A First Look at Netscape 7

David_Bloom writes: "PC-WORLD has released an article giving a rundown of the just-released Preview Release 1 of Netscape 7. An especially interesting feature in this new version is tabbed browsing, which allows you to have multiple web pages open at once in one window, which you can view using a tab-based MDI."

Re:so is it still the mozilla base?

[crow]

This is based on Mozilla 1.0 Release Candidate 2, so it's pretty current.

Ummm...interesting feature is old news...

[thaigan]

While I agree that tabbed browsing is one of my favorite features in a browser, it's already old news to us Mozilla/Chimera users;-)

Opera?

[Demon-Xanth]

Opera's had MDI browsing for quite some time. I still don't know why IE doesn't. It keeps all those popups under control.

Re:To Keep Score...

[Anonymous Coward]

7.0PR1 is based on Mozilla 1.0RC2. Netscape 7.0 final will be based on Mozilla 1.0 final.

Download netscape 7, preview release 1

[Aanallein]

Although the main netscape site [netscape.com] doesn't yet show this, Netscape 7 PR1 can be downloaded [netscape.com] from netscape.com already.

And although the option for disabling popups has disappeared from Netscape's preferences, so as not to harm AOL's revenues too much, adding this line to your user.js (create the file if necessary) will get you the same functionality:
user_pref("dom.disable_open_during_load", true);

Re:me too?

[rusty0101]

Not aware of it being in IE, though I am not running the newest IE.

As Gecko is the html page rendering engine for Mozilla, and Galeon, it on it's own does not have a tabbed interface.

However as just about every aspect of the latest Mozilla and Netscape browsers, from the navigation buttons on down, and possibly up through the frame rendering for the browser itself (the beveled edges on in?) are rendered by Gecko, you could say that it is a feature of Gecko I suppose.

I suppose it depends upon how you interpret things.

-Rusty

Re:me too?

[Jucius Maximus]

"not that i know of...if you can find a link to a tabbed IE, please post it."

This is to IE as StarOffice is to OpenOffice: The CrystalPort Browser [crystalport.com].

Re:me too?

[afidel]

Actually, there are a number of third party programs that allow tabbed browsing using IE, some are programs that are encapselated in the IE window, others just embed the IE renderer inside themselves, this is the beauty of object oriented code.

Re:me too?

[lynnroth]

Crazy Browser [crazybrowser.com] This is basically a frontend to the IE engine that gives you a tabbed interface and some other nice things.

Re:Tabbed browsing?

[Jucius Maximus]

"Am I dunk, or haven't I been using tabbed browsing in Mozilla now since version .5? .. "

No, it was added sometime in 0.9.x.

Btw one of the symptoms of drunkenness is inability to spell ;-)

[Let the CmdrTaco spelling jokes commence... ;-]

Re:Tabbed browsing?

[damiam]

Yep, you're drunk. Tabbed browsing was added to Mozilla in (IIRC) the 0.9.7 release. It definitly wasn't 0.5, especially since there never was a Mozilla 0.5 release.

Re:so is it still the mozilla base?

[Anonymous Coward]

Netscape 6.2.x was branched off Mozilla 0.9.4.1.

Netscape 7 will be brached off Mozilla 1.0.

Re:Tabbed browsing?

[Aanallein]

What added functionality does it provide over Mozilla 1.0/pr2 (build 2002051206)

As seen in the release notes [netscape.com] and the marketing talk about the features [netscape.com], netscape 7 includes an integrated icq/aim, favicons in quite a few places where Mozilla has diabled them again, a nifty icon in the status bar showing if cookies are being used by sites, and some older stuff over Mozilla like a spell-checker.
IMO nothing worth switching for, but it does make Netscape 7 a good choice for your average end user.

Re:MacOS version X

[Equuleus42]

While it is a native OS X application in the most basic sense of the word, it does not yet use the Aqua interface. For this functionality, check out the Chimera [mozdev.org] browser.

Re:As a Web Designer...

[damiam]

Yeah, that certain point was about two years ago, before Netscape 6. Where've you been?

Re:me too?

[jacoplane]

Does it add anything to IE that The proxomitron [proxomitron.org] doesn't also add? Besided skinning of course, but I run windowblinds so I don't really want them anyway.

