A First Look at Netscape 7 714
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."
Tabbed browsing? (Score:3, Funny)
Could somone enlighten me on why someone would ever want to use Netscape again?
OH CRAP! Tomorrow I'm going to get the infamous "Your copy of Mozilla is so-and-so days old. Time to update!".. Can't wait!
Re:Tabbed browsing? (Score:3, Informative)
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? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Tabbed browsing? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Tabbed browsing? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Tabbed browsing? (Score:3, Informative)
IMO nothing worth switching for, but it does make Netscape 7 a good choice for your average end user.
Re:Tabbed browsing? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Tabbed browsing? (Score:2)
Re:Tabbed browsing? (Score:4, Funny)
Drunk or not, you need the spellchecker in Mozilla 7.
Re:Tabbed browsing? (Score:3, Interesting)
One plugin that is broken is the Adobe SVG plugin, read about it here [xmlhack.com]
Re:Tabbed browsing? (Score:4, Informative)
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.
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.
Ummm...interesting feature is old news... (Score:2, Informative)
Opera? (Score:5, Informative)
IE... (Score:4, Interesting)
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... :-)
Re:IE... (Score:2)
Re:Opera? (Score:3, Informative)
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
Fine if you don't have much open. (Score:3, Interesting)
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
Re:Opera? (Score:5, Funny)
If you're talking about stuff like text that follows the cursor around, I'm not aware of anything available for any browser that will shut those off...except maybe a .44 Magnum fired at the idiots who create such abhorrences. (That'll only keep more of them from being created, though.)
Why Mozilla is better than Netscape... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Why Mozilla is better than Netscape... (Score:2, Informative)
Re:Why Mozilla is better than Netscape... (Score:3, Informative)
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.
Download netscape 7, preview release 1 (Score:5, Informative)
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:Download netscape 7, preview release 1 (Score:5, Interesting)
For example, this is also good vs popups:
user_pref("dom.disable_open_click_delay"
Re:Download netscape 7, preview release 1 (Score:5, Informative)
Tabbed browsing? (Score:3, Funny)
can you say mozilla 1.0 rc1 (Score:2)
I'm using it now.
Ctrl-Tab Analogue in Mozilla's Tabbed Browsing? (Score:4, Insightful)
I'd hoped tabbed browsing would spare me the memory overhead of having all those windows open, but it doesn't have a crucial feature; hotkey cycling through tabs.
After I open a bunch of interesting stories in new windows on Slashdot, for example, I can Ctrl-Tab between windows according to the whims of my rampant ADD.
Alt-Tab between programs, Ctrl-Tab between documents seems to be a pretty accepted convention in the Win32 environment.
Am I missing an undocumented keyboard shortcut here?
Re:Ctrl-Tab Analogue in Mozilla's Tabbed Browsing? (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.mozilla.org/projects/ui/accessibility/
Of special interest (to me) are:
Ctrl+T - New tab with focus in location entry box
Ctrl+W - Close Tab
Regards,
Stephen
The Most Useful (and Missing) Shortcut... (Score:4, Informative)
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:The Most Useful (and Missing) Shortcut... (Score:2)
Not a perfect implementation, but good enough for me.
S
CTRL-ENTER already defined for New TAB Window (Score:2)
Re:The Most Useful (and Missing) Shortcut... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Ctrl-Tab Analogue in Mozilla's Tabbed Browsing? (Score:4, Informative)
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]
MacOS version X (Score:2)
Re:MacOS version X (Score:5, Informative)
Re:MacOS version X (Score:2)
And it never will. If they add that feature they will have to support it on every platform, meaning macos, macosx, gtk, qt, windows.... you get the picture. While there are complaints that mozilla is redesigning the wheel, it does (arguably) save them development and commitment time.
Bundling AOL?? (Score:2, Interesting)
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.
Netscape mail to block spam? (Score:2)
Nice mail feature, but since when did spam come from the same random generated email address?
CNet Also, and ICQ...? (Score:4, Interesting)
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: 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:CNet Also, and ICQ...? (Score:3, Insightful)
They have integrated AIM and ICQ, there was a time a year or two ago where you could sign into ICQ using an AIM client in one beta version. They don't publicly integrate them, because then they would be closer to admitting that interoperability is possible. They'd rather continue claiming that other [sourceforge.net] clients [trillian.cc] are a security threat to their network.
It's a load of hooey if you ask me
netscape 5 (Score:2, Funny)
No mention of Mozilla? (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:No mention of Mozilla? (Score:2)
Tip for older systems with small resources (Score:5, Informative)
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.
kick ars features (Score:2)
Mac OS X version (Score:2, Interesting)
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:Mac OS X version (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Mac OS X version (Score:4, Informative)
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.
Re:Mac OS X version (Score:2, Insightful)
Recognizing IE's Strengths (Score:2, Insightful)
From the article:
With AOL's powerful market presence--numbering 34 million registered users--Netscape could be poised for a comeback if it replaces IE's role for AOL users.
