13 replies to this topic

[ghostrider]

I installed IE9 yesterday. I was having issues with IE8 being unable to open certain secure Web pages & thought that might be the fix. Which it was. (Deliberate sabotaging of IE8 functionality by Microsoft to force you to update? Yes I'm that paranoid.) But what a can of worms IE 9 is.

I hate what they've done with the Favorites / Bookmarks icon & the way the Faves list displays. Much more awkward to use now. Formerly there was an isolated star at the top left of the screen & it was easy to move the cursor there & click. Now it's a tiny icon in between two other tiny icons at the top right & requires more precise cursor placement before you can click. Why? Not an improvement.

Even worse - now, when I click a link, IE9 opens the new page TWICE - in both a new tab, & in the original tab window replacing the page that contained the link. This never happened with IE8 - the linked page always opened in a new window. This is very irritating, I do not want to be taken away from the page that I already have open & have to navigate back to it whenever I click a link.

I can't find a fix for the link problem. I've posted the question on a Windows forum, let's see if I get an answer.

I will say that IE9 loads pages noticeably faster than IE8 did. Still, these design issues may well drive me to switch to Firefox for good, assuming it hasn't been similarly "improved" since the last time I looked at it.

[ghostrider]

Uh-oh, issue #3. I can no longer get to My Settings or Messenger, or anything within the dropdown window that opens from the little arrow next to my MF name at the top right of the page.

The window opens but it is completely dysfunctional now; clicking on that little arrow opens the dropdown, then the main window jumps to my Profile page, whether or not I click anything inside the dropdown.

I am having this same issue with another IP-run discussion board that I frequent.

This is getting really discouraging. I am on the verge of uninstalling this piece of wretched functionality.

[Lex]

I encourage you to check out Firefox. I've used it for more than 5 years and been very happy. No complaints at all.

[Sneakeater]

And having followed Lex's advice to wait a few months for the add-ons to conform to it, I think the newest iteration of Firefox -- what is it, four? -- is a distinct improvement.

[ghostrider]

I encourage you to check out Firefox. I've used it for more than 5 years and been very happy. No complaints at all.

Issue #4: Multi-quote no longer works. Rather, it's the same as single-quote Reply.

Is there a way to copy all of my IE bookmarks into Firefox other than one by one? That's one thing that's held me back from switching.

[Lex]

Is there a way to copy all of my IE bookmarks into Firefox other than one by one? That's one thing that's held me back from switching.

Today is your lucky day. Firefox will automatically copy all of them in. Try it. It's free and there really is no downside. If you don't like it just uninstall it and go back to IE. You can even have both installed at the same time so you don't have to get rid of IE first.

[Peter Creasey]

I have carefully stuck with IE 8 as my backup browser.

I recommend that you consider SeaMonkey as a suite with browser, email handler, and composer. It is Gecko-based like FireFox but widely considered to be more nimble.

[ghostrider]

Is there a way to copy all of my IE bookmarks into Firefox other than one by one? That's one thing that's held me back from switching.

Today is your lucky day. Firefox will automatically copy all of them in. Try it. It's free and there really is no downside. If you don't like it just uninstall it and go back to IE. You can even have both installed at the same time so you don't have to get rid of IE first.

Ha, that's good to know. Thanks.

[ghostrider]

I have carefully stuck with IE 8 as my backup browser.

I recommend that you consider SeaMonkey as a suite with browser, email handler, and composer. It is Gecko-based like FireFox but widely considered to be more nimble.

Oh no, more choices! I will have to take a look.

At least I've figured out how to uninstall IE 9 & revert to IE 8 if I want to go that route.

[Peter Creasey]

Oh no, more choices! I will have to take a look.

The SeaMonkey Project

SeaMonkey Forums (Scroll down for the SeaMonkey sections)

[ghostrider]

I downloaded Firefox 4 & am doing this in same.

It's interesting in some ways, & the general design seems more congenial than IE 9.

However, I hate the Bookmarks / Faves functionality almost as much as I hate it in IE 9. The only saving grace is the single Bookmark icon, but once you click there, it's actually more cumbersome to use than even IE 9. For the way I navigate, IE 8 & previous IE versions got it absolutely right.

It was easy to import my IE bookmarks file, I'll give it that.

Where's that ad-blocker thing? Do I get that thru add-ons (Maximum Ad blocker & Webmail Ad Blocker?)

YIKES! Firefox has some turned on kind of spellchecker & is underlining shite it doesn't like in red. Like the word "shite"! I do not want this! Is nothing simple anymore?

Everything is pissing me off today. Maybe it's the heat. Still, I suspect I'm going to wind up reverting to IE 8 & keeping Firefox around for a spell to see if it grows on me.

[Lex]

Here you go - Adblock Plus. Most ads disappear.

And because I like you, XMarks. It automatically backs up all you bookmarks to a secure file server. If your computer dies, you can easily restore them. If you have 2 computers, it will automatically sync bookmarks between them.

[ghostrider]

Here you go - Adblock Plus. Most ads disappear.

And because I like you, XMarks. It automatically backs up all you bookmarks to a secure file server. If your computer dies, you can easily restore them. If you have 2 computers, it will automatically sync bookmarks between them.

Thanks! I will check them out.

In the meantime, I've uninstalled IE 9, which automatically restores IE 8. Hallelujah! Still the most sensible Bookmarks functionality I've seen. Yes it's slower than IE 9 & Firefox, but at least I can navigate again!

I'm keeping Firefox on the machine & will play with it at my leisure. These browser issues are a huge distraction just when I don't need that. There is actual stuff I need to be doing on the Net, like finding a new car & figuring out the rest of our summer before it totally blows by, & lots more. So for now I will plod along with IE 8, experiment with Firefox when I can, & hopefully get my life in gear again, because it's been stuck in neutral way too long.

[Nathan]

a couple things likely going on here (can't say for sure without seeing your computer):

historically, IE has not complied with the open web standards for displaying content. but, since IE has been the dominant browser (since the demise of Navigator), most sites have been designed to work with IE. Microsoft has finally decided to comply with the common industry standards (gradually, but IE 9 is almost completely compliant) with the result that sites which were intended to work with IE 7 and IE 8 don't always render properly in IE 9 (just like they don't always work well with other browsers). In the long run, this move should be a net positive as once everyone codes for the standards, sites won't need to be revised for different browsers...but that will take time to implement.

in the meantime, IE 9 includes an IE 8 compatibility mode. problem solved. sometimes you may also need to turn off hardware acceleration for some sites to display (if they have really old coding).

as for your tabbing issue, you have something funky in either your tab or homepage settings and should be able to fix it in there.

with all that said, I'm a big fan of Chrome right now.