails! So now you can presumably view thumbnail images of all your files. I say presumably because checking this option produces no visible results. Aaarg! I HATE BETA software!
You can right-click anywhere within a folder and choose Customize this folder.... A wizard will pop up and allow you to add all the HTML tags you want through Front Pad. It great! A must do.
You can also change the default blue background if folders. There's a file named wmark.gif in C:\windows\web which is the default 'watermark'. ren the file and copy any other .gif you want displayed to this folder and rename it wmark.gif. That's it.
And finally, the greatest improvement of all, Wscript.exe and Cscript.exe. These cute little programs are Visual Basic Script and Java Script interpreters. So Windows95 now has it's own scripting language!! That's right, you can use either Java Script or Visual Basic Script to write short useful scripts! Check out the folder C:\windows\samples\wscript for three short samples that run under Windows. Use Cscript to run files that need DOS.

We've discussed the HTML bit and other features of IE 4.0 in more detail in our Dynamic HTML tutorial. We'll also be discussing writing your own OCX for IE 4.0 in another separate chapter. Be sure to check these out!

IE 4.0, Assorted Goodies

IE 4.0, as with most Microsoft products, comes with a lot of freebies. There's Front Pad, a scaled down version of Front Page. There's Netmeeting, the flagship of Microsoft's collaboration tools. We also get Netshow, a program which allows us to see movies on the Internet and finally, there's the Windows Address Book, a truly useful application which makes keeping addresses and records oh so easy.

Front Pad is the first product we'll talk about. It is, as I've already mention, a simpler version of Front Page. It doesn't offer all the functionality of Front Page, but it's a decent enough HTML editor. It's idea of WYSIWYG is a little kooky, but it's bearable. The Webots are seem great, but I've yet to make the search feature work. Still, it's decent enough for folder customization and creating small Web sites.

Netmeeting on the other hand, is a complete program and isn't a scaled down version. It's pretty good and now that it has video conferencing abilities added to it's already awesome array of goodies, it'll take a lot to beat it.

Netshow is a small little application and it's surprisingly good. The visual and aural quality is decent, even on a slow 28.8 like mine. In a later chapter we'll show you how to embed a Netshow demo in your web page.

Finally, we come to the Windows Address Book or WAB. The WAB is the successor to the Card File, formerly found in Windows 3.1 (Remember it?). It enables you to keep track of a whole host of people and allows you to enter all sorts of information about them. The best bit about it is it's ability to search some of the big LDAP (Light weight Directory Access Protocol) servers on the 'net like Bigfoot, WhoWhere and Four11. Just enter a name and email address and it's done! The Windows Address Book can be found by clicking on Find and then on People.

It seems that you get just about everything you'll ever need for the Internet bundled with IE4; yet more proof of Microsoft's commitment to make the competition disappear. A more fitting motto for ol' Bill would be the Borgish "You will be assimilated", rather than the more innocuous, "Embrace and Extend"!!

The Verdict...

If just the two browsers, Internet Explorer 4.0 and Netscape Communicator 4.0 are compared, Netscape comes up tops, because it's much more stable than IE 4.0. However, when you add all the other advantages of using IE 4.0, like the Active Desktop especially, Internet Explorer wins hands down, even though it's more unstable than the Indian government. My only fear is that once Microsoft has crushed all the competition, it's going to start charging a hefty premium for its products, which are presently free. But if the next version of Internet Explorer somehow manages to be better than the present one, then I for one will gladly pay for it!!

The above document is a joint effort of

Mr. Vijay Mukhi
Mr. Arsalan Zaidi
Ms. Sonal Kotecha

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Vijay Mukhi's Computer Institute
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Tel : 91-22-496 4335 /6/7/8/9 Fax : 91-22-307 28 59
e-mail : vmukhi@giasbm01.vsnl.net.in
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