Living on the (Microsoft) Edge in 2018? (Premium)

With yet another Windows 10 version nearing completion, its again time to re-examine Microsoft Edge to see whether this browser can meet our needs.

To date, these comparisons have been somewhat lopsided, with Microsoft Edge consistently falling short of more popular and full-featured browsers like Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. But my ongoing efforts are often misunderstood too, and I’m routinely accused of “bashing” Microsoft Edge.

This isn’t about bashing Microsoft Edge, or Windows 10, or Microsoft … or whatever. The reality is that I’d like to use Edge, that I generally prefer native experiences over third-party apps on whatever platform. But if you look over my past three articles on this topic—from August 2017, April 2017, and June 2016, two items should stand out. One, the issues I’ve pointed out are reasonable. And two, Edge has gotten consistently better with each new Windows 10 version. And in doing so, it has become more and more viable. For mainstream users certainly. Possibly even for power users too.

In Windows 10 version 1803, Microsoft Edge is getting another boost, and I’m not just talking about new features in the browser. Starting with this release, Windows 10 formally supports Progressive Web Apps (PWAs). And the first major PWA to hit the Store, Twitter, has already eliminated the need for one of the web apps I normally pin to the taskbar from Chrome. That’s one less instance of me using Chrome every day. And one more instance of me using Edge.

And to be clear, there is much to like about Microsoft Edge. It is a modern application with a clean and even pretty user interface, one that I like better than that of Chrome or Firefox. It renders text and graphics exceptionally well, and that is particularly noticeable on today’s modern high DPI displays. It features better scrolling performance, for lack of a better term, with none of the lurching I see in Chrome, in particular. Too, Microsoft should be credited for enhancing this browser with non-web reading features—for e-books, EPUBs, and PDFs —and it’s now my preferred PDF reader. And in version 1803, Edge gets even prettier, I think, with an expansion of the Acrylic translucency effect that is part of the Fluent Design Language.

But I’ve had complaints. So let’s look back at the issue I raised with the previous few Edge versions and see how things stand now in Windows 10 version 1803

Web apps. The additional of PWA support in Windows 10 is huge, but it doesn’t directly impact the experience of using the Edge web browser. As I’ve noted many times, Google Chrome lets you pin any website or web app shortcut to your taskbar and then use it like an app. Edge still doesn’t do this right: Yes, you can pin web pages to the taskbar. But the resulting icon is dead: When you select it, a new Edge tab opens in the web browser window. This couldn’t be more confusing or less useful. Verdict: FAIL

General performance. Microsoft Edge used to be quite pokey, but the performance has improved a lot in the past few Windows 10 versions, and it’s solid enough that I rarely notice issues now. The old right-click slowness has improved, for example, though the pointless animation of the menu opening gives the opposite impression. Verdict: WIN

Favorites Bar. I store all my Favorites (bookmarks) in the Favorites Bar regardless of browser. And as I’ve pointed out in the past, the Edge version of this interface is less customizable than that of Chrome. That said, this one isn’t a complete deal-breaker, so my new verdict reflects the fact that other improvements in the browser make this one less painful. Verdict: MIXED

Mobile sync. In a major change over last year’s examination, Microsoft now provides its Edge web browser on Android, iPhone, and iPad, so you can easily sync your favorites, passwords, and browsing history between your PCs and other devices. This is a nice turnaround, and those Edge mobile apps are excellent, too. Verdict: WIN

Extensions. The library of available Edge extensions has grown nicely over the past year and Microsoft now provides a solid collection of high-quality choices in the Store. Looking at the extensions I really use every day with Chrome, I see that virtually all of them are also available in Edge, or that there is at least a reasonable alternative. (For example, Microsoft Translator instead of Google Translate.) Verdict: WIN

Full-screen. Microsoft Edge features a normal full-screen experience now as it should. (It didn’t always do so.) Verdict: WIN

Developer. While Microsoft’s in-browser F12 developer tools are missing one feature from Chrome that I find useful, they are generally very similar to what Google offers. And now that I’ve been using these tools more as part of my JavaScript training, I’ve come to appreciate the effort. Verdict: WIN

Notifications. While I am still looking for a good description of how notification support has improved in Edge 1803, it very clearly has improved dramatically. I’m seeing more notification requests than ever, and from sites that I really use like Google Calendar and Google Play Music. This used to be a real wasteland. Verdict: WIN

Add that all up and you’ll find only one “fail,” and that’s one that probably won’t bother many others. It’s also an issue that could disappear if my favorite web apps—Google Inbox and Google Calendar—were transformed into PWAs. But the easier fix, I think, would be for Microsoft to simply improve the way Edge handles the sites it pins to the taskbar. If these things just opened up in unadorned windows, I’d be happy.

Maybe I could be happy anyway.

Look, there are some things I don’t personally like about Microsoft Edge. There’s a real weirdness to how New Tab and Home pages work, where you can’t arbitrarily choose a particular page for New Tab in particular. Microsoft is descending into forced usage hell, where you can’t configure a default web browser or an a non-Bing search engine when Windows 10 is running in S mode. And I expect that type of thing to not just continue but to get worse over time.

And there are some goofy new user experience issues in version 1803t too. The revamped Hub, which houses Favorites, Reading list, Books, History, and Downloads—is as inefficient as ever, for example, but now it just looks different.

And … that’s about it, I think.

In tandem with my efforts to update the Windows 10 Field Guide and spend more time using Windows 10 in S mode, I’ve just updated all of my PCs to Windows 10 version 1803. And I’ve even configured Microsoft Edge as my default browser. And taken the additional step of configuring Microsoft Edge as my default browser on my smartphones and iPads too.  (OK, you can’t actually set a default browser in iOS, but you get the idea. I’m using it.) I’m going to give Edge another shot, for realsies, and we’ll see how it goes.

Will I turn into … a Microsoft Edge user? Don’t hold your breath. But you never know, and at the very least, I feel that I will be able to recommend this browser to most people going forward, which most decidedly was not the case before. This is a major, and most welcome change. Let’s see if it sticks.