“AOL ends support for Netscape”

It's the end of the road for what used to be the best web browser in the world. AOL have decided to end support of Netscape at version 9.0.0.6.

Netscape very much resembles Firefox in its features and functions, all in a clear light turquoise interface. From tabbed browsing, to RSS feeds, sidebar and bookmark organizing, Netscape is just like Firefox. You can also manage your own search engines on the top right and add all sorts of Mozilla extensions.

In terms of performance, you can also expect identical speed and memory usage as Firefox. Netscape also has a number of similar security features like master password and SSL and TLS encryption.

Two features that Netscape offers that you won't find in Firefox though are the link pad and mini browser. Both appear in the sidebar on the left. I quite like the link pad, which lets you drag and drop any link in the sidebar. I found this quite useful for things I didn't really wanted to bookmark but still wanted to store somewhere.

The mini browser, on the other hand, seems a bit out of place. It essentially shows websites in simple text, in case there's some pages you just want to browse through quickly. However I felt it all looked a little cluttered, especially when you can open pages in multiple tabs instead.

Ending support for Netscape essentially means this version will slowly turn into a museum piece. The browser even includes a link to both Firefox and Flock. Download it only out of curiosity.

Languages:

English

Notes:

Official support for all Netscape client products will end on March 1st, 2008. Please see the announcement
for more details.

Recent changes in Netscape Navigator:

These security fixes included in Mozilla Firefox 2.0.0.12 have been included in Netscape Navigator 9.0.0.6.
An add-on has been included in this version to help users migrate to either Flock or Firefox
The WeatherBug add-on has been removed from this version of Navigator.

OS requirements for Netscape Navigator:

OS: Mac OS X

Pros

Feeds and tabbed browsing
Manage search engines and addons
Link pad

Cons

Mini browser is too cluttered
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From the publisher of Netscape Navigator

Netscape began by trying to make an Internet that users found easy to use. Today we offer integrations of intuitive digital tools, innovative attractions and infinite media content. The revolutionary new Netscape Browser 8 provides more security options, streamlines more standard browsing tasks and arms internet users with more timesaving solutions to their browsing needs than any other browser.

Important features:

Tabbed browsing

Tabbed browsing lets you have multiple web pages open in one window. This feature is great for organizing and freeing up desktop space because it files your web pages in a series of tabs