Netscape Communications currently have two main versions of their Navigator Web browser—Netscape Navigator and Netscape Navigator Gold. As Web browsers, both versions are basically identical, but in addition to being a Web browser, Gold is also a Web publishing and HTML editing tool.
This appendix provides a brief introduction to Netscape Navigator and Netscape Navigator Gold. For a more detailed introduction to the use of Netscape's Navigator products refer to the online documentation provided by Netscape.
The following topics are explored in this appendix.:
Since it's initial release Netscape Navigator has been through three major development cycles, each of which have brought significant improvements in performance and many new features. The current version of Navigator was originally referred to by the code name Atlas, but has since become known as Netscape Navigator 3.
For many people, Netscape Navigator is the only World Wide Web browser. In fact, recent surveys have indicated that Navigator is now used by more than 75 percent of the Web community.
On the surface, the look and feel of Navigator is more than a little similar to NCSA Mosaic—the Web browser regarded as the grand-daddy of all Web browsers—possibly because many of the original NCSA personnel who developed Mosaic are now working for Netscape Communications, the company responsible for the Netscape Navigator.
There are, however, a number of features offered by Navigator that Mosaic does not support. These include the use of windows and multiple frames, JavaScript and Java support, and also Live Objects.
With Netscape enhancing Navigator's capabilities and releasing updates on an almost monthly basis, it is now regarded by many people as the most powerful and fully featured Web browser available. At the same time, its dominance of the marketplace means that many users will soon expect Web sites to take advantage of all these new features in the very near future.
For those of you who are not currently using Navigator 3, the following section of this appendix describes how you can obtain a copy.
Note:
Unlike previous versions of the Netscape Navigator, which could be used for personal purposes without the payment of a licensing fee, Navigator 3 is a commercial product. When you download a copy, you are granted permission to use the program up to 90 days for evaluation purposes. If you continue to use Navigator 3 after this time, you are expected to purchase a software license from Netscape Communications.
Before you install a copy of Navigator 3 on your computer system, you should keep few requirements in mind. These requirements tend to vary for each of the computer platforms that Netscape Communications supports, so the following sections present each in turn.
Although the World Wide Web started as a tool designed mainly for UNIX-based computer systems that support the X-window (X11) standard, in recent years many of the new World Wide Web developments have revolved around the Microsoft Windows platform.
Navigator 3 runs quite comfortably on a Windows 3.1-based computer system. However, there are a few technical issues that need to be resolved first.
With the introduction of Windows NT, and more recently Windows 95, a definition has been coined to describe programs that work on the various Microsoft Windows platforms.
Programs designed specifically for Windows NT and Windows 95 are 32-bit programs, a designation that relates to the way they use memory and other technical aspects of operation. On the other hand, Windows 3.1 and 3.11 applications are 16-bit programs. If you want to run Navigator 3 under Windows 3.1 or 3.11, you need to download the 16-bit version.
To explore the World Wide Web using Navigator 3 and Microsoft Windows, you need a TCP/IP-based connection to the Internet. These connections come in a variety of forms, including SLIP, PPP, and ISDN connections. To link a TCP/IP connection with Netscape Navigator, you also need a special program called a Winsock. This program looks after all the TCP/IP communications between your computer and the Internet
TCP/IP is the network protocol used by computer systems to communicate with each other over the Internet and SLIP, and PPP and ISDN represent common methods of connecting computers together using the telephone system.
A number of different Winsock programs are available, some commercially and others as shareware or public domain software. Of these, by far the most well-known is Peter Tattam's Trumpet Winsock.
Note:
Because a full discussion of the use and installation of Winsock is outside the scope of this book, you may want to check out SAMS' Teach Yourself the Internet in a Week, 2nd Edition, by Neil Randall, ISBN: 0-672-30735-9
To run Navigator 3 on a Windows 3.x-based system, you need to have at least 4MB of RAM installed. Although running Navigator 3 is possible with only 4MB, for all practical purposes you need 8MB of RAM to see the browser running at its full potential.
