What's to like about Netscape 6? Quite a bit
Apr 17, 2000
What's there to like about Netscape 6? I could think of a few right now, from just having tinkered with the preview release for over a week now. To begin with, there are three features worth mentioning particularly:
Fully-integrated Internet Search
With Netscape 6, Internet searches can now begin right from the browser toolbar. That's because the url window doubles as a searchbox. Type a key word or phrase in the url window, hit the Search button, and Netscape 6 soon draws up a list of sites ranked by match probability using the search engine you have specified in your Preferences. And on a Mac, Netscape 6 taps into the very same Internet search sites used by Sherlock.
In the newly-introduced Sidebar, you can also pre-select the search sites you want for every search that you do. Just check your preferred search sites, punch in your keywords and click away, and your search will be conducted via these search engines. Results are then listed in the main browser frame neatly categorised by clickable folder tabs according to search engines. Well, that was the idea at least; Netscape 6 crashed on me a few times while I was trying out this feature, but I saw enough to figure out what was going on.
Fully-integrated Auto-Translation
Netscape 6 incorporates a new auto-translation feature which is capable of converting foreign-language web content into English and vice-versa. Foreign languages supported include French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, and Spanish. Powered by Gist-In-Time™, a server-based software developed by Alis Technologies Inc., it even enables Netscape 6 to auto-detect the foreign language content so you're set to translate the page with just a single click, and translations are presented in a virtual copy of the original website itself. As a result, you see the translated content in the context of its original web layout. Better still, the translation continues as you navigate through successive pages, until you deactivate the feature. Of course, don't expect Gist-In-Time™ to provide consistently flawless performance, anymore than you would AltaVista's Babelfish.
Skins
Skins look like the next big thing coming to Netscape 6. Take Sullivan, easily the most popular Mozilla skin around, as an example. Rather than just giving Netscape 6 a cosmetic transformation, Sullivan and others like it demonstrate the ease with which you can incorporate additional features in Netscape 6. For instance, Sullivan allows you to instantly resize the browser window to standard screen resolutions with just one click. Very handy for web designers. Be sure to also take a peek at some of the interesting menu options you can expect to find in later builds of Sullivan.
Sullivan v.01 – by Alphanumerica
Even without the aid of skins like Sullivan, you could if you like tweak Netscape 6 in various ways. I managed to do a simple global change that switched that awful-looking Arial typeface that was used throughout Netscape 6 into a much more screen-friendly Verdana (see below)
Can't stand Arial? Try Verdana
Pretty soon, one would guess, Mozilla will be regarded more for its performance than its looks, and that browser interfaces, like all web content, will gradually move away from a standard look to become as individualized as content developers see fit. Certainly, there will be much commercial potential in that area.
And that's probably why — one would suspect — the Mozilla development team hasn't bothered too much with aesthetics; their primary concern was probably to just focus on simply developing a killer standards-compliant rendering engine that will port to anything — Netscape 6 being just one example. Other than that, they are content to just create one generic interface for the various computing platforms, and expect that those who are driven enough to design custom skins to package this killer product will come forward and do so. It's worked well so far for other software — why not for Netscape 6?
More Articles:
Upgraded Twice Over — And Grateful [Oct 10, 2001]
Welcome To The Future [Mar 21, 2001]
iM2 – Incredible Milestones of The iMac NewsPage [Jun 1, 2000]
What's to like about Netscape 6? Quite a bit [Apr 17, 2000]
Dealing with IE5's font and resolution settings [Mar 28, 2000]
Free Internet Arrives in Singapore [Dec 12, 1999]
Mac sales in Japan (Dec 1999) [Dec 9, 1999]
Mac sales in Japan (Nov 8-14) - iMac DV SE, iBook still #1 [Nov 23, 1999]
Adding Movies To QuickTime Favorites [Nov 23, 1999]
Black Magix: Try saying hocus-bogus [Nov 19, 1999]
Mac sales in Japan (Oct 25-31) [Nov 11, 1999]
QuickTime Live! Conference Keynote Highlights [Nov 10, 1999]
Update on Mac sales in Japan – All iMacs, iBooks among Top 10 [Nov 10, 1999]
Apple tops October PC sales in Japan [Nov 7, 1999]
About that mysterious Magix freeze [Nov 7, 1999]
Magix Miscellany [Nov 7, 1999]
Make Kihei while the Sun shines [Nov 3, 1999]
Apples in Eden – The Singapore iBook Launch [Nov 1, 1999]
