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November 8, 2006 / Filed under: Browsers, Internet Explorer

Here are some initial things I've noticed about Internet Explorer 7, from a development perspective. Some things are good; some bad.

Shift + Refresh

Shift + Refresh doesn't seem to completely clear the cache. Often I'll be working on a certain page, and refreshing it in the browser to view the saved changes. If I change the HTML or "server processing" (ASP, PHP) for the page, the changes are reflected. However, if I change the JavaScript associated with the page, the changes do not come across. I end up having to close the browser completely, and re-open it.

What option?

Through JavaScript, IE still doesn't recognize an <option> element without a value attribute:

<select id="myList">

    <option>My Value</option>

</select>

In JavaScript, if I try to issue this statement:

var myListValue = document.getElementById("myList").value;

... IE won't recognize the value of "My Value." However, Firefox sees it fine.

In order for IE to recognize the value of the option, the value attribute must be set:

<select id="myList">

    <option value="My Value">My Value</option>

</select>

This is common practice anyway, but often I forget to include the value attribute.

View Source

Choosing "View Source" no longer forces the text file open in my default text editor. Rather, it now opens in Notepad. I'm sure this is some setting that can be changed somewhere, but I don't think I want to change it now. I prefer the light-weight Notepad for a quick View Source.

Custom search engine

"Create Your Own" custom search tool was extremely quick and easy.

All you need to provide is the URL, and a name.

I use the following URL for a custom search of this blog:

http://www.matthom.com/search?q=TEST

I don't prefer searching in this manner (I prefer keyword searches in Firefox), but it's nice to know it's easy to set up a custom search, based on your own web sites.