Explorer still chasing the Firefox; Test of new browsers shows IE 7 has beefed up security but trails Firefox 2.0 in features and Web development compliance.

Five years in the making, Internet Explorer 7 has a distinctive new look and an improved security posture, but our initial

test shows that the Microsoft browser still nips at the heels of Firefox's feature set and its Web development standards support.

We tested gold code for Internet Explorer 7 released on Oct. 18 against a very late beta (RC 3) of Mozilla's Firefox 2 --

the final codea was released on Oct. 24 after our initial testing wrapped up.a Testing was performed in a lab environment

and in the day-to-day production efforts of a 42-person Web development agency on a variety of systems ranging from Toshiba

Protege laptops to Dell Precision 390 Workstations.a

We focused on the browsers' user interface changes, feature set and compliance with Web development standards that will directly

affect how Web content is viewed within each browser. We held off on deep performance testing, because we wanted to make a

more accurate assessment over a longer test run. We plan to publish those numbers in late November.

IE 7's interface changes are pretty dramatic when compared to the overall UI polishing presented in Firefox 2. The common

navigation button collection found in nearly any Web browser has been minimized in IE 7 to a Spartan row focusing on large

back and forward buttons, an ample address bar and …

Explorer still chasing the Firefox; Test of new browsers shows IE 7 has beefed up security but trails Firefox 2.0 in features and Web development compliance.

Five years in the making, Internet Explorer 7 has a distinctive new look and an improved security posture, but our initial

test shows that the Microsoft browser still nips at the heels of Firefox's feature set and its Web development standards support.

We tested gold code for Internet Explorer 7 released on Oct. 18 against a very late beta (RC 3) of Mozilla's Firefox 2 --

the final codea was released on Oct. 24 after our initial testing wrapped up.a Testing was performed in a lab environment

and in the day-to-day production efforts of a 42-person Web development agency on a variety of systems ranging from Toshiba

Protege laptops to Dell Precision 390 Workstations.a

We focused on the browsers' user interface changes, feature set and compliance with Web development standards that will directly

affect how Web content is viewed within each browser. We held off on deep performance testing, because we wanted to make a

more accurate assessment over a longer test run. We plan to publish those numbers in late November.

IE 7's interface changes are pretty dramatic when compared to the overall UI polishing presented in Firefox 2. The common

navigation button collection found in nearly any Web browser has been minimized in IE 7 to a Spartan row focusing on large

back and forward buttons, an ample address bar and …