Hello there,

Formerly known as Microsoft Internet Explorer, version 7 has been renamed to Windows Internet Explorer. You can find out all the details on Microsoft's website. The English language version came first and there are currently only a handful of other language versions available. The rest will be released in the coming weeks and then IE7 will be pushed out as a "Critical Update" as well.

There is a whole range of new features, such as tabbed browsing, but there are also changes you don't see. Well, maybe you do. MS has always been pretty lenient when it came to standards. It didn't necessarily follow the rest of the internet and there are many proprietary elements that only IE supports. Webmasters have always used those elements, because well, IE was pretty much the only player on the browser market. But that has changed somewhat since the arrival of Firefox (2 is out now).

Firefox does offer strict support of standards and so Internet Explorer 7 had to do so as well or at least try a little harder. And they did, but at a cost. You will notice that there are various issues on a lot of sites. Things that may have worked in IE6, will probably no longer work in IE7. Which can result in simple visual changes or in incompatibilities.

I am of course here to talk about this site and what's different about it. I can see a couple of minor issues and I'm sure those will be taken care of. But there's one bigger problem, though hardly the fault of the webmasters. With Internet Explorer's Security Zones all set to the default level, you will notice an information bar when you try to use the URL button. It looks like this. The thing is, as you can see, you can only allow it temporarily unless you make a more permanent change to your settings.

The specific setting responsible for this behavior can be found under Scripting (once you click on the "Custom level...'" button for a security zone):
> Allow websites to prompt for information using scripted windows

If you allow it for the Internet Zone, you won't be bothered anymore, but it may compromise overall security. After all, many more sites belong to that zone... So the best option in my opinion is to add several domains to the Trusted Sites Zone. In that zone the setting is enabled by default.

To add a domain to the trusted sites list, do the following:

- Open the Internet Properties, via IE7 or via the Control Panel

- Go to the Security tab, click on the Trusted sites icon, and then on the Sites button

- You can now add the domains. Type the domain in the first box, then click on the Add button (uncheck the checkbox at the bottom). Once you're done, click on Close and then on OK to save the changes.

Three domains are of particular interest to us: blogs.starwars.com, forums.starwars.com, and forums.lucasarts.com. Add those or just the ones that apply to you and you will not be bothered by the information bar, with no compromise of security.

I will add to this entry once more info becomes available. And if you come accross something weird on the site after upgrading to IE7, don't hesitate to use the commenting feature.