In addition to hardware-based memory, you also need to configure Windows virtual memory properly. Make sure that you have allocated at least 10MB of permanent virtual memory if your disk has enough space available to handle it. (Refer to your Windows Users Guide for more information.)
Note:
At the time of this writing, the Windows 3.x version of Navigator 3 does not support the use of Java—the new, portable Internet-based language—however there are indications that such support will be available in the near future.
Unless you live on the far side of the moon, you no doubt have heard some mention of Windows 95 in the last twelve months. For Internet users, Windows 95 opens up a new level of support and functionality that greatly simplifies connecting to the Internet and significantly improves the performance of many Internet applications.
Currently two versions of Navigator 3 work under Windows 95. The first is the 16-bit application mentioned previously, and the second is a 32-bit application that uses Windows 95-specific capabilities. Naturally, there are a few special requirements for the use of this version.
Note:
Although some 32-bit programs will work on a computer running Windows 3.11—provided a utility called WIN32s is installed—this is not the case for the Windows 95 version of Navigator 3. It can be run only on a machine using Windows 95.
As with the 16-bit version of Navigator 3, you need a Winsock application to complete the connection with the Internet. But unlike the 16-bit version, which can use a variety of Winsock programs, the Windows 95-specific version of Navigator 3 requires the Winsock program provided with Windows 95. For more information on installing the Windows 95 version of Winsock and the underlying TCP/IP communications software it contains, point your Web browser to http://www.windows95.com/connect/index.html. Once you get there, follow the TCP/IP installation link.
Note:
Under Windows 95, you can still use the 16-bit version of Navigator 3 with other Winsock programs, but you will lose access to many of the performance benefits that come with the 32-bit version, including Java support.
The issue of memory and Windows 95 is a delicate subject at the best of times. According to its technical specifications, Windows 95 will work with as little as 4MB of memory. Most tests indicate, however, that 8MB is the minimum you should use, with 16MB being the preferred base.
When you add applications to the mix, the amount of memory required increases again. Netscape recommends that you have at least 8MB of memory when running Navigator 3, but you will find that having 16MB greatly improves overall performance.
Netscape Navigator 3 is also well supported on the Apple Macintosh using both MacOS and the newer PowerPC operating systems. The minimum requirements for using Navigator 3 on a Macintosh computer are as follows:
Although many Macintosh users may still be opting to stay with version 6 of the Macintosh operating system, only those people with System 7 or greater can use Navigator 3 on their computers.
As with Microsoft Windows, you need a program that acts as the glue between your computer and the Internet. The most popular and most readily available program is a system tool called MacTCP. If you have version 7.5 of the Macintosh operating system, MacTCP is included as a part of the package. Others should contact their nearest Apple support center to obtain a copy of MacTCP.
To run Navigator 3 on a Macintosh computer system, you need at least 4MB of RAM, although 8MB is the preferred amount. You also should be careful using programs such as RAMDoubler, which increase the amount of memory available to your programs by using compression techniques. Some older versions of this program are known to cause problems with MacTCP.
Because Netscape Navigator 3 is a graphical Web browser, not all versions of UNIX currently support it. To use Navigator 3 under UNIX, your system must be configured to support the X Window specification known commonly as X11.
If they support X11, the following computers systems can run Navigator 3:
The memory requirement for UNIX systems are a little more straight forward that those for other platforms. To run Navigator 3 on any UNIX-based system, as a rule you need at least 16MB of memory.
There are three ways by which you can obtain a copy of Netscape Navigator 3 that is suitable for your computer system:
If you already have an older version of Netscape Navigator or some other Web browser, the simplest way to obtain a copy of the latest version of Navigator 3 is to point your existing browser to http://home.netscape.com/comprod/mirror/index.html.
If you don't have a Web browser yet, but you have access to an FTP client, you can download a copy of Netscape Navigator 3 using anonymous FTP.
