Microsoft promises lots of extensions for its new web browser

Internet Explorer has come a long way over the last couple of years, I’ll give it that, but Microsoft’s web browser still lags far behind the likes of Chrome and Firefox in many ways, particularly its lackluster extension options. While Internet Explorer has some useful add-ons, it has no where near the number of extensions that its competitors do, which is why I will never use it. Fortunately, Microsoft has learned from its mistake and will be fixing that in its new Project Spartan web browser. 

Microsoft’s Internet Explorer development team has confirmed there will be a browser extension system for Project Spartan, meaning developers will be able to extend its functionality with software that can be built directly into the browser. “Yes. We’re working on a plan for extensions to a future update to ‘Project Spartan,’ the developer relations team for IE said during a Q&A chat on Twitter Tuesday. The news is significant since it indicates some type of a developer ecosystem will evolve around the browser, allowing functions to be added that are not supported natively. Such extensions could allow tabs to be given specific color codes, or allow bookmarks to be catalogued in new ways, or Web pages to be archived locally. “Spartan is the successor for both desktop and modern IE,” they said in another. “It will be finger friendly on touch machines,” indicating that Spartan will likely follow Microsoft’s Continuum design methodology, discussed at the Windows 10 preview events.