Well, we all know that AOL is no slouch at slipping it hard and rough to their users but even AOL isn't going to be stupid enough to try foisting a noticeably slower browser on their users. MSN's marketing would go into overdrive.
People are used to IE, most sites were designed with it in mind; AOL might be big but they aren't big enough to pull off a coup like that.
Many of you may refuse to use IE for idealogical reasons, and that's valid, but nothing can change the fact that, when it comes to the simple activity of browsing, the MS product gives a smoother user experience.
We can only hope to succeed if we recognise the competition's strengths and, in this case, MS have done a great job; that's why they get away with slippin in the proprietry stuff.
Re:Recognizing IE's Strengths (Score:4, Insightful)
But of course I want to refute the individual lies and misinformation too, just because you are an insufferable moron:
AOL isn't going to be stupid enough to try foisting a noticeably slower browser on their users
Mozilla RC2 pops up from a cold start (hasn't been run before) in about 4 seconds on my machine. IE takes -- guess what? -- about 4 seconds from a cold start too. And that's not using Quickstart, which would've boosted Mozilla's performance.
People are used to IE, most sites were designed with it in mind
I'm sure you mean that "web pages won't render unless you use IE." That's pure BS. I always install Mozilla or derivatives (e.g., Netscape) for machines I support and not once has a page failed to render. Oh wait, by "most sites" you must mean MSN.
nothing can change the fact that, when it comes to the simple activity of browsing, the MS product gives a smoother user experience.
What the blazing hell does "smoother" mean? Both Opera and Mozilla provide what is clearly a superior browsing experience. Maybe by "smoother" you mean "more apt to get hacked by a malicious script" or "capable of having your bookmarks, start menu, desktop, and registry tampered with by web sites with questionable motives."
I don't agree (Score:3, Informative)
Therefore by default I use Moz.
Re:Recognizing IE's Strengths (Score:3, Insightful)
MS hasn't done a great job at all. Their browser is a sieve chock full of security holes, and so tightly integrated into the OS, many of those holes are frighteningly dangerous.
They chased netscape for the first 3 versions, then passed them on the fourth version, drove them out of business with bundling, and haven't really done squat with their browser since then. Is IE6 really that much different than IE4? Hardly. Talk about stagnation...but that is what happens when you have no competition to worry about.
Netscape? Again? (Score:2)
No surprise, Netscape *IS* stripped mozilla (Score:2, Insightful)
Netscape is, as has been pointed out here many times, a stripped down (perhaps dumbed-down) Mozilla... That isn't necessarily going to upset AOL for people to call it that though...
Mozilla RC2 had advanced far enough that it was making Netscape 6.22 look downright OLD... and for good reason, Netscape 6.22 was based on an older branch from Mozilla.
AOL couldn't have its thunder stolen, so they *had* to release a new Netscape. Smart business decision.
As for being dumbed-down... Well, yes, it is. Remember folks, Netscape 6.x series (and obviously 7.x now) is working toward inclusion in the AOL browser.
Can you imagine what the 13 year old kids using AOL would do to Mozilla if they found the "File A Bug" option on the QA menu??? Or how confused the 60 year old grandmas would be when they saw too many options on the preferences menu?
AOL takes a very advanced product - Mozilla - and makes it for the mass market - Netscape.
Netscape is updated less frequently so that end-users can feel comfortable without having to upgrade regularly, and Mozilla remains development oriented for those of us who must have the latest features. Nothing wrong with that at all.
That, actually, is the ideal world for browsers, if you ask me.
AIM Everywhere (Score:2)
However, it is a bit interesting to put this side-by-side with Apple's iChat announcement [apple.com] for the next major OS X release. This, too, integrates an AIM-compatible client with a major piece of software -- in this case, the Aqua-fied OS itself.
So I'm wondering, where are we going to see it next? AOL's already pretty universal, but for those of us who prefer direct connections, we'll have two new ways to be exposed to it.
I'm starting to wonder if someone in AOL's camp is working on adding AIM to Eudora [eudora.com]'s or someone else's e-mail client, or even a Linux distro with the AOL/AIM clients integrated right into the dialup. Why play games with Microsoft's bat and balls, when you can help your customers overwrite it entirely? (Joking, mostly.)
Please add some themes... (Score:3, Interesting)
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.
you miss the point (Score:3, Insightful)
no, you've *really* missed the point here; the whole theme thing is just beginning. the language for writing themes has been under development, so if you wrote a theme for one release of Mozilla / Netscape, it would break in the next release. 90% of the point of having Mozilla 1.0 is to *freeze* this language (the APIs), and once these things are frozen people can get to work devloping *with* them
It's the NAME (Score:4, Insightful)
AOL didn't buy netscape purely because Mozilla is a great product, they bought it because the Netscape name has a huge amount of recognition.
So yeah, Mozilla's better... but who's heard of it? Not joe-sheep user.
How many critical bugs remain? (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:How many critical bugs remain? (Score:5, Informative)
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.
