IE's hidden buttons

re: IE's hidden buttons

Lori — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 19:13:27 GMT

I was referred to this page from the MS Newsgroup on Internet Explorer by one of the MVPs. Why can't MS simply put this information in a help file? Thanks for posting this.

re: IE's hidden buttons

John P — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 16:29:26 GMT

What I think they really are, or are supposed to be, is place holders for when a particular activity is operational. And some of them may give you (the user) a clickable link to control/modify its actions. Think of them as indicator lights some of which have control switches beneath them.

re: IE's hidden buttons

Jeff — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 16:09:43 GMT

Wow. I actually can't believe this. What's the big deal? These are NOT 'buttons', these are UI FRAMES (i.e. windows) that are used to display status icons AS APPROPRIATE based on the web site status and/or activity (i.e. SSL, Phishing Filter, Privacy Report, etc.).

They are there purely for the purpose of indicating to the user what's going on with the site they are browsing. For ease of use, the programmers have decided to allow direct (easy) access to the options or more information relative to each specific function.

Like all large programming teams, there appears to be some inconsistency in how the UI was actually implemented. This is not necessarily unusual and is a common occurrance with any Microsoft program (not to single them out) if you pay attention.

These are user interface design decisions, not secret hidden buttons so the all-knowing, all-powerful evil entity can exert control over the user without their knowledge.

Get a life, people!

re: IE's hidden buttons

LonerVamp — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 16:00:46 GMT

These existed/exist in IE 6 as well. Just double-click any empty box and you'll get those settings.

a- unknown

b- pop-up blocked

c- add-ons

d- privacy report

e- cert status

re: IE's hidden buttons

Alex — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 16:04:10 GMT

As a programmer, I tend to think that it was probably either functionality that could not be fully implemented on schedule or was later canned, but the programmer forgot to disable the code. It seems more of an accident to me than an actual feature of the browser.

re: IE's hidden buttons

howiem — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 07:04:06 GMT

I always thought that they were not hidden, rather that it was just another glitch in IE that prevented the icons from showing :)

re: IE's hidden buttons

Perry — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 05:36:16 GMT

Most of this quandry is because techs are time poor and can't show everyone everything ( or remember ). I try to educate my clients on all the tricks etc and most of them go to sleep :-(. So, I nag them over the net :-) . No OS is so far user friendly enough for the people that are not "into IT" and until programers et al let go we will be in the dark !. ( OH I could go on n on n on .........

re: IE's hidden buttons

Steve — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 03:37:14 GMT

Jimbo: It's called phishing. If you reply, you have verified your e-mail address is a valid one.

Then the followup e-mails begin OR *MASSIVE* SPAM.

Craig: If you don't like it, watch where you click!

re: IE's hidden buttons

jesper — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 22:05:37 GMT

No Jimbo. That can't happen due to the hidden buttons. Malware could do it, but not the hidden buttons. Please ensure your computer is up to date on malware protection.

re: IE's hidden buttons

Jimbo — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 20:44:59 GMT

I just received an email from someone who said that I had instant messaged him with either my password(s) or credit card information. If this can happen due to IE's hidden buttons and someone now has access to that information. What steps can I take (or should I take) to block, investigate or protect myself from this person ... or is this the lowest way to alert a customer to a problem from msninfluentials.com

re: IE's hidden buttons

Craig Herberg — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 19:43:58 GMT

This is the sort of thing that drives less-sophisticated computer users crazy. They accidentally click an unlabeled part of the browser, and suddenly a setting is changed! Whatever happened to usability testing by ordinary people -- before software goes into production?

re: IE's hidden buttons

Blarg — Tue, 29 Jan 2008 18:13:56 GMT

I've been using these for quite a while. I thought everyone knew about them! I can't remember when it was, but when the icons would show up in IE6 I'd click on 'em for more information or to open add-ons. I tried it when the icons weren't there and remember remarking how thoughtful the programmers were to allow the use of these even when the icon wasn't lit (to say that it was active, as Ed Bott says above)

re: IE's hidden buttons

dean — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 22:15:54 GMT

The left-most box (to the left of the pop-up blocker) is for the printer icon (visible only while printing is in progress).

re: IE's hidden buttons

Jon Schneider — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 13:53:05 GMT

Jesper, after seeing your post, I just checked my own local copy of IE. I'm still running IE6 on this machine, and I've found that IE6 has the same hidden buttons (except for the Phishing Filter)!

re: IE's hidden buttons

Ed Bott — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 21:58:00 GMT

Some of those boxes show status icons under particular circumstances. The phishing filter shows an icon as it works, the pop-up blocker icon is visible if a pop-up is blocked when High settings are on, and the add-on manager shows if a page tries to load an add-on that has been blocked or disabled.

I think the certificate display (padlock icon) is now permanently in the status bar.