One Country, Two Systems – The Apple Store (Hongkong) Opens [Oct 28, 1999]
Apple Store Singapore Opens – Right On Time [Oct 20, 1999]
Mac sales in Japan remain strong [Oct 26, 1999]
Magix For The Mac – The Unofficial FAQ [Oct 25, 1999]
Macs outsell all other computers in Japan [Oct 21, 1999]
Asia Apple Stores to open in Singapore and Hongkong [Oct 20, 1999]
Magix Broadband for Macintosh – for just $48! [Oct 20, 1999]
Asia Apple Store Update [Oct 18, 1999]
New iMacs as quiet as Jobs claims [Oct 12, 1999]
New iMacs quieter than Jobs claims? [Oct 10, 1999]
Asia Apple Store Seeks Tech Support Temp [Sep 23, 1999]
G4 – the Real Story? [Sep 17, 1999]
Sorenson Broadcaster™ Press Release [Sep 15, 1999]
Magix for iMac Update [Sep 10, 1999]
Sorenson Video™ 2.1 Press Release [Sep 1, 1999]
Magix for iMac Update [Aug 30, 1999]
PC Fairy Tales: Jobs And The Binstock [Aug 20, 1999]
AirPort Delays: More Revelations [Aug 12, 1999]
Stand Up For Macintosh [Aug 12, 1999]
AirPort Delays: What's Not Causing It [Aug 11, 1999]
Dumb iBook Remarks [Aug 9, 1999]
The Avon Lady's Back [Aug 9, 1999]
The IEEE 802.11 Standard – in English [Jul 29, 1999]
Everybody's Free (To Buy iBook) [Jul 26, 1999]
AirPort Fallacies [Jul 24, 1999]
iBook and iMac: Sibling Rivalry? [Jul 23, 1999]
Just The FAQs, Man [Jul 22, 1999]
Hooray for AirPort – But Remember the McPiper? [Jul 21, 1999]
Additional Notes on Magix ADSL [Jul 20, 1999]
Apple, SingTel Magix team up to bring ADSL to iMacs [Jul 20, 1999]
DuoPen & e-Pad coming to the Mac [Jul 9, 1999]
Macworld is out, Publish! World is in [Jul 5, 1999]
Discovery Channel giving away iMacs [Jun 28, 1999]
TIME Asia giving away Apple computers [Jun 28, 1999]
Diamond Rio makes a play for iMac [Jun 26, 1999]
Magix for iMac [Jun 25, 1999]
Why would Apple want 30,000 McPipers? [Jun 24, 1999]
Singapore Macworld Expo Cancelled [Jun 20, 1999]
The Sunscreen Song [Jun 20, 1999]
Coming Soon: A USB Cordless Phone For Your iMac [Jun 19, 1999]
Third Voice: Boon or Bane? [Jun 14, 1999]
I2: The Internet Of The Future [Jun 5, 1999]
Taming Your Round Mouse: What The Manual Doesn't Say [Jun 4, 1999]
UniTrap: Contour Enhancement for the iMac Mouse [Jun 1, 1999]
iMacs to ship in Taiwan with free Chinese software [May 31, 1999]
Where The Truth Lies [May 23, 1999]
QuickTime 4: New Features Added [May 8, 1999]
QuickTime 4: The Beta Just Got Better [May 5, 1999]
Rev A or B, Your iMac's Still Good [Apr 30, 1999]
Griffin Revs Up iMate, iPort, and gPort [Apr 26, 1999]
Quick! Time 4 A Movie! [Apr 23, 1999]
Message in a Bottle: A Present for the Future [Apr 22, 1999]
Start a Hand-Me-Down Program For iMacs [Apr 13, 1999]
First Signs Of Y2K Bug May Appear Tomorrow [Apr 8, 1999]
Langa's Cruisin' For A Bruisin' [Apr 1, 1999]
Tales From The Dark Side [Mar 31, 1999]
Has The Age of Disposable Computers Arrived? [Mar 30, 1999]
A Solution For The iMac's Mouse: Simple As A Dimple [Mar 24, 1999]
Steve Jobs Interview on Channel NewsAsia [Mar 14, 1999]
Good-Buy, Bondi [Mar 6, 1999]
Tokyo Tidbits: Carbon iMacs and Cool Colored Speakers [Feb 27, 1999]
The iMac Book [Feb 26, 1999]
iCab: Readers Views [Feb 25, 1999]
Review: iCab Preview 1.1 (US) [Feb 24, 1999]
iCab: Why Bloat When You Can Float? [Feb 22, 1999]
Disney Rumor Echoes Blast From The Past [Feb 19, 1999]
Disney Blast and the iMac's Circular Mouse [Feb 18, 1999]
HAL Freezes Over [Feb 1, 1999]
Another Look at Internet Explorer 4.5 [Jan 19, 1999]
Old Wine In New Bottles? [Jan 16, 1999]
The Unofficial iMac Web Ads [Jan 15, 1999]
AroMac Therapy [Jan 12, 1999]
Theft of an iMac: A Victim's Story [Jan 8, 1999]
Multi-Colored iMacs A Reality [Jan 2, 1999]
Yosemites spotted [Dec 25, 1998]
Time's Man Of The Year? [Dec 15, 1998]
Another Reset Button Solution for iMac Owners [Dec 9, 1998]
2,000 in 2 days - and then what? [Nov 1, 1998]
Product Review: iMacFloppy.com [Oct 24, 1998]
Brace Yourself! [Oct 16, 1998]
Singapore's iMac Pre-Launch Bash [Oct 15, 1998]
iMac to launch with Mac OS 8.5 in Singapore [Oct 15, 1998]
Steve Jobs October 14 Event [Oct 14, 1998]
Dances With Wolves in Sheep's Clothing [Oct 4, 1998]
iMac: Thinking Different in Asia [Sep 22, 1998]
An Open Letter to Steve Jobs [Sep 17, 1998]
Mac-bashing: An American sport? [Sep 10, 1998]
Steve Jobs Seybold Keynote '98 [Sep 1, 1998]
One day more! [Aug 28, 1998]
iMac to be released in Singapore in October [Aug 22, 1998]
Reality, not rumors! [Aug 8, 1998]
iMac says G'day Australia: 31 days and counting! [Aug 5, 1998]
Famous Myths Revisited [Aug 3, 1998]
The Countdown Begins! [Aug 1, 1998]
If not now, when? [July 26, 1998]
4 Great Programs? [July 26, 1998]
MacWorld Expo Singapore - Day 2 Report [Jul 25, 1998]
MacWorld Expo Singapore - Day 1 Report [Jul 24, 1998]
Enter The iMacGotcha [Jul 16, 1998]
iMac's for the rest of us, not just US [Jul 1, 1998]
© 1998–2002, Advergence.com. All rights reserved.
iMac is a trademark of Apple Computer, Inc. Permission to use iMac was duly granted by Apple Computer, Inc., who has not authorized, sponsored, or otherwise approved of this site's content.
|