Tip for older systems with small resources

[afflatus_com]

If you are running a Windows OS on an old machine, you may want to try out a run of the free K-Meleon (which despite the name, isn't for KDE):

K-Meleon on SourceForge [sourceforge.net]

Stripped of bloat, Mozilla's rendering engine runs fast and light on a P133Mhz laptop with 16MB.
A sample screenshot is here:
Screenshot of UI and context menu [sourceforge.net]

No extra frills (though popup killing is included)---just fast, stable, and beautiful compliant HTML rendering.

Re:so is it still the mozilla base?

[DrXym]

Netscape 7.0 is Mozilla 1.0.0 after going through another round of testing. So it should be more stable and offers AIM/ICQ support and integration into Netscape.com. It probably offers a few extra enterprise level facilities such as customisation via the CCK but I don't know what else.

NetCaptor

[shroudedmoon]

Netcaptor [netcaptor.com] is an IE based browser that's had tabbed browsing, popup blocking, keyboard shortcuts and a load of other features for a while. I actually switched to it from Opera, and have had no problems whatsoever.

Re:Ctrl-Tab Analogue in Mozilla's Tabbed Browsing?

[skuenzli]

Try Ctrl+PgUp and Ctrl+PgDn. You can find other shortcuts here:
http://www.mozilla.org/projects/ui/accessibility/m ozkeylist.html [mozilla.org]

Of special interest (to me) are:
Ctrl+T - New tab with focus in location entry box
Ctrl+W - Close Tab

Regards,
Stephen

Re:Tabbed browsing?

[ellocogato]

FYI, there is a spell checker for Mozilla [mozdev.org], which is suposedly to be integrated to the Mozilla source after the 1.0 release.

Re:30MB?

[Malc]

It includes some of the components that I download separately for Mozilla anyway, such as Java. Much easier to do it all in one go.

Re:Mac OS X version

[AT]

Check out Chimera, a native MacOS X frontend for gecko: http://chimera.mozdev.org/.

It IS Cocoa, and it looks like a Cocoa app should. It's not perfect, but it definately gives OmniWeb a run for its money.

The Most Useful (and Missing) Shortcut...

[GeekLife.com]

Internet Explorer has had Ctrl-Enter add a "http://www." before whatever's in the address bar and a ".com" after it.

Now, I know that's not always what you want to do, but it is often enough that it's an extremely useful shortcut key (and one that (along with the google bar) is keeping me from changing over to Mozilla on a permanent basis).

Is there a reason Mozilla can't do it?

Re:Why Mozilla is better than Netscape...

[Jobe_br]

You can still set the pref manually in your prefs.js file, there just isn't a UI for it ...

Re:CNet Also, and ICQ...?

[Jobe_br]

So, get a Mac that can run OS X and download Fire.app - lets you chat with AOL, ICQ, Yahoo!, MSN, Jabber, and at least one other client that I'm forgetting ... in any case, its the closest I've found to a fully integrated client. They all show up in the same list, with different icons indicating what service they're coming from. Here's a link:

http://www.epicware.com/fire.html [epicware.com]

Re:Bundling AOL??

[compwizrd]

deltree /y c:\progra~1\netscape\communicator\program\aim
del tree /y C:\windows\aim95

in your netlogon script.

works fine for me.

Re:The Most Useful (and Missing) Shortcut...

[Jess]

Most browsers will automatically assume the http://www. and .com if you just type in the middle part. For example, in Mozilla, type in sun and it will find http://www.sun.com [sun.com]

Re:Mouse Gestures are even better...

[luna1ix]

You can find a XUL-Plugin for mozilla here [mozdev.org].
I haven't tried it with NS7 jet, but it works nice with mozilla.

Re:Download netscape 7, preview release 1

[Tim Macinta]

And although the option for disabling popups has disappeared from Netscape's preferences, so as not to harm AOL's revenues too much, adding this line to your user.js...

Even better, download this preferences toolbar [xulplanet.com]. It will add a toolbar that lets you enable/disable unrequested (onLoad, etc) pop-ups without going through the maze of menus in Mozilla or without editing your prefs.js file in Netscape (which requires you to restart the browser, I would assume). It's very handy when you come across sites where you actually want to allow unrequested pop-ups (I use some sites where onLoad pop-ups are unfortunately part of the necessary UI, which I why I find this so useful). It also lets you easily toggle many other preferences like Java, JavaScript, cookies, and more. Check it out.

Re:MDI?

