Netscape had a very special x-mas present for all web surfers: They have unwrapped the first beta of Netscape Navigator 4.0, which now is called Netscape Communicator. We had a closer look at the first beta version.

LOOK AND FEEL

Netscape's new suite for communication now contains several modules (see later in this article), all with a new look and feel. If you know Microsoft Internet Explorer 3.0 than you will find some familiar elements in Communicator. All toolbars now have the same raise-when-mouse-moves-over felling. It also has these movable toolbars, which only can be moved horizontally. However an interesting feature is, that the toolbars can be minimized and are only shown as a small tab, which, when clicked, will expand the toolbars again. The toolbars include the commonly used buttons like back, forward, home and other buttons known from Navigator 3.0. According to the release notes, the back and forward buttons will have a special menu, from which you can choose, where you want to go back if the mouse is being pressed several seconds. This feature will become quite handy if you have got used to it.

Communicator also includes a little free floating toolbar, which is located in the lower right corner of the window by default, which provides buttons for easy access for all Communicator modules.

Still you will find a toolbar that has links to Netscape's own What's new, What's cool and similar documents.

Context-sensitive menus have also been improved, as they offer nearly every command you could want for the object over which the mouse cursor resides. However, we are still missing the reload menu in a documents context menu, if displayed in a frame. You still have to use the reload button from the toolbar which will reload all frames using the current documents.

COMMUNICATOR MODULES

As mentioned before, Communicator consists of several modules, which are:

Netscape Navigator (Web Browser)
Netscape Messanger (Mail)
Netscape Composer (HTML Edito)r
Netscape Conference (Real-Time Audio Communication)

The professional edition includes also the following components:

Netscape Calendar(Time Management)
Netscape AutoAdmin (Central Management)
Netscape Composer (HTML Editor)
Netscape IBM Host

At the time this document was created, we have found two versions for download: a normal version (5 MB) and a full version (9 MB). The full version contains all the items mentioned above, except components only found in the professional edition.

NETSCAPE NAVIGATOR

The Navigator component is a fully featured Web Browser, that supports many. If you like to use the keyboard instead of the mouse you will gladly find, that you can navigate the net using the keyboard: For example the Tab key will allow you to jump from hyperlink to hyperlink just like you do in a dialog in Microsoft Windows. On the Navigator toolbar you'll now also find a button, that will pop up a menu with your bookmarks. Navigator 4.0 still uses a standard HTML file as its bookmark and still has the old bookmark editor. For the web designer, Navigator 4.0 now allows direct placement of HTML elements and use layers. This surly will improve the look of the World Wide Web. Style Sheets are now also supported.

NETSCAPE MESSENGER

Messanger is Communicators mail client for sending mails. It now includes a phonebook that is quite similar to Microsoft Internet Mail and News. Like the latest release of Microsoft Mail and News Netscape Messanger now supports searching in the Four11 and Bigfoot e-mail directories. If you want to send messages from certain senders directly to the trash, then you can use the built in filtering rules to have you mails automatically managed in different folders as you receive them. Finally Navigator now supports the BinHex standard for binary attachments. Last but not least the user now has the option of encrypting a mail message and/or to sign it digitally.

NETSCAPE COLLABRA

The is the usenet news component of Communicator, which allows you to read newsgroups and post to them. But it can also be used in a corporate environment to create discussion groups for best results.

NETSCAPE COMPOSER

Previously known as Navigator Gold, this is the HTML editor that comes with communicator. It allows nearly WYSIWYG editing of HTML pages. and is therefore ideal for beginners. But also people who already know HTML will like composer, as it has a nice way to edit tables. Images are displayed as soon as they are inserted. Finally composer also supports spell checking and direct publishing. For all who want to create or have to maintain larger web sites, composer offers the usage of page templates and page wizards.

NETSCAPE CONFERENCE

This is a kind of internet phone component. It allows users to communicate using full duplex and working simultaneously on graphic images using a variety of tools.

SUMMARY

The war continues. Netscape has surly improved navigator and has added components that are already available for Microsoft Internet Explorer. These components in some cases outperform the similar tools of Microsoft in functionality. But always keep in mind that this is the first beta version and that it will be several months until the final version will be released; for example the spell checking is not yet implemented in this first beta.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

This is only an overview of the new Netscape Communicator suite. Additional information can be found at

Netscape Homepage
Guide to communicator features