Internet Explorer (August 10, 2006)

Chat Topic: Internet Explorer Chat
Date: Thursday, August 10, 2006

Please note: portions of this chat have been edited for clarity.

Participating Experts:
Chris Wilson – Group program Manager on Internet Explorer for Platform and Security
Uche Enuha - Program manager on the User experience team working on Internet options, quick tabs, error pages and more...
Cyra Richardson - Lead Program Manger for rendering and display
Dave Massy - Senior Program Manager on Internet Explorer
Sharon Cohen - Program Manager for ActiveX controls
Jeff Varga - Software Developer in Test for Protected Mode IE
Arvind Sethuraman – Software Developer in Test for RSS
Max Stevens – Lead Program Manager for User Experience
Travis Leithead – Lead Program Manager for User Experience
Patrick Mann - Security test lead for IE
Kristen Kibble – Program Manager for IE Community
Seth McLaughlin – Intern for IE User Experience

Useful IE Resources:
•IE Home Page - http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie
•IE Team blog - http://blogs.msdn.com/ie
•IE Developer Center - http://msdn.microsoft.com/ie
•RSS team blog - http://blogs.msdn.com/rssteam/

Christian (Moderator):
Hi everyone- welcome to today’s Internet Explorer Chat.

Christian (Moderator):
Your questions, comments and feedback are welcome. We’ll get started in a few minutes.

Christian (Moderator):
We are pleased to welcome our Experts. I will have them introduce themselves now…

Introductions

Dave Massy [MSFT] (Moderator):
I'm Dave Massy a Senior Program Manager on the Internet Explorer team with responsibilities for scripting, SDK documentation and developer toolbar amongst other things.

Patrick [MSFT] (Expert):
Hi - I work on security testing for IE. So if you have any questions about the August security update, fire away.

Uche[MSFT] (Expert):
Hi My name is Uche Enuha and I am a Program Manager on the UX team

Jeff [MSFT] (Expert):
I'm Jeff, a tester for Protected Mode IE

Kristen [MSFT] (Expert):
Hello! My name is Kristen and I work with the IE Community

Travis [MSFT] (Expert):
Hi all! Travis here. Representative expert from DOM land in the browser.

Seth [MSFT] (Expert):
Hello, my name is Seth and I work on the IE UX team

Christian (Moderator):
Please feel free to begin asking your questions and remember to check the “ask the experts” box before sending. Thanks.

Start of Chat

Dave Massy [MSFT] (Moderator):
Q: when will IE 7 be released
A: Hi jelly bean, We are planning an update in the 3rd quarter of this year with final release in the fourth quarter of this calendar year.

Travis [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: why when IE i s installed some ppl are experiancing many many pages opening?and it is not a viruse,reboot some times works to clear this?
A: I can't recall any specific issue at the moment, but I believe we have a bug tracking this issue. It will most likely be fixed by release time.

Dave Massy [MSFT] (Moderator):
Q: does that mean there'll be a Beta 4? or just an update to Beta 3?
A: The next update will be a release candidate prior to the final release.

Travis [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Hiya, would it be possible for IE7 have a feature which allows you to 'lock' a page so therefore stop you from accidentally navigating away from it?
A: That sounds like a great feature request! IE7 is pretty much locked down for shipping, but we can consider this for a future release ;)

Dave Massy [MSFT] (Moderator):
Q: where's Jana C?
A: Jana moved on to a new role in MSFT and no longer runs the chats.

Dave Massy [MSFT] (Moderator):
Q: i know this is not directly related with IE7 but it is an internet question. I have a website http://techs.shortcircuitcomputer.com . I want to set it up so that users would have to login to access the website. Would you know where I can get a script?
A: this would be server side functionality and not simple script. I don't think we cna help here but using a server software such as ASP.NET shoudl provide the infrastructre you need.

Travis [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Will there be a feature in IE7 that allow us to recover a page we accidently closed?
A: At the moment, I don't believe we have a feature like that. However, sounds like a great idea for a future release--it could kick in during a crash/hang, or just remember where you were when you closed... interesting.

Uche[MSFT] (Expert):
Q: anything being done from a secuirty perspective on the recent RSS vulnreabilities?
A: if you are referring to the script issues, we have a blog post detailing what has been done to solve this issue. please take a look at it:http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2006/08/08/692426.aspx

Dave Massy [MSFT] (Moderator):
Q: what's up with SP3 for XP?
A: What do you mean? I don't believe any details of XP SP3 have been announced yet.

