Google Chrome is a popular web browser and it has a built-in tab system. This system allows you to easily access your favorite websites and applications without having to open a separate window. If you’re not familiar with the IE Tab Integration feature, it’s a great way to add some extra functionality to Google Chrome. The IE Tab Integration feature lets you add tabs to your Google Chrome window by opening the address bar and typing in the URL of the tab you want to add. Once you’ve added the tab, you can access it just like any other website or application. You can also use the IE Tab Integration feature to create custom tabs for your Google Chrome window. This way, you can have different tabs for different tasks or projects that need attention separately from each other. If you’re looking for an easy way to add extra functionality to your Google Chrome window, IE Tab Integration is a great option.
Installation & Settings
Installation is quick and easy… All that you will need to do is click “Install” when the confirmation window appears.
Once the extension has finished installing you will see the following post-installation message dropping down from your address bar. Notice the top part of the message concerning access to IE Tab Classic.
While you could start using IE Tab Classic immediately you will probably want to take a quick look through the settings before-hand. You will need to use the “Chrome Extensions Page” to access the options at first…
The settings for IE Tab Classic are divided into three categories. You should leave the “Enable IE auto loading” setting enabled but it is recommended to change the “Address bar Icon behaviour” setting to “Popup Menu” for better functionality (“Address Bar Icon” drop-down menus).
Note: If you leave the “Address bar Icon behaviour” setting unchanged, then the “Address Bar Icon” acts as a simple on/off switch for IE Tab Classic.
While you are looking through the settings you may already have some websites or a specific page in mind that you would like to have automatically load in IE Tab Classic. Now is a nice time to go ahead and add them in…
The second tab allows you to add websites to an “Auto Load” list. Click on “Add” to open the information entry window. Notice the small message at the bottom…this is where that little “Popup Menu” setting from the first tab is going to be so useful to you.
The information form for website URLs…
Perhaps you are only wanting a specific webpage (instead of all the webpages for a whole website) to be “Auto Loaded” when you browse there. You can add these addresses in the third tab. Click on “Add” to open the information entry window.
The information form for specific webpages…
IE Tab Classic in Action
Time to see IE Tab Classic at work. Here you can see one of the pages at How-To Geek rendered with Webkit at the moment. You can see the “IE Icon” in the “Address Bar”…clicking on it will display the following drop-down menu where you can switch to IE in the current tab or have the webpage switch to IE in a new tab. With the drop-down menu you can access the options much more easily now. Notice how the outlined text in the webpage looks before switching…
For our example we decided to switch to IE in a new tab and you can see a definite difference in how the page has been rendered. Clicking on the “Address Bar Icon” shows a different drop-down menu this time where you can switch back to Chrome (same or new tab) and/or add the current webpage (or website) to the “Auto Load” lists…
Here is a better look at the IE Bar itself…
The buttons left-to-right are for “Pinning the IE Bar”, “Settings”, “Refreshing the Webpage”, “Minimizing the IE Bar”, and “Closing the Entire Chrome/IE Tab”.
If you have “minimized” the “IE Bar” this is what it will look like…light blue in color with only a “Black Arrow Button” to return it to regular view.
If you decide to add a specific webpage to the “Auto Load” list you will see this message asking you for confirmation…
The confirmation message for adding a website to the “Auto Load” list….
Conclusion
If you have been looking for IE Tab integration for your Chrome Browser, then this is definitely an extension worth taking a good look at.
Links
Download the IE Tab Classic extension (Google Chrome Extensions)
