Internet Explorer 8 Features And Their Firefox Equivalent
Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 introduced several exciting new features to the Microsoft browser which hit the Internet by surprise. No one would have thought that Microsoft would add that much value to the second beta of Internet Explorer. The Internet Explorer 8 development team did a good job at introducing new features and also managed to increase the performance and security of the coming Microsoft flagship browser.
Firefox on the other hand will see an immense performance gain in version 3.1 when the Mozilla development team integrates the new Javascript interpreter.
The following list will concentrate on features of Internet Explorer 8 that have been introduced by Microsoft and their Firefox equivalent. This is usually a Firefox add-on that offers the same functionality as the hard-coded Microsoft feature. Only features that have not been in Firefox 3 by default have been added. Features like undoing tabs have are not included therefor.
Find on Page
Microsoft highlights all hits and provides the number of found results next to the search box.
Firefox - Find In Numbers - Integrates itself in the Find menu when it is popping up displaying the number of hits on a page for the search phrase. Firefox already comes with a Highlight All option in the Find bar.
Firefox HighlightAll - Not exactly the same functionality. It highlights all occurrences of a word that has been selected and displays the count in the status bar.
Incorporates auto suggestions, the history, bookmarks and feeds and presents them in a categorized view.
Internet Explorer 8 creates tab groups automatically when the user launches a new site in a new tab from an existing tab.
Internet Explorer 8 displays enhanced search results including images using auto suggestions in the search box.
Accelerators are add-ons for Internet Explorer 8 that make it possible to use other web services without leaving the site, e.g looking up an address on Google Maps.
Web Slices are information that can be put into a toolbar and automatically update themselves, think about weather information, eBay searches, Amazon items.
When the user activates InPrivate Browsing history, temporary files and cookies are not stored on the user's computer.
Can block third party content that tracks and aggregates online behavior.
Internet Explorer 8 makes use of a Cross-Site Scripting filter that can detect Type-1 XSS attacks.
Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 introduced several exciting new features to the Microsoft browser which hit the Internet by surprise. No one would have thought that Microsoft would add that much value to the second beta of Internet Explorer. The Internet Explorer 8 development team did a good job at introducing new features and also managed to increase the performance and security of the coming Microsoft flagship browser.
Firefox on the other hand will see an immense performance gain in version 3.1 when the Mozilla development team integrates the new Javascript interpreter.
The following list will concentrate on features of Internet Explorer 8 that have been introduced by Microsoft and their Firefox equivalent. This is usually a Firefox add-on that offers the same functionality as the hard-coded Microsoft feature. Only features that have not been in Firefox 3 by default have been added. Features like undoing tabs have are not included therefor.
Find on Page
Microsoft highlights all hits and provides the number of found results next to the search box.
Firefox - Find In Numbers - Integrates itself in the Find menu when it is popping up displaying the number of hits on a page for the search phrase. Firefox already comes with a Highlight All option in the Find bar.
Firefox HighlightAll - Not exactly the same functionality. It highlights all occurrences of a word that has been selected and displays the count in the status bar.
Incorporates auto suggestions, the history, bookmarks and feeds and presents them in a categorized view.
- A user style is available that marks different results in a different colors.
Internet Explorer 8 creates tab groups automatically when the user launches a new site in a new tab from an existing tab.
- Tab Kit - provides the feature to group tabs by domain or parent tab. Adds several other interesting features to Firefox like multi-row tabs.
- Group / Sort Tabs - a lightweight alternative to Tab Kit with less functionality.
Internet Explorer 8 displays enhanced search results including images using auto suggestions in the search box.
- Firefox is making use of Google Suggest to provide search suggestions in the search box.
- There is no option to combine text and image results.
Accelerators are add-ons for Internet Explorer 8 that make it possible to use other web services without leaving the site, e.g looking up an address on Google Maps.
- Ubiquity - This Firefox 3 prototype extension uses a different method of making other web services accessible on the current website but it can provide the same functionality, e.g. looking up addresses on Google Maps.
- IE8 Activities for Firefox - A Firefox extension that replicates IE8 Accelerators exactly. It even supports those offered for Internet Explorer
Web Slices are information that can be put into a toolbar and automatically update themselves, think about weather information, eBay searches, Amazon items.
- Webchunks - It completely replicates the Internet Explorer feature.
When the user activates InPrivate Browsing history, temporary files and cookies are not stored on the user's computer.
- Stealther - Can disable the following on activation: - Browsing History (also in Address bar), Cookies, Downloaded Files History, Disk Cache, Saved Form Information, Sending of ReferrerHeader, Recently Closed Tabs list
Can block third party content that tracks and aggregates online behavior.
- Adblock Plus - Can disable advertisement and cookies that track the user.
Internet Explorer 8 makes use of a Cross-Site Scripting filter that can detect Type-1 XSS attacks.
- NoScript - Can Protect against any kind of script on the Internet including cross-site scripting attacks.