Arvind (Expert):
Q: anything being done from a secuirty perspective on the recent RSS vulnreabilities?
A: In IE7 RSS is run under the restriced zone. Therefore the RSS view in IE does NOT allow scripts to run

Travis [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Trident is the only major layout engine that hasn't had a ground-up rewrite during the CSS era, and it shows in the many fundemantal problems that still exist in IE7. Has there been any discussion about such a rewrite in a future version?
A: There has been some discussion on this topic, and yes, we are keenly aware of the engine's state. We'll just have to see what the future holds...

Dave Massy [MSFT] (Moderator):
Q: On Vista b2, I have an IE toolbar that needs to communicate with an EXE via shared memory, but the EXE's call to MapViewOfFile fails with ERROR_INVALID_HANDLE. Shouldn't this work?
A: Hi Mike, On Vista extensions may be affected by Protected Mode. See http://msdn.microsoft.com/ie/default.aspx?pull=/library/en-us/IETechCol/dnwebgen/ProtectedMode.asp for details.

Arvind (Expert):
Q: anything being done from a secuirty perspective on the recent RSS vulnreabilities?
A: Also, The RSS XML is sanitized to remove html elements considered harmful. elements like <script>, unsupported protocols are removed before storing the xml in the feed store. Therefore other applications using leveraging the RSS platform also receive the sanitized xml. Hope that answers your question

Dave Massy [MSFT] (Moderator):
Q: Will there be a download manager in IE7 like the one in Firefox?
A: Hi, there will not be a download manager included in IE7 but there are many available as extensions see http://ieaddons.com/default.aspx?cid=2&scid=66 with some good free ones there.

Dave Massy [MSFT] (Moderator):
Q: Is there an SP3 for XP coming out soon?
A: Exact plans and details have not been announced yet.

Dave Massy [MSFT] (Moderator):
Q: I forgot to check the Experts box--sorry. I have Office 2000 (not Professional version) and Windows XP. I do not have MS FrontPage either. I created a website in Publisher and have been attempting to forward it to a Host without success. Thanks.
A: Sorry this is a chat about Inernet Explorer and we don't have anyone who can answer this here.

Uche[MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Are there any plans to enhance the Find on page feature (ctrl-f) in IE 7? It's still really lacking, and other browsers are much better in this area.
A: we will be looking to improve this feature for future versions of IE.

Travis [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: When I go onto https://my.fotopic.net it blocks every window from displaying non-secure content. How can I get around this issue? I've added it to my trusted sites & I still get this happening.
A: I believe the Information bar (in Beta3) appears when your page has "mixed content" or content coming from http and https. You can avoid the message by putting all your links as https or http. Also, there's an "Allow mixed content" security setting that you can set to "allow".

Dave Massy [MSFT] (Moderator):
Q: Is there are script or a way to add or allow, sites to user's allow list and popup That can be deployed?
A: You can manage the list through group policy. If we allowed that from scritp on teh page it would defeat the purpose of the blocker as sites woudl script around it :)

Uche[MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Is there a way to desactivate the "ActiveX Control" for some pages, instead of refreshing the page each time?
A: you can go to Tools, Manage-Add-ons to disable add-ons you don't need

Chris Wilson [MS] (Expert):
Q: Hi, a general question... How does IE7 handle the Acid2 test?
A: Gary, you might be interested in the IEBlog post I made just over a year ago... http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2005/07/29/445242.aspx

Dave Massy [MSFT] (Moderator):
Q: I know all about PM, I'm asking because other IPC mechanisms work, and the docs say nothing about shared memory being blocked whilst other IPC objects (events, mutexes, etc.) are not.
A: Which IPC mecahnisms work. I'd expect Protected Mode to block this.

Max Stevens [MSFT] (Expert):
Hi folks, just dropping in for a few minutes, hope to answer a couple of questions before I need to run again. To introduce myself, I'm the lead program manager responsible for the user experience of Internet Explorer.

Dave Massy [MSFT] (Moderator):
Q: will users be able to run IE7 in protected mode in Windows XPSP3?
A: Protected Mode can only be provided in Windows Vista because it is reliant on functionality that is only available in Vista. It will not be provided on XP.

