Category Archives: web stuff

This category is for all things web (XHTML, CSS, Javascript, Flash, Information Architecture, etc. etc.)

Netscape 8 beta released

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AOL has just released the first beta of Netscape 8.

Unfortunately it only runs on Windows machines, which means I’ll have to wait until tomorrow to check it out. It can use either the IE rendering engine or the Firefox (Gecko) engine, but I’m not sure which one it defaults to. I mentioned a while back that I was wary of the option to switch the rendering engine as most users will have no idea what it actually does even if they do delve into the options and find it there.

They also seem to have completely ignored any usability guidelines for Windows applications and gone with a non-standard application window layout. The menu bar is shifted to the left, and there is an amazing amount of clutter around the toolbars and tabs (View Screenshot).

This article even mentions how they “reduce browser clutter” by “including a ‘Multibar’ feature that combines up to 10 customizable toolbars into single buttons.” How they decided that giving users ‘up to 10 customizable toolbars’ would ‘reduce browser clutter’ is beyond me.

New Netscape browser screenshots

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I just saw some screenshots of the new Netscape browser that is in development.

Of particular interest is this one that shows a preference pane with the option to “Display like Netscape” or “Display like Internet Explorer”. This really seems strange to me, since 95% or more of internet users these days proabably don’t know the difference between the two.

So who is this feature for? The web developers who need to test their content on multiple browsers? Surely most web developers would use the full versions of these browsers to check their pages, but now this adds an additional possibility of your pages breaking. Not only will you have to check your pages in “Netscape,” but “Netscape using Internet Explorer.”

Firefox 1.0 released

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I’m entering this post right now with Firefox 1.0 (ftp download). Looks like they added in a more visible ‘critical updates’ notification (little red thing shows up next to the search box). Also of note, is the new Firefox Google start page. Hmm, I wonder what Google could be cooking up.

UPDATE: Also, if you feel like giving a little to help further develop Firefox and the other cool Mozilla Foundation projects, you could always buy a Firefox t-shirt. I just bought a Navy one.