Everything your business needs to know about Internet Explorer 7

Is your website ready for Internet Explorer 7? The new version of Microsoft’s browser was released in October and is expected to become the web’s most prominent browser during 2007. For website owners like you it presents both opportunities and challenges, so here’s Cubeworks’ essential guide to surviving, and thriving, with IE7.

Roll out

In a departure from the tradtional optional upgrade, Microsoft will be forcing users to upgrade to version 7 of Internet Explorer - unless they have enough technical know-how to prevent the automatic upgrade. Microsoft is conducting a rolling release of IE7. This means that, rather than forcing everyone to upgrade at the same time, they’re doing it over a period of several months. However it would be reasonable to expect that by the middle of 2007 the majority of your site's visitors will be using IE7.

Action to take

Get hold of a copy of IE7 now by downloading it from Microsoft and see it for yourself. If you’re not sure you want to take the leap see if you can find an adventurous colleague. Most reviewers consider IE7 to be a good upgrade though, so why not start exploring it yourself?

Layout changes

A little known fact about web browsers is that often the same web page can appear slightly (or even significantly) differently depending on which browser you’re viewing it with. Typical effects might be parts of a web page appearing in a different place in Internet Explorer 5 compared to Internet Explorer 6. IE7 is no exception to this rule.

Action to take

First of all take a good look around your site using IE7. Concentrate your efforts on the most important or most popular parts of your site. Make a list of anything that doesn’t look as it should.

Next, get in touch with Cubeworks. We’re offering an IE7 MOT to new and existing clients. Our developers are skilled at finding and fixing any glitches in the way that IE7 displays your website.

Improved security

IE7 has introduced new security features to make websites less prone to growing threats like phishing and spyware. This is of particular significance if you use your website for e-commerce or store any kind of confidential data about your customers.

Action to take

Get in touch with Cubeworks for an IE7 security review of your website. We’ll check that your website works as it should in IE7 and recommend ways you can use IE7’s new security features to make your customer’s more confident using your site.

Web feeds

Web feeds enable you to subscribe to a website's content (such as news or events) and there are tools available to notify whenever the content is updated (they use a technology called RSS). Increasing numbers of Internet users are using web feeds in preference to email notification or repeatedly visiting a website to check for changes. With IE7 Microsoft have for the first time integrated web feeds into Internet Explorer so expect their use to really take off.

Action to take

Make your existing content work harder for you. What content of yours might suit a web feed? Some examples are company news, special offers, order tracking and event listings. Web feeds can handle audio and video too, so you could even consider doing a podcast. If you are interested in creating web feeds for your content why not drop us a line.

In conclusion

IE7 is a major upgrade by Microsoft and will be hard to avoid during 2007. With the right forward planning though it represents an opportunity to stay ahead of the competition and derive even more value from your internet marketing.