Travis [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: whenever i click on a link in my notes 6.5.5 email client, it starts to open ie7 then closes the ie7 window and gives me that event error message 0 ssend/don't send - is that a known bug
A: Hmm. Not sure if we're testing with notes 6.5.5. I recommend opening a bug at http://connect.microsoft.com

Chris Wilson [MS] (Expert):
Q: is it legal to copy an XP install disc?
A: Generally not. It depends on your license. It is certainly not legal to install the same license of XP on multiple computers.

Travis [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: This is directed at all of you Security minded folk. :) Today's security is a hit and miss rather if the user will have Security info, and it be reliable. Have you ever thought of building a media file related to security for the new computer user? ...
A: I'm curious? What do you mean by media file for the new computer user?

Patrick [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: And tie this to the OS so they can always have access to it? Make it interesting, lots of eye candy. :)
A: Weebit - definitely agree that more can be done to educate the casual user about security. I think you'll agree that we've improved in communication, e.g. all the security info you get on the microsoft.com home page. Also, in IE7 we've done work to be much more intuitive about security, e.g. the visual indication of unsafe browser settings. We'll definitely keep continue working in this area.

Dave Massy [MSFT] (Moderator):
Q: How many Beta versions are scheduled for IE, when is the next beta ?
A: We expect to release a release candidate in the 3rd quarter of this year prior to the final release of IE7 in the 4th quarter.

Max Stevens [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Is post-IE7 work in progress, or will we have to wait several years for meaningful updates to the rendering engine and Javascript used in IE7? I would like to see really native DOM and XMLHTTP, with JS .prototype support and native function objects.
A: We are focusing all of our energies at the moment on getting IE7 done and shipped out to the world. We are always evaluating potential investment areas for the next version though. Keep the feedback coming on what you would like to see next!

Uche[MSFT] (Expert):
Q: WHen you say "we will be looking to improve this feature for future versions of IE" what kind of timeframe are we talking about? Another 6 years, or maybe months? Seems like a simple thing to update and it should have been included in this version of ie.
A: we have committed to regular and frequent updates to IE moving forward. its too early to committ to specific features at this time

Travis [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Is somebody going to test the bug I found with how IE mangles the plus characters in a page with the string "+/-" in the title bar?
A: We've had a bit of a backlog, but we're working through them... only 500+ more to go!

Dave Massy [MSFT] (Moderator):
Q: HP told me their officejet all in ones will not work with IE7 will you fix that?
A: I'm not familiar with any problems there. Can you be specific about what does not work? We have been working with a number of partners on problems such as this.

Max Stevens [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Why did you rename IE7+ to IE7?
A: When we announced the IE7+ naming on our blog, we heard a lot of feedback and questions asking why we were naming it differently then the XP version. There were many comments on this issue, and few people agreed with the naming choice. Our recent naming announcement was a pure response to that feedback.

Chris Wilson [MS] (Expert):
Q: What CSS bugs from beta 2 were fixed in beta 3?
A: Markus Mielke will have an IEBlog post shortly on the CSS changes in IE7. However, we were layout-complete with the MIX06 build (prior to beta 2), so you should not expect much in the way of CSS changes.

Dave Massy [MSFT] (Moderator):
Q: [continued] shared memory. This is seriously breaking one of my toolbar's features, so I'm looking for some kind of resoltuion. Should this work? WIll it in a later build?
A: Mike, can you report this through connect with a repro case so we can take a look? http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/support/default.mspx

Uche[MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Will you guys release regular updates to IE7 like Firefox and Opera do?
A: yes the IE team are committed to releasing regular and frequent updates to IE

Max Stevens [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Are there plans to improve on the Username and Password management? I'd really like to see somethng that allows me to actually view, and change them and not just Clear the passwords.
A: There are no plans to improve this for IE7. However, for future releases we are considering improvements in this area.

Travis [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Are there any plans to change the Mini Address bar in IE 7 so that it's not a derop down with no values in it?
A: I'd like to see it get changed, but I think that bug was rejected due to resource constraints and shipping schedules :( No doubt it will be fixed in our next release...

Dave Massy [MSFT] (Moderator):
Q: in several of the past IE Expert chats you stated that there were no plans to distribute IE7 as an automatic update, why the about face?
A: While we are distributing through automatic updates this still requires the consent of the user to install. we have been consistent in our position that it woudl be wrong for my Dad to wake up one mornign and have a new browser with tabs as he woudl get confused. We do believe that prompting users through automatic updates is the correct approach so that users can gain from teh security improvements in IE7.