[SCHecklerX]

I'm a dumbass today (so I am posting AC). What the hell is a "tab-based MDI"? Thanks I will take your answer, offline. Thanks!>

MDI is that absolutely horrid UI that first became popular in windoze 3.1 where you have a single application window with several child windows inside it, each with its own size and position containing a single document.

Tabbed-browsing is 'mdi' done right. You have a single main window, easily controlled, but can have several documents open within it at once, using a slim tab bar at the top.

Re:Took it for kde

[Osty]

No, that is a feature that groups common applications under one bar which KDE 2 had before XP even came out.

And BeOS had that feature long before KDE2. Waa. It's a fairly straightforward, obvious step for any WIMP-based GUI. I don't recall how KDE2 implemented this, but from what I remember of Be, all apps would always be grouped. XP can be smart about it. You can configure it (if you know the regkey, or use tweakui or another tweaker) to always group, or group when X amount of the same window exist, or to be "smart" and start grouping when you run out of taskbar space. Not a huge innovation, but it's an evolution of an already-existing design.

Re:Tabbed browsing?

[ncc74656]

There are numerous plugins which work with Netscape 6.x that do not work with Mozilla 1rc2 .

Some examples:

- Flash 5 (I recently needed it to play in a scavenger hunt)

Is there a reason you need an old version of Flash installed? Flash 6 works OK for me, but it took some persuasion. Macromedia didn't want to provide the correct download link, but you should be able to download and install the Flash 6 installer from this link [macromedia.com]. You should also make sure that npswf32.dll is in your Mozilla plugin directory when the install is complete.

- Microsoft OLE plugin, so you can view MS Mediaplayer clips without switching to IE

Windows Media plays inside Mozilla with no problems if you use this plugin [microsoft.com]. There are three files that you'll need to copy from %systemroot%\system32 (IIRC) into the Mozilla plugin directory: npdsplay.dll, npwmsdrm.dll, and npdrmv2.dll.

Re:me too?

[afidel]

Internet Surfer [rogers.com] was the best for me. It's not free, but most of the free ones freaked out IE on me(one was so bad I almost had to reinstall windows).

Re:Tabbed browsing?

[peddrenth]

Surely once you've got Mozilla, you don't need junkbuster? You can stop pop-ups, block image servers, and limit cookies within mozilla.

Re:MDI?

[clem.dickey]

MDI stands for "Multiple Document Interface" - a single program presenting two or more documents at the same time. You can do it with tabs, split-screen, multiple windows, ...

The idea has been around for ages (emacs, for instance). The MDI initialism appeared in the late 80's courtesy of the late IBM/Microsoft GUI alliance.

MathML works

[nms99]

MathML [w3.org] is part of the preview release, although Netscape seems pretty quiet about it. It wasn't mentioned in the PC World article either. I tried it out on the Mozilla MathML torture test [mozilla.org] and it works fine. The only negative is that you need to separately load some math fonts [mozilla.org]... at least on unix.

Undoubtably MathML support is there because it is in Mozilla. Between Mozilla, Netscape, and IE (with MathPlayer [dessci.com]), all of the major browsers will support MathML. That together with support from math programs such as Mathematica [wolfram.com], it really looks like MathML will finally become real this year.

There's a conference [mathmlconference.org] on MathML at the end of June this year. Leslie Lamport (LaTeX fame) and Roger Sidje (who did the MathML support in Mozilla) are among the invited speakers.

Re:CNet Also, and ICQ...?

[Anonymous Coward]

Why bother getting a Mac, when you can use Trillian under winblows, which does ICQ, MSN, AIM, Yahoo messenger AND IRC all in one neat little package (and includes encryption if talking to another Trillian user!). Has skins and transparency built-in as well (transparency only works under XP however).

Yeah it's Winblows, but I'd rather be running winblows than a Mac :P

I don't agree

[theolein]

I use a Mac with OSX and a PC with win 98 and win2000. I use IE5 and Moz1rc2 on the Mac and IE5.5 and Moz1rc2 on the PC. The result is similar - IE simply crashes more often on both platforms. I don't know why or if I installed something wrong but they do. IE is also noticably slower on Mac OSX and it is about equal on Win. The amount of security bugy in IE worries me, and while Moz has also had some, it's a long shot from some of the bad security bugs in IE.

Therefore by default I use Moz.

Re:me too?