Netscape Communications operates an anonymous FTP server that can be reached at ftp.netscape.com. However, due to the number of people who visit this site every day, you may find that the main site is very busy. If this is the case, you should try ftp2.netscape.com or ftp3.netscape.com, and on up to ftp8.netscape.com. These sites are mirror images of the main FTP site.
With the rapid growth of popularity in the Internet and, more specifically, the World Wide Web, many computer suppliers and software houses now carry copies of Netscape Navigator as a regular part of their inventory. Alternatively, you can also purchase a copy direct from Netscape Communications by calling (415) 528-2555. Costs vary: the price for the electronic edition of Navigator 3 (direct from Netscape) is $49, while the price of Navigator 3 Gold, packaged with the authoring guide, is $99.
Note:
You can, of course, purchase only the latest commercially released version from retail outlets. If you want to gain access to prerelease and beta versions of Navigator, you will need to do so online.
After you have obtained a copy of Navigator 3, you need to install it on your computer before you can use it. The file that you obtained, either online or on disk, will not start the Navigator program for you.
If you downloaded Navigator 3 from Netscape using Windows Explorer or your file manager utility of choice, locate the directory where the Navigator 3 installation file was stored during the download. Once you have found it, double-click on the file to commence the installation process.
After a few seconds, an installation program launches, guiding you through a series of simple steps that install Navigator 3 on your computer.
Installing Navigator 3 on a Macintosh is even easier than installing it on a Windows-based computer. All you need to do is double-click the Netscape Installer icon, located in the folder where you put Navigator 3 when you downloaded it, or on the floppy disk, depending on how you obtained your copy.
Except for a few questions about which folder you want Navigator 3 to be stored in, the entire installation process is fully automated.
Unfortunately, installing programs on UNIX-based computer systems is often a little more complicated than installation on Macintosh- or Windows-based machines.
As a result, each version of the UNIX Navigator contains a small readme file that explains the steps needed for that particular machine. To view the readme file, copy the Navigator 3 for UNIX file you obtained previously into a new directory and then type the following on the command line:
zcat filename.tarZ | tar xvf -
You will need to replace filename.tarZ with the name of the file you downloaded. After the contents of the file have been unpacked, the readme file can be found in the same directory where you saved the original file.
Shortly before the final release of Navigator 2, Netscape Communications announced that it planned to release a new version of its Navigator product under the name Netscape Navigator Gold 2. This new version included not only all the powerful World Wide Web navigation features of Navigator 2, but built-in Web page editing tools.
Following in this trend, the release of Netscape 3 has also resulted in the release of a new Netscape Gold 3 which again includes all the Web navigation tools plus significantly enhanced Web editing tools.
Note:
In this book Netscape Navigator Gold 3 is referred to simply as Netscape Gold, while Netscape Navigator 3 is referred to as Navigator 3.
Writing HTML documents by hand in a text editor is probably the most cumbersome way to write HTML. You must type all the tags, remember what the elements are called, remember to close your two-sided tags, remember to include closing quotation marks on attributes, and remember a host of other details. And, of course, you must know something about which tags can go where. With all that to keep in mind as you produce an HTML page, it sometimes becomes difficult to remember what you're actually writing.
To ease the amount of work required to create a Web page, a number of HTML editors, utilities and assistants have begun to appear on the market. These programs look after many of the more mundane tasks usually associated with creating Web pages, and in some cases they also give you a visual approximation of what your final web page will look like.
However, until recently, if you went looking for a HTML editor that enabled you to see the results of your work quickly, insert links and anchors and inline graphics easily, or manage the publication of multiple sets of documents, you would have drawn a blank. With the introduction of Netscape Gold, Netscape Communications is making moves to redress this problem.
Most of the system requirements for Netscape Gold are identical to those for Netscape Navigator, however, there are a few minor differences, which are examined in this section.
Note:
Like the current version of Navigator 3, Netscape Gold is a commercial product. When you download a copy, you are granted permission to use the program for up to 90 days for evaluation purposes. If you continue to use Netscape Gold after this time, you are expected to purchase a software license from Netscape Communications.