Travis [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: A: I'm curious? What do you mean by media file for the new computer user? A media file for the home user that is included in all of MS OS versions that explains security to them, etc. I hate to say this guys but by the time they find out you ....
A: I think I get the picture. A good media tour of security sounds like a nice feature--it could even help to explain why some web pages don't seem to work, etc. I think I'll pass this along to the documentation folks!

Chris Wilson [MS] (Expert):
Q: Thanx for the answer.. Jus wanna know, will missing CSS 2.1 properties also be added to IE7 or is the goal for IE7 to basically only remove bugs in already supported CSS properties?
A: We will not be adding any further CSS 2.1 to IE7; we have added some capabilities that were missing from IE6.

Chris Wilson [MS] (Expert):
Q: The CSS rendering engine has really been improved, unfortunately i still have problems with z-index on the Beta 3 (i've filled a bug (N°178501) with a simple HTML example), is the CSS engine would be updated in the next release ?
A: Yes, we will continue to improve our rendering engine in the next release.

Dave Massy [MSFT] (Moderator):
Q: Will they be like security updates or feature updates?
A: Future versions of IE will contain updates to funcitonality and will continue our focus on security.

Max Stevens [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Any chance you can release Linux and Solaris versions of IE7?
A: We have no plans to do this.

Travis [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: you have a page on security on their website their computer has already been compromised.
A: Interesting. An 'offline' help would be better ;)

Max Stevens [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: I can' save any address to my favorites at all, I have Beta 3, could you please help me? it say unspecified error when I try to save sites to my Favorites.
A: We have seen cases of this when a user moves their favourites folder to a different (non-default) location.

Chris Wilson [MS] (Expert):
Q: Thats cool.. But.. How about the IE PNG gamma problem, is anything being done about that? Is anybody actually aware about this problem?? On the PC, all PNG images are shown too dark in IE compared to all other browsers and other PNG enabled programs?
A: Yes, we're aware of this problem. It won't be changed in IE7, but we will look to address it in the future.

Chris Wilson [MS] (Expert):
Q: IE is the only program that shows PNG's too dark, which is annoying if using them against a solid coloured background. Personally, I have to strip the gamma field out of the PNG files with special software, to make the images compatible with IE.
A: [see previous answer]

Chris Wilson [MS] (Expert):
Q: Will max-width be supported? That is the only item that stops me from using fluid design. So much talk about fluid vs. fix width design. If I use fluid design the site often does not look good on a large monitor.
A: Try out the latest beta release. max-width support has been in for a while now.

Travis [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: And are there any chances to get Image Toolbar back (an option maybe)? I'm missing it a lot.
A: I'm sorry :( For some reason, we pulled it out of IE7...

Max Stevens [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: IE7 still downloads all files to the "temporary Internet Files" folder, and then copies the file to the actual location. Why is this, and wil it be changed? (quitte anoying with large files)?
A: It will remain this way for IE7 (I believe Eric Lawerence posted on this on the ieblog some time ago). For future releases, we are considering changing how our downloading mechanism works, and this issue has come up. So it's on our radar for potential changes in future releases.

Chris Wilson [MS] (Expert):
Q: In the announcement about distributing IE7 via auto-update, it was stated that all user settings would remain the same including toolbars, search, etc. However, I've have also heard that's not always the case. Can you please give more details?
A: Your settings will remain intact when upgrading, as stated in the blog post Tony wrote: http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2006/07/26/678149.aspx

Dave Massy [MSFT] (Moderator):
Q: Are there any chances to have bug 82418 fixed?
A: We are working on a number of issues like this without being able to reproduce the same issue it is difficult to be certain that we are addressing this. If you can add examples of sites that do not work to the bug adn details of proxy configurations and network configurations then that might help us to reproduce the problem.

Dave Massy [MSFT] (Moderator):
Q: I use Windows Vista Beta 2 Build 5384, IE7 worked fine for a while, then the day after you renamed IE7+ to IE7 I got an update for IE, now I can't scroll through a page without seeing white lines appear... Have you heard about this?
A: I think that is very unlikely to be related to the IE7 naming :) I have not heard of this issue before. Please report it on connect http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/support/default.mspx with exact repro steps and screenshots if possible.

