Online Tools - February '98

Internet Explorer Netscape Communicator/Navigator  Shockwave RealPlayer Acrobat Reader  Net Medic Download Butler WinDownload Alternative Browsers

The final release of Internet Explorer 4 is finally here, but it's been worth the wait. IE 4.0 goes toe to toe with Netscape with this lineup: Explorer (the browser with integrated Webcasting), Outlook Express (integrated e-mail and newsgroups), NetMeeting (conferencing and collaboration), FrontPage Express (Web page authoring), and NetShow (broadcasting and streaming multimedia).

But IE 4 is more than a great suite of Internet tools. Through its Web Integrated Desktop, IE 4 offers a revolutionary development in the integration of the operating system (Windows 95) and the Internet: browsing your hard disk and browsing the Web become essentially the same experience.

On the whole, we feel that Internet Explorer 4.0 pips Communicator as an Internet suite, and, because it's free to everyone, it's even better value. Throw in desktop integration and you have a compelling case for all Windows 95 users, except perhaps Netscape devotees.

And now, just as we go to press, Microsoft has released a beta version of IE 4.0 for Windows 3.1, which appears to have all the major new Internet features of IE 4.0 for Win 95.

Naturally, there's a hardware hit with IE 4.0. Those of you who don't have at least a fast 486 with 16Mb of RAM can always use IE 3, which will provide many of the features of version 4, except of course the very latest and best.

If you want to find out more before you make the leap into IE 4.0 check out our Special
True Web Integration guide for Internet Explorer 4.0

By Rose Vines

List price: $108 for business users
From: Netscape 1800 650 199, http://www.netscape.com.au
Value rating:

Communicator 4 isn't just a browser -- it's a complete Internet suite. It gives us the latest version of Navigator (the browser itself), teamed with Messenger (e-mail), Collabra (newsgroup reader), Conference (collaboration), Composer (Web page authoring), Media Player (live broadcasting and streaming multimedia support) and Netcaster (Webcasting, the Web's equivalent of TV channels with information broadcast directly to your desktop).

It's an excellent suite of tools, certainly good enough for dedicated Navigator users to stick with Netscape.

However, bear in mind that for business users Communicator is free to try only for 90 days. Navigator 4 can be downloaded separately and is free to everyone. However, while it includes the browser and Netcaster, it's lacking all the other components including e-mail. As an alternative, Netscape is offering server-based e-mail -- users will have to connect remotely to a Netscape server if they want to use the browser to pick up their mail.

The good news is that Navigator 4 can get by with 8Mb (if you're patient). However, a better low-memory option for those who want e-mail but don't want all the new technologies such as Webcasting, is to stick to Navigator 3, which will still give you a rich Internet experience.

Rose Vines

The original Shockwave plug-in, which can add incredible animation, sound and interactivity to Web pages, are created using Macromedia Director. The new ShockWave Flash plug-in plays the fast, small vector-based animations, graphics and buttons created by Macromedia Flash.

The plug-in provided here includes players for both Director and Flash Shockwave.

The latest version of the RealAudio and RealVideo Web plug-in that gives you live streaming Audio and video over the Net with your browser.

You'll find many documents on the Net in Adobe Acrobat's PDF format, making this reader an essential part of your toolkit.

Three different programs in one, interchangeable without losing a connection.

Net.Medic is a browser companion that identifies, isolates, reports and corrects internet performance problems.Now you can identify the source of your network bottleneck -- whether it si your PC, modem, your Internet Service Provider (ISP), the Internet backbone, or remote Web site server. Net.Medic identifies problems in split seconds, offers you recommendations for solving them, and in many cases, automatically fixes them for you.

This full working demo contains basic feature (network activity, Throughput, Retreival TIme and Connect Time) for unlimited use and more advanced features that can be used for 30 days.

Version 1.4b now available! If you have ever downloaded a file and forgotten where you put it, you need Download Butler! If you ever want to download a file, you will want Download Butler.

Dowload from: http://mason.gmu.edu/~rmcclana/windownload.html

* Select By Criteria
* Configurable Dialup Retry attempts
* Delete key in main view to clear
* UnQueue function to remove a queued file from downloading
* Main view only option to bypass the download dialog
* Option to not display error box during download for unattended downloading
* Email Remote control
* Configurable launch of virus/zip/custom program on downloaded files
* Fixed disconnect bug in dialup networking
* Fixed bug that caused status to be incorrect on load
(may need to delete default.dow from windownload directory.)

Amaya
Home page: http://www.fedu.uec.ac.jp:10088/Amaya/

Features: For the technojunkies, this is about the most fun you can have with a browser. It lets you edit and browse a page at the same time, and then save the results -- to your Web-based server if you have the appropriate permissions. You can edit anyone's page on the net and save it locally. Amaya is for advanced users to test latest Web technologies, so it not only supports HTML, graphics and other standards, but also newer technologies such as MathML.

Drawbacks:Not always predictable behaviour; buggy -- can mess up the display and cause system crashes; not obvious how to run it (open the thot\win95\bin folder and run the Amaya application).

Platforms: Unix, Win 95, Win NT, others
Price: Free
Rating:

Arachne
Home page: www.naf.cz/arachne

Features: Not for the faint of heart, but an incredibly graphical DOS-based browser. You need to know about your PPP connection and dialer before you use it, although it comes with software to set up your connection. Arachne features a very smart design with a great interface, support for DOS plug-ins, an HTML editor, and e-mail support.

