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."

Why Mozilla is better than Netscape...

[Anonymous Coward]

Pop-up blocking. It's not in Netscape 7.0PR1. The other script blocking options are, though, so it was a very concious decision. However, for Joe Homeuser, Netscape is nice in that they bundle Java and Flash and some other junk that may starting off with Netscape easier. Mozilla is still for the technically advanced (Slashdot?) crowd. Netscape is for the home user who doesn't care, as long as it works. Now, how long until IE7? We all know a higher version means better!

MDI?

[Anonymous Coward]

which you can view using a tab-based MDI

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!

Bundling AOL??

[TheNecromancer]

the folks at Netscape are also bundling AOL Instant Messenger and a radio station (Radio@Netscape)

This is not a troll, but I hope they give the option of not installing the AOL IM to end users. M$ has shown us the folly of bundling software in a web browser that must be installed.

CNet Also, and ICQ...?

[instinctdesign]

CNet [news.com] also has also taken a look at it. Check out their news release [com.com] or the preview/review [cnet.com], 7 out of 10 if you don't feel like clicking. (and I'm maxed out in karma... so don't start ;) )

But what I really want to know, is if AOL will ever wake the heck up and integrate AIM and ICQ. This may not seem relevant, but from the CNet article:

Even better: this AIM version lets you log on to the ICQ network so that you can talk with ICQ pals, too. Unfortunately, you'll have to log out of one IM to access the other; there's no three-way chatting with friends from the two IM networks.

Now I understand why AOL might not want to integrate with MSN, Yahoo, and the like. But they control both the software development and infrastructure for both AIM and ICQ. Is it simply due to lack of effort that they won't integrate the two? (A little off-topic yes, but since NS7 is/will be just Mozilla 1.0, the parent not really all that interesting news-wise.)

Re:To Keep Score...

[1010011010]

Plus, it fits in with the New! Easier! AOL! 7.0!

No mention of Mozilla?

[n3xu5]

Not that it is necessary, but I didn't notice Mozilla mentioned once in the entire article. Gecko was mentioned at the end, but that's about it. Just found that a little odd.

Mac OS X version

[VEGx]

I tried it, and deleted it after a few minutes of use. My reasons?

1. It's not cocoa

1.1. It does not access any of the build-in Mac OS X technology such as spellchecker, and other services (open text in TextEdit, mail selection, etc.)

2. It just looks awful

3. There's no privacy setting that would allow me to block in-page adds.

4. There are other browsers that are better (OmniWeb).

Re:To Keep Score...

[damiam]

Netscape 6 was based on Mozilla 0.6, and Netscape 6.2 is based on Mozilla 0.9.4. They're probably increasing the version number because:

• Mozilla is too
• Netscape 6.x sucked, and they want to show people this is a big improvement.

IE...

[KjetilK]

I still don't know why IE doesn't. It keeps all those popups under control.

Well, the cynic in me says that's the reason. IE isn't a browser made for users. It is a browser made for web designers and businesses. If IE would do a lot to control popups, it would annoy content providers that rely on that kind of advertising. Wouldn't be good... :-)

Please add some themes...

[Eric Seppanen]

... just so the theme support code doesn't look like a big, fat, stupid waste of time.

I mean, come on, guys, themes have been in mozilla for a really long time now, and there's still how many included? two. (and one of them is just the old Netscape 4 look.) Oh, and if you're feeling really adventurous, you can wander out to the web, and find a whopping ten more. If you can find them; it seems as though the websites are packing up and moving once a month.

Sorry about the flame, I really like the browser. But the whole themes thing has started to look kind of silly.

Re:Download netscape 7, preview release 1

[soboroff]

Some other useful customizations can be found at http://www.mozilla.org/unix/customizing.html [mozilla.org]

For example, this is also good vs popups:
user_pref("dom.disable_open_click_delay", 1000);

How many critical bugs remain?

[teslatug]

I see about 20 new bugs are filed every day...is there a chance they'll fix most of them without introducing new ones in time for 1.0? I guess they could always go to RC3...

Mouse Gestures are even better...

[Anonymous Coward]

Does this Netscape pre-release have mouse gestures (ala Opera)?

As for Mozilla, I recall a blurb somewhere in the past that stated mouse gesture features would be implemented.

I like Opera as it stands, and I don't mind paying good money for good software. Just because it's not "free" doesn't mean I rather not use it. :D

Re:Tabbed browsing?

[savaget]

Flash 5 work fine for me on Mozilla RC2

One plugin that is broken is the Adobe SVG plugin, read about it here [xmlhack.com]

Re:Why this is better than Mozilla...

[rizzo]

All you have to do is copy some DLLs from the Java directory into the Mozilla plugin directory.

Granted it is misleading when the JDK says it will install the plugin for that browser but then doesn't, but the workaround is pretty painless.

Although I often wonder why I need to do these extra steps for Flash/Shockwave/Java. I'm assuming it is up to the plugin developers to get it to work.

Re:Recognizing IE's Strengths

[Anonymous Coward]

"We can only hope to succeed if we recognise the competition's strengths and, in this case, MS have done a great job."

I humbly suggest that Microsoft's strengths run more toward finding ways to make their products dominate the marketplace in spite of poor quality.

Much of IE's "smoother user experience" can be explained by a "great job*" on the part of those designing websites rather than on the part of Microsoft. As you said, most sites are designed for IE first.

As for AOL and Netscape, remember what David Farber said: "the consumer will eat what he's given."

* Admittedly, it's debatable that a web designer showing preference to a one browser over another is doing a "great job."

Re:me too?

[morcego]

Well, Mozilla has been doing it for some time now. Not that this is a big surprise. Guess where most of NS7 code comes from ?
Galeon (which I use) also has tab browsing.

Netscape 7.0 30 MB download--no thanks!

[RayChuang]

I think I'll skip out on Netscape 7.0.

30 megabyte download?! That's way too big for my own good taste even if you have broadband. I'd rather AOL provide the standard Mozilla 1.0.0 browser (when that's released) and let end users pick and choose their own plugins.

Mozilla 1.0 Release Candidate 2 is very nice, but when you add in all that AOL bloatware, no thanks.

Fine if you don't have much open.

[Inoshiro]

If you have a lot of programs trying to display data, MDI makes a lot of sense. It allows you to have logical groups of windows, rather than just a collapsed "every instance of that hwnd" in the taskbar. I have one Mozilla window for work research, one for gaming, one for reading news, etc. Each has its own entry in my Gnome tasklist applet, and each has its family of tabs inside. This also makes it easy to move my "webwork" windows(s) to another desktop, allowing me to make the next logical extension to MDI: multiple virtual desktops, each one focused on a specific goal.

However, I think it'll be a few years before you see that on the MacOS/Win32 side. MS frobbed with MDI, which is a good idea that their guidelines and API were poorly written for (thus leading to bad app design). The "collapsing taskbar" entry thing is a band-aid (TM) over not having virtual desktops and smart MDI.

However, until we see people who have computers that are on and have work open in many different areas for months at a time, I don't think MS will know much about the "UI scalabitily" issue to actually do something useful about it.

Of course, that doesn't bother me because I use these features *now* in Gnome with IceWM and Mozilla :)

not just feel and look

[VEGx]

Cocoa applications are more than just a "feel and look" think. It an application (Netscape) cannot take advantage of such parts of the Mac OS X as "Services" it is missing out a lot, in my opinion. I have several services that I use every day. It's a hassle to do it "manually."