AOL Explorer 1.2.3.7 Beta

A few days ago at the DUX05 conference, Rob and I got a demo of AOL's new beta browser.  The AOL Explorer browser is based on Internet Explorer 6. It has a few neat features around the tabbing functionality that's worth taking a closer look.

Look and Feel
I really like how AOL implemented the tabs above the address bar. It makes more contextual sense to me as the url in the address bar refelcts the current tab. The cool blue and silver colors as well as the round flowing buttons and styled textboxes are pleasing and is a nice touch. The tabs can be easily dragged and reordered. There's no wierd flicker when opening new tabs as seen in ie7 beta tabbed browsing.


Tab Preview
When you hover over the tab, a screenshot preview is presented displaying the contents of the tab. Such a simple feature yet can change the way I browse the web.



Tab Mosiac
If you've seen Exposé on the Mac you know this feature.  AOL implemented it for quickly scanning all open tabs.  They also added a history timeline for each tab along with a few buttons for tasks like printing, add to favorites, and page info.



While these enhancements to the tabbed browsing experience are great, they are not enough for me to switch my default browser from Firefox to AOL explorer. It's great though to see new features that are built on IE.

Links:
http://beta.aol.com/projects.php?project=aolexplorer
posted on Wednesday, November 09, 2005 2:11 PM by AlanL

Comments

# re: AOL Explorer 1.2.3.7 Beta

Wednesday, November 09, 2005 2:54 PM by Eric Cherng
Great review and great screenshots Alan! I've heard about the release, but never bothered to try it out. These screenshots make me want to try it!

# re: AOL Explorer 1.2.3.7 Beta

Monday, November 14, 2005 4:16 PM by jammerslammer24
Click on a feed icon next to one of your favorites in the favorites panel. A very cool RSS widget/ticker can be utilized. Very, very slick.