Windows 10 1809, what’s new on Microsoft Edge?

With Windows 10 version 1809, the built-in web browser won’t significantly change the way you surf the internet, there are a bunch of new tweaks and several new features added on Microsoft Edge that includes subtle Fluent Design implementations, the browser now gets new features to authenticate without password and control media autoplay in websites. Reading View, PDF, and EPUB support receive a number of improvements, and a lot more.

Redesigned menu

With Windows 10 October 2018 update, Microsoft redesigned “…” menu and Settings page that make easier to navigate and allow more customization to put commonly-used actions on front. When clicking on “….” in Microsoft Edge toolbar, you may now find a new menu command like “New tab” and “New Window”. Also you’ll notice that items are divided into groups more logically, and each item now features an icon and its corresponding keyboard shortcut to quickly identify the option you want to access. The menu also includes three sub-menus. The Show in toolbar lets you add and remove commands (e.g., Favorites, Downloads, History, Reading list) from the toolbar.

More tools include commands to perform several actions, including cast media to a device, ping page to the Start menu, open Developer Tools or a web page using Internet Explorer.

Control Media Autoplay

One of the most notable changes in Microsoft Edge in Windows 10 October 2018 Update is the addition of controls for media that plays automatically. Users can now configure sites that can autoplay media from Settings > Advanced > Media Autoplay, with three different options called allow, limit, and block.

• Allow — keeps autoplay enable allowing websites to control autoplay video in the foreground.
• Limit — disables autoplay when videos are muted, but when clicking anywhere on the page, autoplay will enable again.
• Block — prevents videos from playing automatically until you interact with the video. The only caveat with this option is that it may not work with all websites as a result of enforcement design.

Also, it’s possible to control media autoplay per-site, clicking the lock icon at the left of the address bar, and under “Web permissions,” click the Media autoplay settings option, and refresh the page to change the settings.

Improved settings menu

Microsoft Edge is getting an improved settings menu (with icons for a refined look) that breaks the options into subpages, arranged by category for a quicker and more familiar experience. Also, the settings experience is divided into four pages, including “General,” “Privacy & security,” “Password & autofill,” and “Advanced” to better organize the available options.

Improvements in reading mode and learning tools

Reading mode and learning tools have also been improved with further capabilities, like the option to focus on specific content by highlighting just a few lines at a time in order to remove distractions. This is part of Microsoft’s efforts make Edge more than a browser and improve its reading abilities.

Reading preferences tab is new as well, and it introduces “Line focus,” which is a feature that highlights sets of one, three, or five lines to help you focus while reading content.

Dictionary in reading view: Microsoft Edge already provides a very good read view for PDF documents and e-books. The company has now expanded this section with a dictionary that explains individual words when reading View, Books, and PDFs. Simply select a single word to see the definition appear above your selection. In addition to the aforementioned.

Also, the web browser ships with an updated version of the optional learning tools for Reading View and EPUB books. While using the learning tools in Reading View, you’ll notice several new improvements, including updated “Grammar tools,” and new “Text options” and “Reading preferences.” In the Grammar tools tab, the “Parts of speech” feature now allows you to change the color when highlighting nouns, verbs, adjectives, and you can display labels to make words easier to identify.

Toolbar in the PDF reader

The PDF Toolbar can now be invoked by hovering at the top to make the tools easily accessible to the users. In order to simplify the operation of Edge as a PDF reader, Microsoft has now inserted short texts next to the icons in the toolbar. In addition, there is now the option to touch the toolbar and Microsoft has also made improvements to the rendering of documents.

Also, when working with PDF files, you can now bring up the toolbar by simply hovering the top, and you can click the pin button to make the toolbar always visible.

Web Authentication

Another feature coming to Microsoft Edge is Web Authentication (also known as WebAuthN) which is a new implementation that hooks into Windows Hello to allow you to authenticate securely to different websites without ever typing a password again, using fingerprint, face recognition, PIN, or FIDO technology.

Along with this Microsoft Edge also delivers some additional improvements that include  new Fluent Design elements to the Edge browser to give it a more natural experience with users finding a new depth effect to the tab bar.

Additionally, Microsoft Edge is introducing new Group Policies and Mobile Device Management (MDM) policies include the ability to enable or disable full-screen, save history, favorites bar, printer, home button, and startup options. (You can check all the new policies at this Microsoft support website.) to help network administrators to manage settings according to the organization’s policies.

These are some changes we found after using Microsoft edge on Windows 10 1809, October 2018 update. Along with these improvements to edge browser, Windows 10 October 2018 update brings several new features that include your phone app, Dark theme explorer, cloud-powered clipboard history, and more. Check Top 7 New features introduced on October 2018 update, Version 1809.

The post Microsoft Edge get polished on Windows 10 October 2018 Update, Here whats new appeared first on How To Fix Windows.