Microsoft had their developers-only Windows 8 preview launch on Tuesday, wherein the software giant had displayed the potentials of Windows 8 OS running on a Samsung tablet. Now, they have delved deeper into the future of its popular web browser. Microsoft had allowed developers to spend more time with its unique Metro-style layout as they had included Internet Explorer 10’s third platform preview in the aforementioned build. Windows Live president, Stephen Sinofsky said that the ultimate goal for IE10 is to give its users “a truly chromeless browsing experience.”
Corporate Vice President of Internet Explorer, Dean Hachamovitch even came up to detail the inclusion of a Metro-style browser in IE10. Talking about the inspiration factor, the designs have a fair amount of resemblance to a modern metro station with the signs and symbols. Hachamovitch blogged at the Building Windows 8 blog that their Windows 8 approach started with a single great HTML 5 browsing engine which powers two different experiences. He noted, “The single engine provides strong support for web standards, hardware-accelerated performance, security, privacy, and more. Then, we built two experiences on top of that engine.”
Newfangled touch-first Metro-style interface, and a more traditional, current-generation desktop browser with tabs were the two experiences they had come up with. Microsoft stated that Newfangled touch-first Metro-style interface’s strong visual flair and bold typography can be considered as a step towards increased immersion.
The Metro style UI that fuels the clean aesthetic and experience of Internet Explorer puts the emphasis on your favorite sites, not the browser. The navigation bar appears only when you ask for it, and the touch keyboard is intelligently integrated into the browsing experience, with Snap and charms just a swipe away offering quick access to the most common tasks.
Briefing the key factors defining the Metro-style experience, Hachamovitch said safety, performance and HTML5 support are on the list, as both desktop and Metro-style IE base strong basis on it. This was even the reason because of which Microsoft had opted to adapt the IE10 engine’s architecture to power both experiences. Browsing history, typed addresses, settings and many more factors are being shared between the two experiences. Again, a consistently safe, fast and powerful experience for today’s sites as well as Metro style applications are being delivered be the common engine.
This unique Metro-style browser will even be helpful in boosting the website pinning, “charm”-based search and sharing, touch-panning and pinch-to-zoom. Hachamovitch dismissed potential criticism arguing that Microsoft’s decision to include both browsing options isn’t a mistake and the pessimist critics who would call it ‘two browsers,’ should note that its actually only one browsing engine which is available for dual use with two different ‘skins.’
Talking about the choosing dilemma, Hachamovitch said that most of the users would like to make use of the new Metro-style browsing, but the ‘traditional browsing’ users will still have an option to switch back to the traditional browser whenever they want to. One even has an option to set default to any style they prefer to use as default.