Drawbacks: Complex setup and configuration.
Platforms: DOS
Price:$US30/free for non-profit use
Rating:

Bobcat
Home page: www.fdisk.com/doslynx/bobcat.htm

Features: Bobcat is the little brother of the renowned text-based Lynx. It's designed to run on minimal hardware -- your old 8086 is perfect for it. Like Lynx, Bobcat is a text-only browser, so it's fast, and it uses the keyboard instead of the mouse.

Drawbacks: Complex to install (in the words of the Bobcat manual: "The configuration is fairly involved... however, the installation is only done once and once finished you will understand how the Internet works a lot better than with other browsers.")

Platforms: DOS
Price: Free
Rating:

Cello
Features: Cello is part browser, part FTP program, part gopher, part newsreader, part Telnet. In a way, you can think of it as a retriever for information on the Internet -- Cello provides you with a set of tools all in one window. The Web browser has rudimentary support for graphics and sound, but focusses primarily on text, and displays this cleanly.

Drawbacks: This is an old browser, from way back in 1994, so it doesn't support many Web developments; the all-in-one tools make it not so obvious to use -- for instance, you have to open a Jump Menu and choose Launch via URL to go to a new Web location.

Platforms: Win 3.1/95
Price: Free
Rating:

Hexabit Junior
Home page: www.hexabit.com/junior/index.htm

Features: Hexabit Junior is designed to make it easy and safe for children to surf the Web. Its fun, simple TV-style interface makes it suitable for youngsters, and it allows parents to restrict both the sites surfed and the hours of use. A log tracks all the sites surfed. You'll need Internet Explorer 3 or 4 installed to use it and, because of that, you'll find it supports a really broad range of Web site technologies.

Drawbacks: Requires Internet Explorer 3 or 4 pre-installed; the online help needs improvement, especially as the interface is not always intuitive; doesn't support ratings systems -- must nominate each site individually to lock them out.

Platforms: Win 95
Price: Shareware -- US$20 registration
Rating:

HotJava 1.1
Home page: http://java.sun.com/products/hotjava/1.1

Features: This browser is completely written in Java, with the Java Virtual Machine Runtime included. It supports Java (of course), graphics and many advanced HTML features. The design is mostly slick, and it has some nice features, such as the ability to view a list of coding errors on the current page (of course, this means 'errors' in terms of the HotJava browser).

Drawbacks: Surprisingly buggy; the menus need sprucing up; erratic graphics support; jerky screen writes.

Platforms: SPARC Solaris, Win 95/NT
Price: Free
Rating:

Lynx
Home page: www.fdisk.com/doslynx/lynxport.htm

Features: Lynx is one of the best-established, text-only browsers. It's fast, small and easy on hardware resources.

Drawbacks: Text-only; interface takes getting used to; short on help; DOS version a little difficult to setup.

Platforms: DOS (lynx386), Win 95/NT (lynx95)
Price: Free
Rating:

Mosaic
Home page: www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/SDG/Software/Mosaic/

Features: The browser that started it all -- everything that Internet Explorer and Navigator do now was built upon the original concepts in Mosaic. This well-established browser has a stylish interface and good graphics support (you can also turn graphics off). It's stacked with fascinating features, such as auto-surf, which automatically follows all links (you can set maximum numbers and depth) and a site mapping feature.

Drawbacks: No longer being developed, so no support for recent HTML or scripting developments (it won't even try to load anything contained in tables), and it hates Java.

Platforms: Win 3.1 (mosaic21.exe) and Win 95/NT (mos30.exe)
Price: Free
Rating:

NeoPlanet
Home page: www.neoplanet.com

Features: NeoPlanet provides a friendly face to the browser, with a channel-style approach and a built-in Web directory, all wrapped in a small package. There are links set up to news, weather, children's sites, and more, and you can localise the content. It builds upon Internet Explorer and thus supports all the same browsing standards (and non-standards). Using NeoPlanet is rather like having a personalised home page on a search engine integrated into the interface itself.

Drawbacks: Requires Internet Explorer 3 or 4 pre-installed; rather clunky and busy interface.

Platforms: Win 95/NT with IE 3 or greater.
Price: Free
Rating:

Opera
Home page: www.operasoftware.com

Features: The pick of the browsing alternatives. Opera is highly customisable, and provides support for e-mail and newsgroups. It's packed with thoughtful features. One example is how it automatically imports favourites/bookmarks from other browsers. Another is the zoom feature, which lets you view a Web page from 20% to 1000% of its normal size -- great if a page doesn't quite fit your screen or if the tiny writing is hard to decipher. Yet another: navigate the Web using one key only -- great for physically challenged surfers. And you can run it on your 386SX just as easily as your Pentium.

Drawbacks: It uses a multi-windowed approach that might confuse some people (you can turn this off); won't handle Java applets, although it does handle Javascript.

Platforms: Windows 3.1/95/NT and OS/2.
Price: US$30 registration
Rating:

Web Prowler
Home page: www.macrobyte.com

Features: A very up-to-date browser which handles Java and cascading style sheets with aplomb, and is also good with sounds, graphics and plug-ins such as shockwave.

Drawbacks: Navigation controls are sometimes buggy.

Platforms: Win 95
Price: Free
Rating:

WebSurfer
Home page: www.netmanage.com 

Features: A very stylish, fast graphical browser, which handles HTML 2 and most of HTML 3.0 including tables, forms and secure connections. WebSurfer has a neat "Defer images" button on the toolbar so you can load images later, and a useful History list.

Drawbacks: Doesn't always handle graphics well; no frames support (some would regard this as a plus); installs itself as default browser without asking.

Platforms: Win 3.x or later
Price: Free
Rating: