If you are using Netscape 6.1, Mozilla is now three revisions ahead with version 0.9.5 which was released late last week. If you still haven't tried Netscape 6.x/Mozilla, or you were underwhelmed by the early beta releases, it's time to check these browsers out again. They have now reached a stage of refinement that there is no compelling argument for using Internet Explorer.
Compared with the previous 0.9.4 version, improvements are incremental (listed below). Mozilla, since the release of version 0.9.2 (the version that Netscape 6.1 is based on) has been a solid, dependable, fast browser that is capable of more than satisfactorily displacing Internet Explorer or Netscape Communicator. The more I use this browser, the more I like it. It's big, but it works.
Some comparison tests I did against iCab and Opera revealed that Mozilla 0.9.3 was just a shade slower than either of those alternate browsers on some pages, but for some reason Mozilla doesn't "feel" slower, and in fact, even with a stopwatch, there is very little in the difference.
Mozilla is also a bit sluggish opening new browser windows and responding to menu commands compared with iCab and Opera, at least on my 233 MHz PowerBook. On a faster machine like my G4 Cube, this is much less noticeable. Mozilla 0.9.5 still won't save web page content as plain text :-( .
However, Mozilla does a very competent job of handling JavaScript -- an area where iCab is still hobbled, and it also works well on encrypted Web pages. In fact, I very rarely encounter Web content Mozilla can't handle.
As for stability, I've been using Mozilla daily since version 0.9.2 back in June, and I have yet to experience a crash or lockup with it. This browser is a rock.
If you're looking to kick the Internet Explorer habit, Mozilla 0.9.5, at least in its Mac Classic version is a perfectly capable browser for workhorse use, and it is two development versions ahead of Netscape 6.1. If you have the disk space, RAM capacity, and processor speed to support it, Mozilla can now take over from Netscape Communicator as well with no excuses. I have begun to receive positive reports about the OS X version ("Fizzilla") as well, which is encouraging.
And like Communicator, Mozilla offers an call-in-one package with browser (Navigator), e-mail (Messenger), and HTML authoring (Composer) modules in an integrated, single-application package.
New in Mozilla 0.9.5:
• The History and Mail&News applications now allow you to reorder columns with drag and drop. For instance, If you prefer to have the date listed first in your mail thread pane, drag the Date header onto the Subject header and the Date column will move to the first position.
• Warnings in the JavaScript console now show the text of the offending line.
• Venkman, the JavaScript Debugger is now available in complete installer builds. Remember to choose 'complete' install, instead of 'typical'. Start the debugger under the Tasks/Tools menu or from the command line with mozilla -venkman.
• Mozilla has a new experimental Tabbed Browsing feature. Press Ctrl+T to open a new tab. (Bug 101973.)
• People who like tabbed browsing may also like the mozilla gestures add-on, Optimoz now available at mozdev.org.
• SOCKS proxies (both v4 and v5) can now be used with all protocols (Bug 89500) except MailNews. Using socks with MailNews is covered by bug 44995.
• Mozilla has a new Site Navigation Bar for navigating sites that use the element (like Bugzilla buglists) Choose the menu item View | Show/Hide | Site Navigation bar | Show As Only Needed to make the toolbar show up automatically when you visit pages that use the element.
• The View Source window now has a context menu with items for Find, Copy, and Select.
Mac OS Mozilla Notes/Unresolved Issues:
• If you attempt to run Mozilla on Mac OS using a language pack (such as the Japanese Language Pack) and a Language Kit, all menu bar items will be incorrectly displayed. To resolve this problem, register Mozilla using the Language Register. For instance, if you're using the Japanese Language Pack and the Japanese Language Kit, register Mozilla as a JA application.
• If you use the SmoothType control panel instead of Apple's "Smooth all fonts on screen" option in the Appearance control panel, you need SmoothType version 2.1.1 for Mozilla . Mozilla is not compatible with earlier versions of SmoothType, and some pages may be improperly drawn. To get an update, go to http://www.kaleidoscope.net/greg/smoothtype.html.
• If you have a dual-processor G4 running Mac OSX, Mozilla will stall. There are no problems with dual-processor G4's running MacOS 9. (Bug 44787)
• Mozilla will not run when the application is installed on a UFS partition. The workaround is to move the application folder to an HFS+ partition and it will
run correctly.
• You should not restart your system with all extensions off before running Mozilla installation. (Good advice, no doubt, but I haven't bothered, and have had no problems).
• You must have Mac OS Runtime for Java (MRJ) version 2.2 to run Java applets with Mozilla . If you have Mac OS version 8.5 through 8.6, you may need to upgrade your version of MRJ.
• There is a known incompatibility between Mozilla and WebFree, a Control Panel commonly used to block HTML-based ads. When using Mozilla , disable WebFree. (Bug 13982)
• Mousewheel scrolling does not work with all drivers. If you have problems, try updating your driver or disabling any "helper" programs that your mouse uses.
• (Mac OS 9.x ) Scroll wheel support for Kensington input devices requires Kensington MouseWorks 5.7 or higher. Version 5.7 is not yet shipping as of this writing.
• On OS X, there is no "Default Downloader Plugin" (aka. the Default Plugin) and Java is not working yet. (Bug 88870)
System requirements:
• Mac OS 8.5 or later
• PowerPC 604e 266 MHz or faster processor, or G3/G4
• 64 MB RAM
• 36 MB of free hard disk space
• Quicktime (Bugs 59059, 89720)