User Farms (Score:3, Funny)
Why this is better than Mozilla... (Score:2)
I installed Mozilla on my fiance's brand new Windows install (sorry, but she's not a Linux geek). She is, however, a hardcore Netscape user and really refuses to use IE. So I figured a good bet would be to install Mozilla.
I installed Mozilla RC1 and everything was good to go. However, then she ran into some Flash content. For whatever reason, Mozilla seems to not be able to handle *some* Flash, and a plugin is unavailable...
Ok, no big deal, who needs it anyway. However, then she wanted to do something for work that required Java. Ok, no problem, grab the JRE & the Java plugin from Mozilla's links. Did so, installed, and it even prompted to install the plugin to Mozilla. I let it do so...however, the next time we get to a Java site, poof it says "you need a plugin".
I asked a guy at work, who told me I had to search around and update a few config files to get the Java plugin to work. I have not done this and likely won't...Mozilla has become in my mind another example of how the OpenSource community can build solid products w/o any thought to usability.
I'm assuming NS doesn't have these issues and will give it a shot. But come on, it's not 1994, you guys can get Mozilla to install plugins correctly.
Re:Why this is better than Mozilla... (Score:3, Interesting)
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:Why this is better than Mozilla... (Score:3, Informative)
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.
MathML works (Score:5, Informative)
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.
Netscape 7.0 30 MB download--no thanks! (Score:3, Interesting)
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.
Re:so is it still the mozilla base? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:so is it still the mozilla base? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:me too? (Score:2)
No, but I believe Opera will do this; keeps your taskbar from getting so cluttered. Oh, and only Outbreak Express has variants, I think they still measure IE in revisions
Shaun
Re:me too? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:me too? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:me too? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:me too? (Score:5, Informative)
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:me too? (Score:4, Interesting)
Galeon (which I use) also has tab browsing.
Re:me too? (Score:2, Informative)
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? (Score:2, Funny)
Yay for Tabs! (Score:2)
No, I don't believe so. There *might* be an unofficial "hack" for it, but if so I haven't seen it. You may be thinking of the "tabbed" taskbar buttons in WinXP, which group taskbar buttons of the same app--say, IE--together, to save taskbar real estate. I don't like it myself, and have it disabled.
Tabbed browsing is indeed a great and helpful idea, though, which I've been using in Mozilla builds. I just have always hated needing multiple windows for browsing, especially when they "cascade" and open up in a different position on the desktop, as they do in IE versions above 4. I'm anal and have all my windows for every app set to open up in one particular place in the middle of my desktop, so that multiple instances sometimes cascade themselves and ruin that. Using Mozilla with tabbed browsing solved that problem, at least regarding websurfing, which usually opens multiple windows.
Just my opinion though...
Re:me too? (Score:2, Informative)
NetCaptor (Score:2, Informative)
Re:me too? (Score:2, Informative)
This is to IE as StarOffice is to OpenOffice: The CrystalPort Browser [crystalport.com].
Re:me too? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:To Keep Score... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:To Keep Score... (Score:2)
Re:To Keep Score... (Score:2)
Though of course the biggest reason for the version jump would be from marketing reasons. Not so much as opposed to IE, but to wash away the bad taste the original Netscape 6.0 has given a lot of people. I personally know many people who went right back to Netscape 4.x and never tried a Netscape 6.x again. The 7.0 might just convince them to give Netscape another try, and that's (IMO) a good thing.
Re:To Keep Score... (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:To Keep Score... (Score:2)
Re:To Keep Score... (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Optional (Score:2, Funny)
Mozilla's (and thus Netscape's) tabs are entirely optional.
Besides, they work much better than the usual "MDI" interfaces - it's just an usual browser window with an added tab row, easily resizable! Much better usability-wise than the disaster that was Opera 5... =)
Re:Optional (Score:5, Informative)
Re:As a Web Designer... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:As a Web Designer... (Score:2, Insightful)
As for "NN compatibility", how about STANDARDS compatibility? People need to learn to design for standards, not for browsers. Everyone will be better off in the long run. If you design soley for IE, don't call yourself a web designer. Call yourself and IE designer.
Re:As a Web Designer... (Score:3, Insightful)
NS6 may have been poor in many areas, but its rendering engine got a lot more right than IE6 does now. NS7/Mozilla1.0RC2 corrects many of NS6's shortcomings and still managed to pull even further ahead of IE in its support for CSS and DOM. After all, why doesn't IE6 support fixed positioning? Konqueror 2.2.2 does for crying out loud.
IE doing something wrong is not an excuse to copy them. I applaud the Mozilla team for not following down the slippery slope.
Re:30MB? (Score:2, Informative)
Re:As Long as It's Not Bulky (Score:2)
Re:Mouse Gestures are even better... (Score:4, Informative)
I haven't tried it with NS7 jet, but it works nice with mozilla.
Re:MDI? (Score:5, Informative)
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:MDI? (Score:4, Informative)
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.
Re:GoogleBar for Mozilla! (Score:4, Informative)
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:It's impressive (Score:3, Funny)
Well, you could save yourself a byte if you spelled "Hello" right.
Sorry ... had to. :-)