Max Stevens [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: I haven't moved it at all they all went missing when I first installed IE7 I have no Favorites at all and I can't save any either. Is there anything you can do for me please?
A: If you actually go to your favourites folder on your hard drive, do you see the internet shortcuts there? One thing you can try is make sure that the permissions are setup correctly on this folder in the hard drive such that it's not a permissions problem preventing IE writing there.

Travis [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Why were dialog size limitations changed in IE7? The minimum is much higher now, causing dialogs that once looked optimial to look bulky and unattractive in IE7. Sample (code +visual): http://207.210.80.41/support/research/dlg.html
A: Yes, I know we changed the sizes to accomodate for some extra items that are shown in the chrome now (the mini address bar in popup dialogs--so that you can read more of the URL, and Protected Mode in Vista--it takes up much more real-estate in the status bar. So we increased the minimize size to compensate. We also made some changes to HTML dialogs (the dialogHeight/dialogWidth properties) to bring them into harmony with their window.open cousins. There's a blog post on this in progress...

Uche[MSFT] (Expert):
Q: When I use IE7 on WinVista, the next time I load it is corrupts my Gecko engine with Flock, and renders IE7 unusable untill I restore factory defaults.... Do you know why this happens?
A: please could you file a bug with repro steps at out customer site connect located at: http://www.microsoft.com/ie/support so we can look into this. Thanks

Dave Massy [MSFT] (Moderator):
Q: Hi again, I was hoping Internet Explorer had the answers to connecting a custom webpage design created in Publisher to a host. Thank you.
A: I'm sorry I'm not sure I understand what you are asking. Hosting a web page is not directly related to the browser.

Max Stevens [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: okay I am a computer idiot. Could you please tell me how to download a disk with pictures on it? I am sorry to waste your time but I am really stupid when it comes to computers
A: Hi bailey. It sounds like your question is more generally windows focused then IE. This chat is for IE focused questions only. Thanks.

Uche[MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Is it at all possible that the next version of IE will support natively SVG?
A: Thanks for the suggestion. We will be considering various improvement options on the platform side for future versions of IE

Dave Massy [MSFT] (Moderator):
Q: Any plans to add easily-editable config files, such as Firefox's userChrome.css and userContent.css? Doing so would let me get rid of the 3rd-party ad blocker I use in IE.
A: Great feedback. We'll add it to our list of things to look at.

Dave Massy [MSFT] (Moderator):
Q: Dave: not so much info to share about 82418. I listed a couple sites in there (but it ALWAYS repro on sites with huge number of large pictures). PLUS, you just need an average speed connection (mine is 128k) and I see this bug all the time.
A: thanks. I'll pass the feedback on.

Chris Wilson [MS] (Expert):
Q: (CONTD...) Imagine having a fluid design that also looks good on a large monitor due to support for max-width. That would be great. Do u guys have any idea of implementing it in IE&??
A: Yes, it is implemented in IE7.

Travis [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: In the IE feedback system, I see "Won't fix" and "By design" used a lot when it's a simple "can't make the fix by the IE7 release." Why aren't those marked as "Postponed" instead?
A: Well, the bottom line is that we don't have a "postponed" state. I imagine that some of the Won't Fix (for IE7) will be re-examined later for the next release.

Christian (Moderator):
Just a heads-up on time here, we’re now about halfway through today’s chat. Thanks.

Sharon [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: why does it take for ever to load home page with vista or is it just my 5384.4 build????
A: Performance including loading time has been improving from build to build. You should see some perf improvement when you upgrade but it is something that we are constantly working on improving.

Max Stevens [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: I don't care about the missing ones, I just want to be able to save to my Favorites, please tell the steps that I have to take or if I can contact anybody to get some help.
A: Our customer support services I believe are still offering free IE7 help, so you can always contact them. I believe the problem is with permissions on your favorites folder, which can be solved by navigating to the folder in windows explorer, right clicking and selecting "Sharing and Security..." and setting the permissions appropriately.

Dave Massy [MSFT] (Moderator):
Q: so, to be perfectly clear, the expected behavior for a user upgrading from IE6 to IE7 will be that all of their current settings, search defaults, and toolbars will carry through, be active and visible. Correct?
A: That is the goal. In some cases we may advise users to update their toolbars and extensions to a more current version.

