Netscape have also been busy producing their own version of their popular browser. Here are the main features.
Main Features
- All new button bar which replaces the rather drab predecessors offerings
- Integration with E-mail, Newsgroup, HTML Editing, Netcaster and Conference software
- Browser is aware of ALT tags on web pages. (ALT tags are the little messages that come up when your mouse passes over some graphics).
- Less differences in the way the browser views web pages (of special benefit to web authors!)
Button Bar
This has been completely redesigned and gone are those drab grey and blue buttons of predecessors. The whole screen looks more polished than before (and there is a very swish way that Communicator tells you it is reading pages — a sweeping, graduated line).
One thing that Communicator DOES have is the Power Reload button. Many popular web sites (PC Support Page included!) have their pages cached on their ISP's servers. This can mean that you do not always see the most up-to-date change to a web page (if the web page has only just changed, for example). Power Reload forces the server to read the html document stored in the author's directory rather than the cache. This is achieved by holding the SHIFT key down whilst clicking on the Reload button. Neat!
Software Integration
Netscape has made it easy to access other communication software from within its browser. There is a floating toolbar (which can be anchored if you prefer), or a drop-down menu to access these facilities. Like the Internet Explorer review, I am not going to go into details on these additional features in this article. However, the list is impressive and includes.
- Communicator — The browser
- Message Centre — E-mail client (similar to Outlook Express)
- Collabra — Newsgroup client (available through the message centre)
- Composer — An html document editor for web pages
- Netcaster — Netscape's answer for push technology
- Conference — Lets two or more users hold a conference over the Internet (equivalent to Microsoft's NetMeeting)
Differences in Viewing Web Pages
Communicator now works and views web sites much more like Internet Explorer (or should that be the other way around? You decide!). This makes life easier for web designers but there are still annoying differences! Namely:
- Communicator does not view table backgrounds as IE does.
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