Netscape 6 - The Future, And Summary Ratings

I said above that I would return to the topic of Netscape 6. Reading some of the vitriolic comments about Netscape 6 that have been posted to Web sites by journalists and readers alike, I've been surprised and puzzled at the intensity of anger and hostility expressed. After all Netscape was once more or less consensually acclaimed to be " the Mac browser ". That was never really true, but it was true that a majority of Mac users once preferred the Netscape browser to its Microsoft competitor.

That is apparently no longer the case, but even so one would think that at least and of loyalty and nostalgia, the Mac community might have been willing to cut Netscape a bit of slack, and some good will in their efforts to come up with the new rival to Internet explorers hegemony.

Netscape was probably mistaken to release such a rough version of the new browser to the public. The rationale was almost certainly to get something out there to counter the hype about the IE 5 release. However that strategy has backfired because Netscape 6 is simply not ready. In a month of casually playing with it I've discerned a lot of potential. On pages where works, Netscape 6 is deliciously fast. Unfortunately, the program is still horribly buggy, some functions -- start up is one that hits you immediately -- are excruciatingly slow.

There are other things. Netscape 6 refuses to respond after my PowerBook goes to sleep and reawakes, necessitating a restart of the program. Standard keyboard shortcuts don't work. The URL field is cranky, as is Bookmark implementation.

Then there's interface. In my estimation, while it's certainly not pretty, it's also not nearly as bad as some have described it, and it's not much uglier than IE 5's interface by my estimation. In any case the final product, and reportedly the next preview release, will feature user customizable "skins."

What I like about Netscape 6 is its evident potential under the currently rough surface. Netscape 6 is powered by Gecko technology, which, according to Netscape, "delivers cutting-edge Web standards support, including leading XML functionality. Gecko is certainly fast, and is the most dependable of the four browsers mentioned in this article for posting articles to Applelinks often cranky news posting CGI.

Netscape 6 has new integrated search capabilities, and even an AutoTranslate feature, based upon Gist-in-Time from Alis Technologies, Inc., that enables a user to instantly translate, in one click, Web pages written in a foreign language by automatically translating the pages into the preferred language of the user. Languages supported include English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish. I haven't tried this yet, but I like Altavista's BabelFish, and this should be similar functionality in the browser itself.

There are also some new wrinkles to email handling in Netscape 6, but no one in their right mind would consign their email chores to any application this buggy, so we'll give that a pass until later, more stable versions arrive.

For now, Netscape 6 is something to experiment with at your own risk, but I'm very optimistic about its future. There are several tips I've run across that make the experimenting more pleasant.

One annoyance I have noticed in Netscape Preview 1 is the absence of standard Mac scrolling support in the default settings. to fix it, just open the Preferences; go to "debug" (last category) and uncheck 'gfx scrollbars.' While you're at it, might as well also uncheck the second default in "Debug," called "use ViewManager 2. Some have reported a speed improvement from doing this.

Gene Steinberg of The Mac Night Owl suggests trashing the Preferences entirely and building them anew. You won't find the Netscape 6 preferences where you might expect to. Look for a folder called Mozilla in the Documents folder on your hard drive. Then dig down through several sub-folder levels, remove the preferences file, and restart the program

MacBC.com has posted a reader-submitted 10-step process in optimizing (so to speak) Netscape 6 developed through trial and error, which the reader claims made Netscape 6 start up much better "after a week of frustration and pain." You can check them out at:
http://macbc.com/News/2000Apr/12.shtml#net6

Be patient. This browser is going to get a lot better. In the meantime, make sure you still have Communicator 4.x, IE 4.5 or 5, or iCab as your main browser.

Netscape 6 Preview Release 1 is available for download free of charge on Netscape Netcenter at http://home.netscape.com/download/previewrelease.html. Users can download, install and preview Netscape 6 along with previous Netscape Communicator versions and have both coexist and run on their computer. Netscape 6 will import Communicator settings into Netscape 6 but will not alter any original settings.

You can also download Netscape 6 via conventional ftp at this URL:
ftp://ftp.netscape.com/pub/netscape6/english/6_PR1/mac/macos8.5/sea/Netscape6-mac.sea.bin

In Summary:

As a person who works on the Internet, I would not want to try to live with just one of these browsers. Lately, I often have all four running at the same time, plus the delightfully swift little text-only browser, Wannabe. My personal preference among the four at this stage of the game is definitely iCab, followed by Communicator 4.72, IE 5, and then Netscape 6. Happily, they're all available for free, so you can easily try them and make up your own mind.

Internet Explorer 5 - Hooray:
• Fast
• Customizable interface with lots of bells and whistles for those who like that sort of thing
• Easy cache surfing offline
• Tabbed pop-out windows including new Scrapbook
• Persistent History
• Nice Download Manager
• Fast Drag and Drop Installation
• Fast Startup
• Personal Toolbar supports folders

Communicator 4.72 - Hooray:
• Reasonably Fast (beats IE 5 on some pages)
• More polished html execution than IE 5
• Includes integrated Composer Web authoring module and Messenger email module, for those who like that sort of thing
• Most completely integrated browser -- IMHO the one to have if you're only having one

iCab Preview 2.0 - Hooray:
• Fast
• Quick startup
• Small and Nimble
• Excellent and well-executed feature set; polished performance -- the Mercedes Benz of browsers
• Doesn't overtax the power of older, slower machines
• Doesn't fill your System Folder with shared libraries and other junk
• Easy cache surfing offline
• Nice Download Manager
• Persistent History
• Highly customizable, with alternate button sets downloadable from iCab Website
• Personal Toolbar supports folders

Internet Explorer 5 - Boo
• Buggy
• Less elegant html rendering than Netscape or iCab (IMHO)
• Scatters an astonishing collection of functional litter throughout your system folder

Netscape 4.72 - Boo
• Awfully big
• Interface offers fewer options and features than IE 5 or iCab; not customizable
• Go menu dies when you close browser window
• Slow startup
• Does not support folders in Personal Toolbar
• Finickey Bookmarks

iCab Preview 2.0 - Boo
• No built-in or bundled email client (will send mailtos, but not receive email)
• Some features (CSS, Javascript, 128 bit encryption) missing or not fully implemented -- it's still a beta

Star Ratings:
IE 5 ****
Communicator 4.72 ***1/2
iCab Preview 2.0 ****
(But Communicator 4.72 is still the best choice for an only browser)

Downloads:

Explorer:
http://www.microsoft.com/mac/

Communicator:
http://www.netscape.com/computing/download/index.html?cp=hom05x4

iCab:
http://www.icab.de

Back --

Part 1 of 4: Internet Explorer 5
Part 2 of 4: Netscape Communicator 4.72
Part 3 of 4: iCab Preview 2.0
Part 4 of 4: Netscape 6 - The Future, and Summary

Charles W. Moore

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Saturday, 22-Nov-2008 01:24:41 EST