Uche[MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Thanx... I, like many people, really appreciate that you guys are listening to the developer community. I do a lot of aspx dev, and I noticed, if you have a table cell with only an image in it, IE will pay attention to the white space in the html file...
A: Glad to hear it

Max Stevens [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Hi Max. I paid GoDaddy to be my webpage host, but I cannot send the file link to them no matter what I try. The file is saved as a webpage in Explorer but that seems as far as it will go.
A: I would suggest contacting GoDaddy for help on this one, I'm not familiar with what needs to be done in their process. Thanks.

Travis [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: ......the browser should ignore all white-space, and VS 2003 automatically removes this space when you switch from html to design mode. Anyway, unless this was included for a certain reason I am unaware of, this is a small bug....
A: Could be a bug. However, I think in editing mode we throw in a " " so that the user can stick the insertion point in the table and start typing. Might be worth filing a bug though, if I didn't understand the issue completely...

Max Stevens [MSFT] (Expert):
Sorry folks, but I've got to run now. Hope I could be helpful for the short time I was here. Please keep using IE7, and keep the feedback coming!

Travis [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Travis: The feedback FAQ defines "Postponed" as one of the resolution types: "Postponed - The issue will not be fixed in the upcoming release, but will be considered for future releases."
A: We'll look into that... Sorry I can't be more helpful right now...

Dave Massy [MSFT] (Moderator):
Q: Why do some people complain that you aren't able to add support for the entire CSS 2.1 specification overnight? :P
A: Some people have very high expectations! That's fine :)

Cyra [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Are there plans to allow dragging a tab from one IE window to another in a future release?
A: Sounds like a GREAT idea! Everyone in the room thinks it would be wonderful. Though we cannot commit to a specific release - we will seriously consider the request. Thanks again.

Dave Massy [MSFT] (Moderator):
Q: So, i take the risk to be seen as the "CSS z-index" guy, but i've also noticed another strange behaviour with z-index and background-image. Do you provide patches between release ? The wait between release is pretty long.
A: the wait between future releases will not be as long as the wait between IE6 and IE7. We are committed to regular and frequent releases of IE moving forward. In general updates between releases tend to be limited to security issues and changes that might affect compatibility of existing web content are saved for major releases.

Uche[MSFT] (Expert):
Q: With IE7 are you going to allow themes?
A: this is something we would consider for future versions of IE

Patrick [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: I have a pdf and a exe file but it has never gone anywhere. Mainly because it's a lot to read. Or so i have been told.
A: Thanks for your feedback. Finding the right line between too much and just the right amount of security information is hard. Where possible, we try and shield the casual user from this, e.g. through simple options like reset to factory default.

Dave Massy [MSFT] (Moderator):
Q: Dave Massey: sorry I got a phone call in between. I asked about a problem with my HP multifunction printer. I can not scan from the HP. HP told me that there is a problem if I have IE7, when I removed IE7, my scanner worked fine.
A: I'll have to check separately if we are workign with HP on this particular issue.

Travis [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: the media file could be included as a whole for the OS instead of just IE I think.?
A: Yep. Vista takes "help" to the next level: Great how-to, and dynamic updates so that we can take feedback like this and get it published as help topics for the masses.

Chris Wilson [MS] (Expert):
Q: is there anything being done to counter Google's recent aggressive practices of "locking" their toolbar users to having Google set as the default search in IE7?
A: I'm afraid we can't comment on their practices there.

Uche[MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Could you please tell where to right click?
A: you can right click anywhere inside the browser. what are u trying to do?

Dave Massy [MSFT] (Moderator):
Q: has anyone else noticed a problem when sending a syncronous XMLHttpRequest with an XML payload? When the payload is null, no problem?
A: can you be more specific. In general we advise against synchronous requests as they will block all activity on the page. Asynchronous requests give a much better user experience.

Travis [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Q: [81] This is terrible for backwards compatibility! Why break thousands of applications in order to fix a single bug that most applications have already bypassed? This will cause more harm than good.
A: Agreed. In the short term this will be painful. As with a lot of recent CSS "fixes" however, the overall result is for the best. |-)

Dave Massy [MSFT] (Moderator):
Q: "Address CSS consistency problems." It's not consistency we want and need, it's conformance to the standards.
A: Consistency is about conformance. A lot of the work in IE7 is to correct the implementation so it is consistent for all elements on a page. Many of the complaints about IE6 are around the inconsistent implmentation of CSS and that has as a result been a major focus in IE7.