Unlike Netscape Navigator, which is currently available across a wide range of computer platforms, there are only two computer platforms supported for Netscape Gold. These are 32-bit windows—Windows 95 and Windows NT— and the Apple Macintosh.
In the following sections many of the major features of Netscape Navigator and Netscape Gold Web browser are examined. However, because this an appendix, if you want to explore the specifics of Web navigation using Netscape Navigator or Netscape Gold in detail, you should refer to any of the very good books devoted specifically to Netscape 3. Of these, Netscape Unleashed by Sams.net is a very good place to start.
The following discussions refer generally to the features found both in Netscape Navigator and Netscape Gold. Where features are specific to Netscape Gold a note or comment to such effect will be made.
To start either Netscape Navigator or Netscape Gold, all you need do is locate the folder or directory where it was saved during the installation process. After you locate the program, double-click its icon to activate the browser. This assumes of course, that you have already obtained access to the Internet through an Internet service provider, School or College, your employee, or some other method.
Caution: Netscape Navigator and Netscape Gold do not connect your computer to the Internet. This step is looked after by the TCP/IP software installed on your computer. When Netscape Navigator starts, it expects to find an Internet connection. If it does not find one, you may encounter an error message. (On some systems the TCP/IP software will attempt to create a connection when Netscape Navigator starts. If this is the case, and if the connection is successful, Netscape Navigator starts normally. Otherwise you again receive some sort of error message.)
When Netscape Navigator or Netscape Gold first starts, by default, the Web browser screen is opened. This screen should be very familiar to anyone who has used Netscape Navigator before.
The most important part of any Web browser is the document area. This is the area on-screen where Web pages are displayed. With Netscape Navigator, as with most Web browsers, the middle section of the screen is devoted to displaying Web pages as they are retrieved from the Internet. Regardless of which Web browser you use—whether it's the Macintosh or Windows version—the document area is basically the same.
In fact, the similar appearance of the document area, regardless of what system is displaying the document, is one of the most important features of the World Wide Web. When the concept of the Web was first proposed, one of the guiding principles of the project was the idea that any Web page developed on any computer platform must be viewable on any other computer platform, including the most basic text-based computer terminal. Naturally, you could not expect a text-based terminal to display computer graphics such as inline images, but the text and hypertext links for those images needed to be viewable.
You'll occasionally notice some aesthetic differences between Web browsers in the areas of layout and physical display, but, ultimately, a hyperlink is still a hyperlink, and clicking one causes a new page to be loaded.
You may occasionally find that the information contained on a Web page is larger than the space provided by the Web browser. To view this information, use the scroll bars at the top and sides of the document area.
The first thing you need to know when working with any Web browser is how to recognize a hyperlink. With the Netscape Web browser, by default all hyperlinks are highlighted in blue text and are further enhanced by an underline. In addition, any graphics that have hyperlinks associated with them are normally highlighted by a blue border.
When you click any of these hyperlinks, Netscape Navigator opens a copy of the document that the link points to and displays it on-screen in place of the current page.
Tip:
Netscape's Web browser supports an optional function that enables the default colors of hyperlinks to be altered by both the user and Web developer. For this reason, most people now use underlines as the preferred method for displaying text-based hyperlinks.
Note:
When you select a hyperlink to explore a new page, Netscape Navigator "remembers" the original page for the duration of your current session. If you return to the original page again, any of the hyperlinks that you have visited during the current session are displayed as purple text instead of blue text, or in the case of graphical hyperlinks, are surrounded by a purple box.
The area at the top of the Netscape Navigator main window above the document area is often referred to as the control console. You can easily navigate the World Wide Web by using the tools provided in this area.
