Over the Edge?

As desktop and mobile owners continue to make a slow transition from previous versions of the operating system to Microsoft’s new Windows 10, enough user experience and feedback has emerged to give so me early assessments of the software giant’s flagship environment.

 

In this article, we’ll be looking at one of the linchpins of the Windows 10 ecosystem: Microsoft’s evolutionary new browser, Edge.

 An Edge Over Explorer?

 “Evolutionary”, rather than “revolutionary”.

 

With Edge, Microsoft has finally come around to the majority school of thought, and acknowledged something that long-time users of the likes of Google Chrome, Opera, and Mozilla Firefox have always known: that the Web browsing experience under the clunky engine, security holes, and glitches of Internet Explorer (IE) simply wasn’t good enough.

 

The encouraging news is that Edge is a significant improvement.

 

The browser uses its proprietary EdgeHTML engine to render HTML5 standard content in ways similar to competitors Apple Safari, Chrome, and Firefox. Besides Flash and PDF, there are no ActiveX components, or Browser Helper Objects (BHOs). The result is a much faster and efficient page loading process.

 

When it first appeared as build 10041, Edge was very much a “bare bones”offering – perhaps reflecting the parent company’s bid to accelerate the stampede of its user base to migrate to their latest operating platform. The final (first release) version of Windows 10 has seen some fleshing out of the browser. But there are still some notable quirks and an absence of features that may give users cause for concern.

 Not Enough Extensions… Yet

 If you’re a fan of Chrome or Firefox, you’ll know that half the fun of using a browser comes from appending tools and processes that round out its functionality. Weather reporting gadgets, schedulers, dictionaries, accelerated download managers, and the must-have ad blocking applications are among the extensions that make this possible.

 

The first iterations of Edge shipped with no such additional tools, and no support for the download and installation of extensions from third-party app stores. In the browser’s latest builds, this lack has been addressed – but only to a very limited extent.

 

There are currently around seven extensions available natively for the browser, with support for a small number of third-party apps such as Evernote and LastPass promised vaguely for the near future. But these extensions are only available to users of Edge Build 14291 or later – and preferably members of the Windows Insider Program.

 Only One Flavour

 Okay; two. Edge comes with the option of a Light or Dark theme. And that’s about it, as far as customising the interface goes.

 

It’s possible to display or hide the Favourites bar, but there’s no facility to shift the position of icons or delete them from the browser, display tabs in a sidebar, add a Status bar, or change the colour scheme beyond Light and Dark. With no support for third-party themes and wallpapers, you’re pretty much stuck with what they give you – at least, for now.

 

And Edge is almost religiously committed to remaining the default Web browser for Windows 10. It isn’t made abundantly clear how to change your default to a different browser, or how to get Windows 10 to respect your choice, after you’ve made it.

 Bing or Bust

 There’s a similar reluctance to allow users to switch search engines. Bing is the default option, although Edge contains a configuration page with a pre-set list of alternatives. But switching between search platforms isn’t an easy task – and adding new search engines to the configuration page list is far from straightforward.

 What to Address?

 Upon opening a New Tab in the Edge browser, the Address bar disappears, leaving you with a “Where to next?” field on the page; a kind of combination Search window and Address bar.

 

For users who rely on their Address bar to help keep track of their path across the Web, this disappearing and reappearing act (if you scroll down on the New Tab page, the Address bar mysteriously re-emerges, and you lose the ability to scroll back up to “Where to next?”) is sure to be a confusing experience.

 Fly-Outs with Limited Action

 Selecting “Settings” from the main menu of Edge causes a fixed-width panel to fly out from the side of the browser. It can be pinned permanently to the window – but this reduces the available viewing width of the page. And navigating the Settings menu requires a lot of scrolling to drill down to what you want.

 No History or Profiles

 Fly-out menu panels are also used to display the browser’s Favourites and History – such as it is. There’s no Search function, or facility to drill through sites by the number of visits or how recently they were accessed. Unlike Firefox and Chrome, there’s no option to right-click on a tab for a view of its browsing history, or to reopen closed tabs.

 

Multiple user profiles (e.g. for secure transactions, video watching, or product testing) are also not supported. One setting for all activities is your current limit – although it is possible in the latest build to drag off a tab to browse it privately (the so-called InPrivate Mode).

 Some Security Concerns

 It recently emerged that Edge’s InPrivate Mode isn’t necessarily that private, as user data was reportedly being stored without their knowledge or consent. Microsoft was quick to roll out a patch, fixing this problem – but there are some security and compliance issues still outstanding.

 

For example, the lack of a proper Address bar also translates to a poor implementation of the visual aspects of the HTTPS secure Internet protocol. You only get a lock icon, in front of the Web address, rather than the change of state colour-coding that many users have become accustomed to.

 

Integration with the Windows 10 virtual assistant Cortana may also be an issue, as there’s no sure indication of how much information the service gathers on a user’s queries and searches.

 

Edge’s compliance with HTML5 standards is also less than stellar. And a recent exploit concerning its handling of PDF files has come to light.

 But Edge is Listening

 Microsoft has set up a forum – the Microsoft Edge Platform Issue Tracker at issues.microsoftedge.com – to collate and address feedback and performance issues raised by users and contributing developers, in hopes of being able to address flaws in the new browser as they show up in the wild. It’s a positive step.

 

All things considered, Edge is an okay browser, but it’s nothing special – at least, not yet. If they hope to eat into the market share of Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and other leading competitors, Microsoft will need to step up its game. And quickly.