Cyra [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: OK, no issues. thats a simple bug. While talking about PNG, what about this testcase? http://entropymine.com/jason/testbed/gamma/ MSIE is the only browser displaying some of the PNGs uncorrectly.
A: We have added some improvements to our PNG processing in this release by supporting transparent PNG. As we plan future releases, we are carefully reviewing our image decoding and rendering infrastructure. We are also examining our end to end color infrastructure to identify areas for improvement. Please feel free to send more of this kind of information to us to identify issues that are important to you.

Sharon [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: When I use Internet Explorer 7 beta, when I open a new tab then close it, it freezes then crashes and sometimes I have to restart my PC.
A: Have you tried running IE in add-on free mode. You may have a toolbar or other add-on which is interacting poorly with IE7. You can run add-on free mode by Programs --> Accessories --> System Tools --> IE (no add-ons) If this helps then you can selectively disable add-ons till it works in regular mode also.

Patrick [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: can someone anwser the ? I asked about whether my pc problems are solved in my outlook explorer and there was another problem that I forget
A: Please restate your question - I don't see it in chat window

Dave Massy [MSFT] (Moderator):
Q: I heard something about an IE 7.2 planned to support SVG. Is there actually a 7.2 planned or was that number just pulled from nowhere?
A: It's too early to discuss in detail the future plans and schedule but what you heard does not reflect current intentions.

Dave Massy [MSFT] (Moderator):
Q: I didnt get the answer, hence posting it again. While talking about PNG, what about this testcase? http://entropymine.com/jason/testbed/gamma/ MSIE is the only browser displaying some of the PNGs uncorrectly.
A: Gary, I'm not clear on what your question is. It's an interesting test case where IE appears to do well.

Sharon [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Are there command switchs to let a URL opened in a tab in the existing IE7(already running)?
A: do you mean like pressing control while clicking on the link? This will open the selected link in a new tab in the same IE window.

Dave Massy [MSFT] (Moderator):
Q: In reponse to a question Dilog just asked, I want to point out that the CSS specification says that vendor-specific (proprietary) CSS properties and values must be prefixed with a "-" or "_", such as "-ms-filter". In the future, please follow this scheme.
A: thanks for the feedback. It is our intention to follow this in the future.

Travis [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: RE Q: [81] - I believe this change is not the only one you made. Supplying dialogHeight with a height of 50 still results in content much larger than 50. Please look into this again, this is an incredibly important aspect in an otherwise solid release.
A: Yes, we changed the minimum resize (both manual resizing and scriptable resize). Script resize is limited to 250x150 "content area" while manual resize is limited to a frame width/height of 250x150. This was done mostly for usability and security reasons.

Cyra [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Is there any way you guys can provide a higher resolution (256x256 and preferably alphatransparent) IE7 logo for people to use?
A: Unfortunately we do not have one currently available. I have emailed our UI and Marketing folks to see if we can find the image.

Uche[MSFT] (Expert):
Q: I have to keep firefox loaded on my machine to be able to use the UPS web site (www.ups.com). How can I make IE7 work with the UPS site?
A: which build are u using cos it is working fine with IE7 Beta 3

Dave Massy [MSFT] (Moderator):
Q: Dave: the question I have is: what means "consistency"; this doesn't refer to introducing _new_ CSS selectors or (X)HTML elements or even SVG or MathML, witch takes me not beeing to entusiastic - therefore I will look out for the beta, hope it ll be addre
A: Gary, Implementing somethign like SVG but doing it in a way that is inconsistent adn developers cannot rely on it is no help to anyone. For IE7 we focused on the key demands of web develoeprs fixing consistenty issues such as the infamous peekaboo bug as well as adding selectors support and fixed positioning. In future versions of IE we expect to continue the progress we have started.

Chris Wilson [MS] (Expert):
Q: Will you do SpreadIE7 program like SpreadFirefox and HelpFlock?
A: I expect we will not.

Travis [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Q: [96] I disagree. Why not add a new property called something like "dialog-sizing" with values "content" or "window" instead of breaking existing applications? With the new CSS stuff, even in IE6 you never broke quirks mode.
A: The quick answer was we didn't have the resources to create a new Interface, etc, all required to get a new property in place. However, the longer answer is that accessing and/or controlling the frame has never been something that we wanted script to control...

