Log in to like this post! Microsoft Edge: A closer look DevToolsGuy / Monday, February 15, 2016 Microsoft Edge, quite simply, is the modern Internet Browser now available with Windows 10. Microsoft has decided to do away with the much loved (in some parts) and much demised Internet Explorer on its 20th Birthday - Happy Birthday indeed! Bar security patches, no new design features are expected. So from now, as your default browser in Windows 10, only expect to only see Microsoft Edge. The history of Internet Explorer… Our abiding memory of Internet Explorer? In the 90’s, Internet Explorer was the only available browser and as a result, pretty popular. However, since the introduction of Google Chrome and Firefox, it’s gone from being the ‘go-to’ browser to one that is, well, much less so. Even though it continued to be used on large scales throughout the world, largely due the fact it came with Microsoft Windows, its gradual demise was noticeable. Microsoft knew it, and worked towards re-creating its image and value, with http://www.rethinkie.com. However, once again, IE lost the race against the other browsers, mainly due to lack of functionality and performance. It wasn’t particularly fast, security was poor and it lacked customization features, which as you might guess, were available in Firefox and Chrome. Introducing Microsoft Edge Knowing that Internet explorer was losing its credibility in the market, Microsoft started working on a new browser instead of fixing the existing one. A good move. If you’re wondering where the name came from, during its build, it was named ’Project Spartan’ - derived from "being on the edge of consuming and creating". There’s a lot to be admired. Microsoft has its own rendering engine ‘Edge HTML’ to parse the HTML mark-up which is much faster than the old IE. They’ve also removed and rewritten the majority of the source code of Internet explorer to replace it with the Microsoft edge. So let’s take a look at some of the main features on that Edge has to offer: Simple and Minimal design Offering a very trimmed design compared to its ancestor IE, Edge is simple and easy to get to grips with. Much like Chrome, it has simple address bar and icons which are pretty self-explanatory. You have all the usual suspects - navigate backwards, forwards, add favorites, search, refresh, homepage etc. Add to that a share feature, a reading list and web note button, to name a few, a great aspect of Edge is everything is available on the same page using the right side pane. As a user you don’t have to navigate around the page for different tabs to change any settings. The new design is also scalable to any device. It will automatically scale up if you resize the window or view it on other resolution. For today’s Internet users, mobile compatibility is something expected rather than unexpected, nevertheless, it’s a definite improvement compared to Internet Explorer. Reading View Reading view is a tool that enables the user to view the webpage in the reading mode. It strips out the unnecessary parts of the website - like videos, ads, images - and only shows the texts for quick readability. No popups and full screen reading view is available. Really helpful on the touch screen devices like tablets, phones. You can switch the page to reading view by clicking on the book alike icon on the right side of the address bar. A note: if it’s disabled, it means the site is not compatible to view in reading mode. Web note Web note is a mark-up tool used to take screenshots of the page and add notes to it or sketches to it. You can write on the webpages themselves with touch or pen features or even type directly from the keyboard. You can highlight particular text or region of the screen using the highlight marker. Great new feature. Reading List A user can save an article to read it later in offline mode. It’s highly useful for the tablet devices where you might not have constant online availability or when let’s say you want to save the article for reading it later in your own time. You can add the webpage in the reading list by clicking on the star icon besides the reading view icon. It will prompt you to save the article in the favorites list or the reading list. Cortana Support Cortana is a genius tool behind Windows 10 which works similarly to SIRI of iOS. It acts as your virtual assistant. When you type something in the address bar, such as the weather or requesting directions, it will show up just right below it and help out. If you highlight or select a word on the webpage you can ask Cortana for more information. It will show the results on the right side of the pane without navigating to new page or a tab. Note: Currently Cortana support is available only in specific regions and languages like China, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, and United States. A browser that can compete with Chrome Since its fall from the top spot in 2012, Microsoft have been working hard to find a browser that can compete with its competitors. With Edge, they have a genuine chance of regaining some ground and have at the very least made a substantial step forward. Want to build your desktop, mobile or web applications with high-performance controls? Download Ultimate Free trial today or contact us and see what it can do for you.