Microsoft shows off beautiful Bing HTML5 homepage

Emil

Posts: 152   +0
Staff

During the exceptional Internet Explorer 9 beta launch, Microsoft decided to demonstrate how Bing would take advantage of HTML5 features in modern browsers like IE9. The company also took the time to explain how the Bing app for IE9 on Windows 7 could be pinned to the taskbar, where it could show a Jump List for the most important search tasks and be used to cycle through search tabs.

The HTML5 improvements in IE9 allow for neat visual effects: an animated Bing homepage (the demo showed one where water moves across a beach in the background), hovering over tabs to show content at a glance, as well as smooth transitions from the search page to the search results, and back, all without reloading the page or using browser plugins. Furthermore, a smooth scrolling feature takes advantage of screen real estate by keeping navigation panes and the search box in place while you scroll through search results. If the feature list seems like too much to digest, just go ahead and watch the video:

The new homepage is expected to launch in preview form for users of the IE9 Beta later this month, though Microsoft would not say when a full rollout was scheduled. The company did note, however, that it would take advantage of HTML5 on Firefox, Chrome, and Safari as well.

Permalink to story.

 
I go with Guest on this one... Google's already got something like that with current technology... Sure its beautiful, but I guarantee you it will run like crap on lower-end office workstations.
 
WTH?? Microsoft cant afford any better than a microphone from the bottom of a box of Post Toasties?
The audio sounds like Stephen Hawking on helium.
 
I'll definitely be holding off rolling this out for my client offices that have 20+ users sharing T1 or dual T1 connections. The additional amount of bandwidth this will need will cripple those connections.
 
"The audio sounds like Stephen Hawking on helium." hahahaha yes, it does

Things never work like their demos under real-world conditions but the video convinced me I want to give IE9 a try, at least. I like Windows 7 a lot, after hating Vista enough to switch to Linux. Now I split my time between Win7 and Mint 9. So sometimes Microsoft does something right and that video makes IE9 look slick, maybe even elegant. Clearly, a lot of thought went into that redesign. Definitely worth a try on the not-so-broadband I get over DSL where I live.
 
Bing is pretty. But i don't think wasting mega CPU cycles just to lookup Pizza Hut is very practical.

BTW, is Tech Spot owned by Microsoft? They sure behave that way.
 
Bing is pretty. But i don't think wasting mega CPU cycles just to lookup Pizza Hut is very practical.

BTW, is Tech Spot owned by Microsoft? They sure behave that way.

No, but it started out as a Windows enthusiast website (3dspotlight) and kind of maintains that sentiment.
 
I could care less if I get a #$*@ video wallpaper. On Bing & google, I have all ads blocked, and a BLANK background. When I'm searching for something, I want it FAST, I don't want "pretty" I want FAST.
 
I like the "With the power of IE9 we can have our filter bar stay at the top of the screen".
Wow, only been able to do that since around HTML 1 ^_^
 
I wonder how many people will never try it, I know I'm one of them.

Besides that, I can't see this being adopted in a business environment for a long time, because most businesses stick to tried and tested (dare I say older?) software.
 
That is reasonable enough point to a certain level, consider this, business didn't really bothered about shifting to Vista, hence, in next couple of years I believe there will be considerable planning and eventual shifting to Windows 7, and probability is most corporate sector PCs will continue to run IE. Hence, I think Microsoft is probably playing their cards rightly in this scenario.

To the guest at # 2, I see no tangible difference between searches on Google or Bing so you are talking rubbish nothing more than that, in fact frankly if one know how to use search properly it is very very rare that you'll need to go beyond first few listings to get what you are looking for either on Bing or Google.

I think lots of people bash Microsoft about IE just because they remained stuck with it for lot longer then one expected them to be, this stagnation allowed others to catch up and surpass them, hence, if they have learned something from it, I am sure they can give them good run for their money. As a user I wouldn't want anything else but this, and it should result in better browsers across the board as well ;)
 
That is reasonable enough point to a certain level, consider this, business didn't really bothered about shifting to Vista, hence, in next couple of years I believe there will be considerable planning and eventual shifting to Windows 7, and probability is most corporate sector PCs will continue to run IE. Hence, I think Microsoft is probably playing their cards rightly in this scenario.

To the guest at # 2, I see no tangible difference between searches on Google or Bing so you are talking rubbish nothing more than that, in fact frankly if one know how to use search properly it is very very rare that you'll need to go beyond first few listings to get what you are looking for either on Bing or Google.

I think lots of people bash Microsoft about IE because they remained stuck with it for lot longer then one expected them to be, this stagnation allowed others to catch up and surpass them, hence, if they have learned something from it, I am sure they can give them good run for their money. As a user I wouldn't want anything else but this, and it should result in better browsers across the board as well ;)
 
While it's clear that the new Bing site looks great, one can easily replace all the "thanks to IE9 [...]" phrases with "thanks to HTML5 [...]". :p

Also, what is up with that mic?! My 4-years-old mic sounds better than that!

I'll definitely give IE9 a spin when it releases, but FF4 is what I want to see.
 
I think lots of people bash Microsoft about IE just because they remained stuck with it for lot longer then one expected them to be, this stagnation allowed others to catch up and surpass them, hence, if they have learned something from it, I am sure they can give them good run for their money. As a user I wouldn't want anything else but this, and it should result in better browsers across the board as well ;)

They've definitely had a lot of catching up to do, and visually it actually looks to be a massive improvement over IE8.

I can't speak for everyone, but my dislike for IE is due to its past record. If it was Mozilla I'd feel the same, the fact IE is produced by Microsoft is neither here nor there in my opinion.

Though I totally agree we need developers of all web browsers to push the envelope, IE is a perfect example of what can happen without the competition to drive things forward and re-evolve software.

Interestingly I have no doubt in my mind that had Microsoft continually forced evolution (like Mozilla and Opera) they'd still be at the forefront of the best browsers. That's arguable though, because some could say they're still there in sheer numbers of users of IE; the last time I checked my server stat's, over 60% of those visiting my domains were in fact using some form of IE.
 
captain828 said:
While it's clear that the new Bing site looks great, one can easily replace all the "thanks to IE9 [...]" phrases with "thanks to HTML5 [...]". :p

That's exactly what I was thinking. This guy taking the abilities of HTML5 and attributing it to IE9.

P.S
Not a MS basher.
 
Back