Dave Massy [MSFT] (Moderator):
Q: has anyone noticed any issues with syncronous XMLHTTPRequest when sending an XML payload? When sending NULL, it works fine?
A: Hi I think I already asnwered this. Can you be specific . Synchronous requests are not recommended as they block the user experience. Use asynchronous requests.

Patrick [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: can someone please tell me what to do here?? this is what I get: Iexplore application error...the exception unknown software exception (OxOeedfade) occurred in application @ location Ox7c59bc3f.....told to dwnld firefox and use that browser
A: Likely a crash in a 3rd party extension. Try disabling all extensions using Manage Add-Ons and then re-enable one by one to find the offending extension.

Uche[MSFT] (Expert):
Q: i have enjoyed the questions and reading the answers,thankyou for your replies.xxxx
A: Great. Thanks

Dave Massy [MSFT] (Moderator):
Q: I get layout issues when I visit newsvine.com and twit.tv. Has this been reported?
A: Please report any rendering issues through connect so we can examine them and work with the site if necessary. http://www.microsoft.com/windows/ie/support/default.mspx

Travis [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Q: [104] Why? The old limitations never caused any harm that I'm aware of, and I follow bugtraq regularly. As you can see in http://207.210.80.41/support/research/dlg.html the new sizes do nothing but cause the interface to look bulky. Please reconsider.
A: We are always open to feedback. I appreciate your opinion.

Uche[MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Thanks for the answers. Great job on IE7 Beta 3. Keep up the good work!
A: Cheers Bill

Dave Massy [MSFT] (Moderator):
Q: I get layout issues when I visit newsvine.com and twit.tv. Has this been reported? Are rendering proplems common in IE7?
A: Rendering issues are not common but they do occur on sites that use strict mode adn are relying on the incorrect behavior in IE6 that is now fixed in IE7. http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/IETechCol/cols/dnexpie/ie7_css_compat.asp has details.

Travis [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: And one more request: Please fix document.getElementsByName to use NAME attributes instead of IDs. I suppose THAT's why this method is called ...ByNAME and not ...byID
A: Ha ha! We're definately going to invest in fixing some quirkyness in the DOM in the next release. If you haven't already, please file this as a bug.

Christian (Moderator):
We have a few minutes left for today’s chat. If you have any last minute questions, please submit them asap. The Experts will answer as many questions as they can in the time remaining. Thanks!

Dave Massy [MSFT] (Moderator):
Q: anything being done from a secuirty perspective on the recent RSS vulnreabilities?
A: See http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2006/08/08/692426.aspx

Sharon [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Re Q:[108], I mean external url, such as cmd>iexplore.exe /t or -t www.msn.com , then it will open in a tab in opened IE7.
A: sorry don't know of anyway to do this directly. If you change your tab settings to Open external links in new tabs then when you do iexplore.exe www.msn.com in the cmd line that will open in a new tab.

Dave Massy [MSFT] (Moderator):
Q: anyone know a good resource to find out what new security "features" have been released with the latest batch of MS Updates? They really are going to cause a lot of problems?
A: See http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2006/08/08/692437.aspx for details of the latest security updates.

Travis [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: will we get another vista build to download for free??? :D
A: There's an upcoming release candidate... but I'm not sure if it'll be available "for free" :) But, here's hoping!

Dave Massy [MSFT] (Moderator):
Thanks everyone for a fun chat. I have to run to another meeting now. Hope to see you next month.

Christian (Moderator):
Well that wraps things up for our chat. Thanks to our guests for participating and asking so many great questions, and also thanks to the Experts for being here to answer them.

Christian (Moderator):
We will post the transcript from today’s chat on: http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/chats/transcripts/default.mspx

Uche[MSFT] (Expert):
Thanks everyone. See you next time!!

Jeff [MSFT] (Expert):Thanks!

Patrick [MSFT] (Expert):
Great getting feedback from all you guys. Have fun with IE7 and keep it coming.

Travis [MSFT] (Expert):
Q: Can anyone please answer my .adm file question, I would realy like to start testing policies with IE7
A: Sorry! I guess we don't have an "expert" in the chat that knows .ADM files... :(

Seth [MSFT] (Expert):
Thanks, have a great day!

Christian (Moderator):
We hope to chat with you all again next month on Sep 14 at 10AM PST

Travis [MSFT] (Expert):
Thanks for the questions! See ya next time!

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