Netscape 4.7 Arrives on the Scene

Stephen Donner wrote to let us know that Netscape 4.7 is out and ready for download, albeit for UNIX/Macintosh systems. The FTP server is behaving like a slug so be patient. Here's to hoping that when I download it, it fixes some of these JavaScript "issues".

Comments

Yes, with X resources

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't know where the documentation (if any) is, I figured most of this out by reading the XFE code. From my .Xdefaults:

Netscape*toolBar.search.isEnabled: false
Netscape*toolBar.destinations.isEnabled: false

Netscape*toolBar.numUserCommands: 1
Netscape*toolBar.userCommand1.commandName: findInObject
Netscape*toolBar.userCommand1.labelString: Find
Netscape*toolBar.userCommand1.commandIcon: Find

Netscape*MailThread*toolBar.numUserCommands: 2
Netscape*MailThread*toolBar.userCommand1.commandNa me: separator

Netscape*MailThread*toolBar.userCommand2.commandNa me: compressAllFolders
Netscape*MailThread*toolBar.userCommand2.labelStri ng: Reveal
Netscape*MailThread*toolBar.userCommand2.commandIc on: Search
Netscape*MailThread*toolBar.userCommand2.documenta tionString: Reveal filed messages

I haven't downloaded, but I bet I'm going to be adding a "shopping.isEnabled: false" line real soon now..

Re:Mozilla Feature Req: Easy image autoload toggle

[Jamie Zawinski]

Here's my "All I Ever Wanted From Netscape Or Mozilla" list, for which I've been waiting since Netscape 3.01:

• Image autoload on/off from the Options menu with one click, like NS3.01.
• Java/Javascript enable/disable from the Options menu with one click, unlike any Netscape version ever released.
• GIF animation enable/disable from the Options menu with one click, unlike any Netscape version ever released.

Heh. I implemented these in the 3.02 codebase years ago. Plus S/MIME. Too bad they wouldn't let me release it as 3.1 back before 4.0 shipped. It would have been a "distraction", apparently.

Re: async DNS

[Jamie Zawinski]

Netscape always eats 100% CPU when doing gethostbyname from it's external async DNS process. This happens regardless of whether you type the site name on the command line or in the location bar.

It isn't really a bug, since it is implemented exactly the way it was designed. It is still a bad design. Maybe you should send them a note.

The hell it's not. It was not designed that way, it was designed so that both processes would be idle until such time as the DNS server responded. See unix-dns.h. Someone must have botched things so that netlib is looping calling DNS_ServiceProcess() repeatedly, even though the fd returned by DNS_SpawnProcess() has not yet been marked readable.

This isn't too surprising, though, since netlib is such a mess that this "looping" failure mode is one of the most common things to go wrong.

Last chance, Netscape

[Skyshadow]

Yeah, okay, I'll give Netscape one last chance.

But I gotta be honest -- I'm really unhappy with the last few versions of Netscape. They've been pulling a MS: building tonnes of extra (and, IMHO, unneeded) features in and sacrificing stability.

Netscape is the *only* application on my desktop that crashes chronically. I have to pull up a command line and kill -9 it at least 3-4 times a day. It's not like I'm doing anything but surfing /. and a few HOWTOs.

So, if there's anybody out there who has any pull at Netscape reading this: FIX THE STABILITY. This is your last chance with me and (I'm sure) a lot of other users.

Otherwise, hopefully Mozilla will be good when it finally comes out (anyone have any idea when that'll be?).

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56 bit Standard Encryption.

[jelwell]

This appears to be the 56 bit Standard (Exportable) Encryption version. I think I'll put off downloading/using this version until the 128 bit version is released. It will probably be a few days before their web pages are updated; which is too bad because they'll never let you ftp the files straight from them with all the encryption laws.

Anyone see the 128 bit Strong Encryption version floating around?

Amen to that

[Skyshadow]

Good point; real PNG support is critical now.

If they fully implement PNG tomorrow, it'll still be 1-2 years before I can justify using it in site design (because you gotta let the don't-wanna-upgrade sect catch up). I don't wanna use UNISYS's .gifs anymore, but .jpgs don't work in all situations.