[RedX]

The most popular is Netcaptor [netcaptor.com], which I've used exclusively for my IE browsing the past few years. It's no longer free, but they do offer a 30-day trial. Netcaptor also has some pretty effective ad and pop-up filtering included.

Another one I've tried is Crazy Browser [crazybrowser.com], which is very similar to Netcaptor but is free. I've also found that it's buggier than Netcaptor. Crazy Browser also offers ad and pop-up filtering.

Re:Why Mozilla is better than Netscape...

[ncc74656]

Now, how do you block FLASH from a server.

Try running Squid with some ad filtering [dyndns.org] added on. You can have it replace Flash with a 1x1 transparent GIF, a window-closing JavaScript, null JavaScript, or (with some minor editing of the original program) a null HTML file. It also works with any browser and can be deployed on your desktop or on a server that filters ads for your entire home or office.

Re:Optional

[mkoenecke]

In Mozilla, Ctrl-Page Up Ctrl-Page Down switch between tabs. Ctrl-Left and Ctrl-Right are reserved for something else on cross-platform applications, IIRC.

Re:Why this is better than Mozilla...

[astrosmash]

That's one of the problems with Mozilla -- the plug-in finder rarely sends you anywhere useful, and most plug-in installers fail to recognize Mozilla as a valid browser.

Here are some links to the java and flash plugin installers that just automatically work with mozilla (or netscape):

Java Plugin for mozilla (win32) [netscape.com]
Flash Plugin for mozilla (win32) [netscape.com]

Also, over at mozdev there are some improved window icons [mozdev.org] worth checking out (Click the 'install icons' link and the bottom of the page) They're better than the default mozilla icon (blue lizard) because you get different icons for the different types of windows (broswer, mail/news, javascript console, etc.)

Re:GoogleBar for Mozilla!

[SCHecklerX]

You don't even need that.

Just configure your internet search to use google, type stuff in your URL bar, and tab to the 'search google for ...' in the drop down list.

Re:Opera?

[daytrip00]

Opera's had MDI browsing for quite some time. I still don't know why IE doesn't

One of the new features in Windows XP is that when you have too many instances of one program window open, it collapses them into on the task bar. Interestingly enough, MS seems to be moving away from MDIs in a number of their apps, as both Word and Excel also aren't MDIs anymore .(Well, you can set them to be, but they aren't by default.)

Re:Why this is better than Mozilla...

[jchristopher]

Ummm.... Try downloading the Netscape version (at least not the IE version) of the plugin. Run that, and point out the Mozilla directory for the install.

That's the problem - on Windows, anyway... when you follow the install process, get the JRE, etc. etc. if you follow the instructions TO THE LETTER it doesn't work.

Now, maybe there's nothing 'wrong' with Mozilla - maybe it's the documentation, maybe it's a Sun problem, I don't know. Fact is, it just doesn't work right.

Re:Three incentives to get Netscape users back

[jesser]

In Mozilla, you can close a tab by middle-clicking on it.

Re:Ctrl-Tab Analogue in Mozilla's Tabbed Browsing?

[Tet]

One word (three, actually): customizable key bindings. I don't really understand why Mozilla doesn't have it yet.

Mozilla does have customizable key bindings, and has had for *ages*. What it doesn't have (and really needs) is a nice GUI interface, so that the average end user can make those sorts of changes. For more details, see http://www.mozilla.org/unix/customizing.html#keys [mozilla.org]

Re:How many critical bugs remain?

[guanxi]

Maybe you know this, but to educate anyone else reading this thread, many (most?) reports in Bugzilla aren't bugs and those that are bugs are unlikely to affect you.

Many (most?) reports are,
o duplicates of already reported bugs
o reports of symptoms of already reported bugs (for example, sharing profiles between Moz and Netscape causes many different problems, all of which are reported over and over).
o reports of problems that either have nothing to do with Mozilla or are unique events (i.e. nobody else can duplicate the problem).
o reports of bugs already fixed (the reporter is using old versions of Mozilla)
o requests for enhancements to Mozilla

Even if it is a real bug, it probably won't affect you:
- Do you use the platform affected by the bug?
- If it's a compatiblity problem (e.g. Netscape profiles), do you use the incompatible software?
- Are you using those particular Mozilla features, in that particular combination?
- Are you trying to load websites affected by that bug?

Anyway, you get the idea.