Guide to IE on Xbox 360 and using Controller to browse the web
Finally a browser has come to your TV and if you had not liked browsing through your smart tv and Xbox had always been your priority, you will be happy about IE coming to Xbox and yes it works as good as IE on Windows 8 we had been using. The worst thing about IE is that you need a gold membership to use it.
How to get IE on Xbox ?
It should be pre-installed if you have the update but in case it’s not, Visit the App section which will have the Big Blue Tile with E, selecting which will download the app for you. Once installed, launch it and you should be viewing the Web Hub, explained next.
Web Hub :
This is more like an extra layer on top of any webpage which gives you access to menu options, address bar, buttons to add website to favourite, settings, list of recently visited websites with preview.
Right in the middle of the Web Hub you have three sections. Favourite gives you access to bookmarked sites, Recent for recently visited websites and Featured is section where Xbox recommends some websites you can check out.
Managing Bookmarked or Favourite Websites
It is also possible to edit website name of the pages you have bookmarked or added to favourite. When you are in favourite section, you can hover the mouse over the site name and tap on X which will give you the following option :
- Edit Site name
- Move to Front
- Pin to Xbox Home
- Remove from favourites
IE Shortcuts :
Controller Shortcuts you can use :
- Button A : Select or Enter or Return button.
- Button B : Go back or Hide Web Hub and switch back to webpage you where on. It also brings in the small help to display controller option for A and Y.
- Button Y : Keyboard when on web hub or bring in the Web Hub when on a web page.
- Right Stick : Scroll and Pan
- Left Stick : Move and if you press it, you can do smart zoom useful when you want to see something small or login pages.
- Left + Right Bumper : (Favourites Alt + Tab ) Bring the favourites list with preview. Use left and right bumper to navigate left and right and then select any webpage in the list.
- Left and Right Trigger : Hover the mouse pointer over any area and press RT to zoom in and let to zoom out.
Keyboard Shortcuts using Controller :
- Space : Button Y
- Backspace : Button X
- Caps On / Caps Off : Press Left Stick.
Smartglass :
If you have a SmartGlass App on your phone or tablet, you can use it as alternative to controller to navigate, use the touch as mouse and tap to select.
Using Keyboard is pain when it comes to IE on Xbox like entering a website name on the address bar. So, its only the external devices that will help it out like your Phone or PC or iPad like devices.
IE 10 Settings on Xbox :
- Turn Smartscreen on and Off.
- You can choose to send browsing history to Microsoft to improve products and services.
- Request for Mobile Web Page : Even though requesting for mobile optimized webpage does not make sense for a device which has TV sized output, in case you are on slow connection, make use of this feature.
- Choose to use IE in Full screen mode or not.
- Enable / Disable Cookies in Xbox
- You also have an option to delete history of websites you have already visited on Xbox.
How to Disable IE or Web browsing on Xbox :
- Location : Privacy > Change Settings > Customize > Web Browsing > Allowed or Blocked.
If you do not want to let anybody watch something nasty on your TV or keep kids off the web browser, this is how you disable it.
