Internet Explorer 7
From Provider Notes
Microsoft has released Internet Explorer 7, which is being pushed out to Windows XP Service Pack 2 desktops via Automatic Update. IE7 features improved security and a changed user interface that make IE7 a more modern competitor to other browser offerings. Due to the implementations of some of these features, certain web pages and browser-based applications may behave differently once IE7 is installed. This is less and less of a problem as developers familiarize themselves with IE7's new behaviors.
ISC TSS has contacted various stakeholders across the University to determine if their applications work correctly with the release version of Internet Explorer 7.
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Features
IE7 contains a whole host of new features, many of which can improve a user's browsing experience. Following is a list of those most likely relevant.
UI
- New user interface
- The IE7 UI has been changed, with the intention of allowing a much more streamlined experience. As much as possible, unnecessary information and tool bars are hidden, with useful buttons and navigation grouped together. This may prove bewildering to users wondering where their File and Favorites menus have gone, but these menus can easily be accessed by pressing the Alt key.
- Tabbed browsing
- Tabbed browsing is a feature that can dramatically streamline browsing. This feature has been available in other browsers for some time, and Microsoft has implemented this feature in a similar way. Tabbed browsing allows a user to have multiple websites open within a single browser window, similar to settings dialogs within Windows. New tabs are opened by Ctrl and T simultaneously, or by clicking the new tab button next to the rightmost tab. Additionally, the user can enter an address in the Address bar and press Alt and Enter as opposed to just Enter to open a new tab. At this point, the user can interact with a tab as they would interact with a normal window, and close it by clicking the X on the selected tab. Users may easily move between tabs by pressing Cntrl and Tab to cycle forwards through tabs and Cntrl, Shift, and Tab to cycle backwards through tabs.
- Search Box
- The Search Box gives users quick access to search engines such as Google and Microsoft Live Search. The user may type in their search query after selecting the box by clicking it, or by pressing Cntrl and E. When the query is ready, the user may click the search button, or press Enter. Additional search engines may be selected or added by pressing the drop down arrow to the right of the search box.
Security
- Protected Mode
- This mode of Internet Explorer 7 prevents interaction with other applications unless the user allows such interaction. This helps prevent any number of malicious activities and reduces potential vulnerabilities.
- ActiveX Opt-in
- This prevents ActiveX controls from running unless allowed by the user. This inhibits many types of spyware from ever being installed.
- Phishing Filter
- The Phishing Filter checks a list of known fraudulent sites and warns the user if they are navigating to one of those sites. This reduces the likelihood that you will be tricked into going to a website that is attempting to emulate your bank, for example.
Standards Compliance and Page Rendering
- Improved CSS compatibility
- IE7 now renders websites making use of extensive CSS more accurately, ensuring that what you see is what the website designer intended you to see.
- Improved AJAX support
- IE7, partially due to improved CSS support, also renders AJAX more accurately. As more applications which previously resided solely on the desktop move to being web-based, the ability for a browser to interpret AJAX properly increases. IE7 parses AJAX far better than IE6.
- Improved administration
- Internet Explorer 7 is now easier to administer via Group Policies, and has an improved toolkit to customize the browser across large deployments.
University Applications With Compatibility Issues
ISC strongly suggests that support providers that have clients using the BEN Financials, Hyperion Planning and Reports, PennERA, PennAEs, or PennERS block the download via Automatic Update of Internet Explorer 7 (users will still be able to manually install Internet Explorer 7 if they have appropriate privileges). Instructions and the tool to do so can be found here (requires Genuine Advantage Validation):
- support providers who do not run these applications may also wish to use this tool to prevent the Automatic Update to Internet Explorer 7, at least for the short term. Some University webmail systems do not exhibit expected behavior under Internet Explorer 7, though users of those systems have the option of using Firefox 1.5.x.
Please note that Internet Explorer 7 is currently not a supported browser for the BEN Financials application. The University's strategy is to recommend only Oracle-certified configurations for the BEN Financials. As such, ISC recommends that LSPs who support users of BEN Financials application hold off applying Internet Explorer 7 via Automatic Update or any other means.
When purchasing future hardware from Dell and Lenovo for which Internet Explorer 6.0 SP1 is not an option, please be advised that ISC was able to complete an internal certification of Internet Explorer 7 with the BEN Financials application. This does not guarantee continued support with Oracle given that Internet Explorer 7 is not yet a certified Oracle configuration.
Hyperion Planning and Reports (recently rolled out to replace Pillar) has a product incompatibility with Internet Explorer 7. Hyperion is working to resolve this issue as quickly as possible.
Other University Applications
Developers and testers of ATLAS, Campus Express, the Human Resources applications, the Penn Library, PennInTouch, PennPortal, SPIKE, U@Penn, Knowledge Link and other University applications have done preliminary investigation of their web applications' compatibility with Internet Explorer 7. At this point, no serious issues have been reported with the latest release candidate. If there are changes to this initial assessment, they will be communicated to the PC-Net and Web-SIG lists.
Further Information & References
Internet Explorer 7 will be included in the web browser evaluation that will be part of the product/technology evaluation process in Spring 2007.
Internet Explorer 7 may require some pop-up blocker settings to be updated (i.e. add trusted sites).
It is important to note that Internet Explorer 7 for Windows XP Service Pack 2 and Internet Explorer 7 for Windows Vista are not the same application, though they are built on the same code base. Thus, web application testing will also have to be done on Windows Vista as it nears release.
- Microsoft's TechNet article on Internet Explorer's Automatic Update delivery:
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/updatemanagement/windowsupdate/ie7announcement.mspx
- Microsoft's Toolkit to Disable Automatic Delivery of Internet Explorer 7 (requires Genuine Advantage Validation):
