Internet Explorer 4.5

Internet Explorer 4.5 (for PPC Macs):
For: Version 4.01 was the last version of this web browser available for both 680x0 and Power PC-based Macintoshes; version 4.5 and subsequent releases are PPC only.

In its efforts at overcoming the standard Mac complaint that its Mac products are just "ports" of Windows programs, Microsoft has taken pains in these Mac releases to add features not found in the Windows versions. Unfortunately, the fact remains that the 32-bit Windows releases -- now at version 5.0 -- are, at this writing, more advanced and feature-rich than the Mac 4.x versions.  However, in this review, we won't dwell on the PC side of things. Let's look, instead, at how IE for the Mac holds its own against Netscape's offerings.

For starters, IE pages load faster than from within Communicator. More startling is Java performance, which, according to Microsoft, is up to 30 times faster than Netscape's -- a claim that should be tempered with acknowledgement of Sun's complaints that Microsoft is not adhering to the official Java spec. However, most users seem to agree that, in general, IE provides a better interface for downloads, better integration with the Mac OS and more customizable settings.
Cons: FTP functions inferior to those of Netscape. No built-in HTML authoring functions such as those provided by Netscape's "Composer." And, hey, who wants to see Microsoft win -- again?

If you have ever surfed the web, chances are good you've used a browser by Netscape or Microsoft. Now, both companies have updated and enhanced their products. But are the new features must-have additions... or just more code bloat for functions you'll never need? In this article, we'll look at the all-important usability factor of the new browsers and see how they compare... and how they fare when compared against older releases.

Internet Explorer 4.5 has evolved quite a bit since the first Mac edition (2.x), and the 4.5 release differs considerably from the 4.0 release, too. Most notably, 4.5 adds dynamic HTML functions and Cascading Style sheets that Netscape has been slow to add to its products for the Mac.

Of course, the reverse is true in a few cases, as well. Microsoft doesn't support "TrueDoc" font embedding, as Netscape does, for example. However, Microsoft's font handling works well, and more websites seem to support CSS than TrueDoc, anyway.

The 4.5 release added a few key improvements, notably the ability to print a page and have it automatically fit on a sheet of paper. Isn't it unbelievable that both Microsoft and Netscape took so long to take care of this little detail in their respective products?

Indeed, version 4.5 fixes other long-time annoyances. Downloads are now handled automatically in the background, and graphics can be dragged right out of the page onto the Macintosh desktop, where they appear, complete with a mini-icon of the graphic.

However, there is one "Improvement" that annoys us. The Mac version, like the Windows release, offers to finish typing a web address you start. However, the Mac release invariably types a page-name other than the one we want. Fortunately, this feature can be disabled.

IE for the Mac continues to display a propensity to fail to access some FTP sites that Netscape's browser can handle. And, for better or worse, the much-ballyhooed "Active Desktop" of the Windows 95 release of IE 4.0 is not an option for the Mac.

Perhaps Microsoft noticed that almost no one uses it on the Windows side. Another love-it-or-hate it feature of the Windows version is better implemented on the Mac. The Channels, Favorites and History features are implemented as tabs along the left side of the Mac screen; they slide out when touched with the mouse.

IE 4 ships with a large number of predefined channels, ranging from news to movie previews. Also new is "Download Manager," which can even restart a failed download - cool!

The Mac version lacks the full-screen "kiosk" mode of the Win32 release. will appeal to many people.

Mac OS 8.0 uses can take advantages of the Mac's drag-and-drop features to access another cool feature of IE4 -- HTML pages can be dragged onto the IE icon in OS8's tool dock, accessible by pulling the application menu (at  the top right of the Mac screen) into the desktop area. Then, you can drop virtually any web page, text file or GIF/JPG graphic file you want onto the IE icon, and IE4 automatically opens it. We use this feature to open HTML files. It's not quite as cool as Windows 98's "Web View" feature, but it's not bad.

New on the toolbar is a Channels button, which can automatically deliver "pushed" content. We may be in the minority, but we hate pushy behavior. Speaking of which....

Microsoft continues to aggressively push its vision of an integrated, "all Microsoft" environment.  To its credit, however, the company provides an automatic conversion of email messages and addresses from Outlook 97 or IE 3.0's Mail client. Netscape bookmarks are also automatically converted.

Mimicking the Windows "Explore" mode, IE4 allows you to view web pages in a similar framed fashion. This pays off in the Search function, which keeps your search subject on the left, while displaying results on the right. In IE4, this framed approach is also available when viewing History, Favorites and Channels, as well. Like almost everything else in the program, the framed Search window is an optional feature that may be controlled via an Options setting.

The Email and News services included with IE4 are worth a look Dubbed Outlook Express, the IE4 components have one big advantage over Eudora or Apple's earlier efforts with Claris Emailer. HTML is handled seamlessly, and multiple accounts can easily be managed.  Best of all, you can easily migrate your email messages from an existing program like Eudora or Netscape Mail.

IE4's news reader displays Quick Tips in a frame on the screen, much as Startup tips are displayed in recent versions of MS Office or many other programs. Both the Mail and News functions offer filtering and anti-spam functions. Overall, we prefer Netscape's News reader, but Microsoft's email client.

At press time, Microsoft announced its intention to release version 5.0 of Internet Explorer for Macintosh sometime around the end of 1999. The new release, accompanied by a new Outlook Express version, is expected to better support Dynamic HTML and provide CSS support comparable to that in IE5 for Win9x and NT.

The current Mac version supports Active Channels (and can use the ones created for the Windows release -- developers do not need to create a separate Mac version), but ships without the preconfigured channels accompanying the Windows version. It is currently unknown whether IE5 for Mac will support this, or the Desktop integration or Kiosk features of recent Windows releases.

A review of IE 4.0 for Mac is here.