Navigator Turns 3.0

Netscape throws everything but the kitchen sink into the new upgrade of the Web's premier browser.

Rex Baldazo

We've barely had time to digest the new features (and risks) of Navigator 2.0 and -- look out -- here comes version 3.0. But don't panic: While you'll find new multimedia plug-ins and Java enhancements, as well as some improvements to existing features, there's nothing about Navigator 3.0 that makes it a must buy.

By comparison, the 1.0-to-2.0 upgrade was substantial, bringing innovations such as the now-ubiquitous Java, as well as a very good mail reader and newsreader. Version 2.0 also introduced Net scape Plug-Ins, which let developers offer unique functions that run inside a Navigator window.

Beyond the new Plug-Ins for audi o, video, and 3-D Virtual Reality Modeling Language (VRML), Navigator 3.0's biggest changes are the extensions to JavaScript, Netscape's scripting language for browsers and servers. Scripts can now detect installed Plug-Ins, and there's a built-in Array object. A new feature called LiveConnect lets your scripts interact with Java applets loaded in the browser. JavaScripts now have the ability to load images dynamically as needed, depending on specific events or user interaction.

Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) editing capabilities are also improved. Finally, the company that helped popularize HTML tables offers an editor that can handle them. Unfortunately, the process is still not close to being WYSIWYG. The text in our table was centered and in boldface when we viewed it in the edit window, but it was left-aligned and in normal face when we displayed it in the browser window.

Netscape has finally fixed the Back button so that it now works the way you expect it to in a frame environment. In Navi gator 2.0, clicking on the Back button would take you off the current frameset entirely. With 3.0, it navigates you back through the just-viewed frames.

Netscape still knows how to produce interesting bugs. Unlike the infamous invisible/Greek font problems in Navigator 2.0, the bugs introduced in 3.0 seem likely to be fixed in the final version. They'd better be: The one we encountered most often was a crash under Windows NT 4.0. It occurred whenever we tried to view Netscape's Media Showcase, which highlights the multimedia capabilities of 3.0's Plug-Ins.

All this is a lot to consider when deciding whether to switch from 2.0. We'll move to 3.0 because the Back button finally works the way it should.

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Where to Find

Netscape Navigator Gold 3.0...............$79

Netscape Communications
Mountain View, CA
Phone:    (415) 937-2555 or (415) 937-3777
Internet: 
http://home.netscape.com

Circle 1063 on Inquiry Card.

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Ratings

Technology      ****
Implementation  ***


Key

***** Outstanding
 **** Very Good
  *** Good
   ** Fair
    * Poor

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Something Old, Something New

screen_link (37 Kbytes)

Besides bundling new plug-Ins for audio, video, a nd 3-D VRML, Navigator 3.0 retains its predecessor's occasional color glitches.

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Rex Baldazo is BYTE's technical editor for software reviews. You can reach him at rbaldazo@bix.com