Another thing: let me shut off the ability for sites to spawn new windows. It don't want every damn site I go to sending me to porn sites and casino sites so the damned site owner can make a few cents. Shut it off, I'll turn it back on if I ever feel like smacking gophers.

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Re:Amen to that

[B.D.Mills]

I agree, proper PNG support is crucial. We all know how PNG is technically superior to GIF and does not have unacceptable patent restrictions.

I use the (ick) Windows version of Netscape 4.6, and one thing that I have discovered is that PNG files with transparent areas are not rendered properly: the transparent areas appear as black. It looks horrible on a web page with a light background.

I hate to say this, but I may have to change to Internet Explorer very soon unless Netscape fixes various unresolved issues, including the following:

• The basic CSS bugs, such as some styles being ignored after a table appears on a page (when the table ends, many styles are not restored and are lost);
• Proper PNG support such as recognition of transparency;
• Resolving stability problems, so that Netscape doesn't crash frequently (yes, it happens on the Windows version, too, and has nothing to do with Windows itself);
• Fixing the Java/Javascript bug where disabling Java or Javascript also disables style sheets.

It is unacceptable for a software house with a large percentage of the market share to have such bad quality control, particularly in a market where other companies have competing products. If Netscape does not get its act together and soon, Netscape web browsers will soon go the way of OS/2.

I will be evaluating the latest version of Netscape to see if these issues have been addressed. I hope they have, because there's really no excuse if they haven't been addressed.

SlashMirror has glibc2.0 now

[Slash Mirror]

ftp://128.253.254.56/communicator47/glibc20complet e/communicator -v47-export.x86-unknown-linuxglibc2.0.tar.gz (16.2MB)

more available as I get them . . .

SlashMirror: Where to put files for fellow /.'ers

Mozilla Feature Req: Easy image autoload toggle

[Tackhead]

Netscape 3.01: Options -> Autoload Images on/off. If off, clicking on the "Images" button in the toolbar loads images.

Netscape 4.xx and above: The feature is there, but it's buried under umpteen menus and hard to turn on or off.

That "feature" alone has made me never want to "upgrade" from 3.01.

Here's my "All I Ever Wanted From Netscape Or Mozilla" list, for which I've been waiting since Netscape 3.01:

• Image autoload on/off from the Options menu with one click, like NS3.01.
• Java/Javascript enable/disable from the Options menu with one click, unlike any Netscape version ever released.
• Pop-up window enable/disable from the Options menu with one click, unlike any Netscape version ever released.
• GIF animation enable/disable from the Options menu with one click, unlike any Netscape version ever released.

If I have to download 50M of bloatware to get any or all of those four simple features, I'll do it over a 14.4k link and give you my snail-mail address and all the demographic data your marketers want. If I have to download 3M of the most elegantly-crafted code on God's green earth over a T-1, but lose the ability to easily enable/disable image autoloading that I have with NS3.01, it's still a downgrade, not an upgrade as far as I'm concerned :)

Wait for Mozilla-Based Netscape

[Anonymous Coward]

The Mozilla team is wrapping up M11, which should be feature-complete for the beta version (which should follow not terribly soon after). We're in the home stretch now. Sure, you could download Netscape 4.7, with its wonderful new "Shop" button, but if you want to use an increasingly stable, fast, ground-breaking browser, use the Mozilla nightly builds and report bugs. AFAIK, the only major features we are missing are encryption (because we legally can't put them in at the moment) and OJI (which is implemented for some platforms, but I can't remember if Linux is one of them). New features we have, if you haven't seen the nightly builds, include a Search function which is similar in functionality to Apple's Sherlock (only better) and a whole slew of bug fixes since M9. Common. Go try it.

Think Mozilla.

"Fixed" in potato (?)

[Daniel]

The current potato has a Netscape which is linked against libc5, which has at least substantially reduced if not eliminated this problem for me (it hasn't happened since that change, but that says nothing.. :) ). A bit of a kludge (I think probably the actual problem is binary incompatibility with glibc2.1) but it works.

You should update your system more often if you want to live on the bleeding edge :-P

Daniel