Netscape is the company which developed the famous Netscape Browser. Before Microsoft’s Internet Explorer was introduced, Netscape’s browser was the most popular browser in the market. The Software is called ‘Netscape Communicator’ and it contains, Netscape Navigator (browser), Netscape Mail (Email client), Netscape Composer (Webpage editor), AOL (instant messenger) and Radio netscape (Radio station software).

Even today Netscape navigator browser is widely used. However, it lost to Microsoft on the browser software war, and not it gives Mozilla browser engine free.

Netscape Navigator has many features that are not in Internet Explorer. So you can download Netscape Navigator formwww.netscape.com and try it on your computer. Here we will discuss the features in Netscape Navigator version 7.0 and higher.

Netscape Vs Internet Explorer

In Microsoft Internet Explorer, if you are viewing a website then the window’s button will be visible in the task bar. If you press Ctrl + N or File->New Window you can open a new window of internet explorer and you can view some other website in this new window. Now the button for this window will also be visible in the task bar below. Likewise if you open 10 windows you will see 10 buttons in the task bar. This is very troublesome. To switch between different websites is very difficult.

But in Netscape Navigator, no matter how many websites you open you will only see one window in the task bar. Each website will be opened in a new tab, within the same window. So switching between websites is very easy in Netscape navigator.

If you open a new window in Internet Explorer, the same website will be opened in the new window. This may make the loading slower. In Netscape if you open a new window a ‘blank website’ will be open making the loading time faster.

In Netscape Navigator, you can create a single bookmark for many websites. For example you are viewing mails in one Tab, and reading news in another tab while hearing to radio in another tab, you can create a single bookmark that is connected to all these three websites. So the next time you click on this bookmark all these three websites will be opened.

To make download faster

Netscape navigator has a ‘Download Manager‘. A single file if it is too big can be downloaded from many websites and consolidated by download manager to make the downloading faster.

If the download stops or disconnects in between then you can resume the download from the place where it was stopped instead of starting the download from the beginning.

Other features in Netscape Navigator

  1. Like other browsers, Netscape also has the ‘search‘ feature. An added search feature is to find related websites. For example you are viewing a website. On this website you can select a word or words and then right click and choose ‘Web search’. This will result in finding other web pages with the selected words.
  2. Netscape Navigator also has cookie manager, password manager and form manager.
  3. You can also compress a webpage in to a A4 size paper and print it.
  4. The ‘Mail Alert’ feature in Netscape Navigator alerts you when you receive a new email.
  5. Netscape composer, has the ‘Publish’ button. You can use this feature to publish all the webpages you have created all at once.
  6. You can use the AOL instant messenger to chat, share files etc.