14 DAY TRIAL // Windows 8 Developer Preview Build 8102 Milestone 3 (M3) includes a new preview release of Internet Explorer 10, Build 10.0.8102.0. The fact that IE10 Platform Preview 3 is included into Windows 8 Build 8102 M3 should not come as a surprise to Softpedia readers, since I told you about this at the end of August 2011.
Of course, I didn’t have all the details back then. And there are some rather juicy information on IE10 PP3.
Such as the fact that although a traditional UI version of IE10 is included in the Windows Platform Preview, Build 8102 also packs a Metro flavor of Internet Explorer 10 as you can see from the image at the top of this article.
“Metro style Internet Explorer 10 provides a fast and fluid touch-first browsing experience that’s all about your sites, making them feel increasingly more app-like. With faster performance, leading security protection, more hardware acceleration, and site-ready HTML5 support, IE10 continues to allow developers to build a richer and more beautiful web,” Microsoft explained.
IE10 is the default browser in Windows 8, and still packs features such as SmartScreen which it inherited from IE9, including URL reputation and App reputation. Hardware acceleration is also present, of course.
But at the same time there are a number of enhancements. Sites can now be pinned to the Windows 8 Start Screen and accessed directly via their own tile. IE10 in Windows 8 will provide a list of frequently visited sites along with one of pinned websites, to streamline navigation to the most common destinations (long press the + button designed to open new tabs to get to this screen).
In addition, Windows 8’s IE10 now supports private Tabs when users opt to leverage the browser’s InPrivate feature.
The Metro IE10 has the address bar and a set of common commands at the bottom and Tabs at the top. Users need to swap their fingers either from the bottom of the screen upward or from the top down in order to bring up IE10’s interface.
Otherwise, IE10 gets out of the way completely and provides users with an immersive browsing experience which they can control via touch, by panning and zooming.
“Your sites are at the center The Metro style interface of Internet Explorer 10 is cleaner and the browser gets out of the way, so the focus is on your favorite sites. The navigation bar appears only when you want it, so there’s more room for your sites,” the Redmond company added.
“A ready-when-you-need-it touch keyboard is intelligently integrated into the browser. Like IE9 on Windows 7, you can pin your favorite websites to the new Windows Start screen. This makes them feel more like an app because you can access them with a single tap. And if your favorite site has a Metro style app available, IE10 lets you know so you can just switch to the app if you want.”