Like all Windows-based programs, Netscape Navigator has a menu bar across the top of its main window. To access the options provided by this menu bar, click the various menu options listed. When you do this, a pull-down menu appears, displaying the available options:
| File | The File menu contains functions to open new documents located on either your hard drive or any Web server connected to the Internet. You also can print copies of the page you are currently viewing and create messages to be sent over e-mail. Finally, the file menu enables you to open additional browser windows. |
| The Netscape Gold version also provides an Edit Document option along with the means to create a new Web page. | |
| Edit | There are commands on the Edit menu to copy the contents of a Web page onto the Windows Clipboard, and copy URLs to and from the document line. |
| There also is a built-in search option that can quickly locate specific text in the current Web page. | |
| View | Most of the options on the View menu refresh the contents of different parts of the Document window. |
| This menu also provides options that enable you to display the HTML source (information used to describe the content of a Web page) for the current frame and document, along with other information relating to the document. | |
| Go | This menu duplicates the basic navigational options provided by the toolbar, and also displays a list of Web pages you have visited during your current session. |
| Bookmarks | With the bookmarks feature of Netscape Navigator, you can keep a list of sites that you visit on a regular basis. After a site is added to the bookmarks list, it is automatically displayed on the Bookmarks menu so that you can easily return to the site whenever you want. When you select a page listed on this menu, Netscape Navigator opens it as if you had selected the link by clicking on a hyperlink in a Web page. |
| Options | From this menu you can select any of the options that tailor the way Netscape Navigator looks and operates. (See "Configuring Netscape Navigator" later in this appendix for more information.) |
| Directory | This menu contains a list of handy links maintained by Netscape Communications, giving you immediate access to Netscape's home page, What's News pages, What's Cool pages, Web search tools, the Yahoo Internet directory, and Netscape's own "Galleria" commerce directory. |
| Window | With the options on this menu, you can open the Mail and News windows, the address book, bookmarks, and history windows. You also can switch between any other Netscape Navigator-specific windows that are currently open. |
| Help | This menu provides access to the Netscape online help system. It also has an option for sending feedback to the developers at Netscape Communications. |
The toolbar displayed below the menu bar gives you access to many of the functions you will regularly use while exploring the World Wide Web.
By default, the toolbar contains both a graphical and textual description of its purpose. (See Figure 2.8.) As you become more familiar with the use of Navigator, you will probably want to adjust the settings so that only the graphical elements are displayed. (See Figure 2.9.) This can be achieved by altering the settings in the General Preferences dialog on the Options menu. By doing this, you increase the amount of space available in the document area for displaying Web pages.
The options provided by the toolbar are as follows:
| Back | As you begin to move around the World Wide Web, Netscape Navigator keeps track of where you have been. If you click this button, the last page you accessed before the current one is recalled. |
| Forward | Click this button to return to the most recently visited page. |
| Home | When Netscape Navigator is first installed, clicking this button opens the Netscape Communications home page; however, you can alter this default setting at any time to point to any page you choose. |
| Edit | This button is a new addition for Netscape Gold. Clicking on it tells Netscape Gold that you want to edit the contents of the currently displayed Web page. When you do this, Netscape Gold opens the current page in an Editor Window. (This button is not included on the standard Navigator browser.) |
| Reload | Clicking this button forces Netscape Navigator to reload the current page. If you stopped the retrieval of a large page, for example, you can use this button to retrieve the missing information. |
| Images | If you have configured Netscape Navigator so that it does not load the images associated with a page, you can click this button to load the images associated with the current page. (See the "Auto Load Images" topic later in this appendix for more details about the loading of images. |
| Open | This icon opens a small dialog box. If you enter the URL of a Web page in the field provided, then click the Open button, Navigator retrieve a copy of the page and displays it in either the Web browser or the Editor window. |
| When you click this button, Navigator sends a copy of the current page to your printer. | |
| Find | When you open a large Web page, it is sometimes handy to be able to search quickly through the contents of the page. The Find button enables you to open a small dialog box where you can enter the text to search for on the current page |
| Stop | If you need to halt the loading of a document, click this icon. |
Immediately above the menu bar is an area that displays the title of the current Web Page. Most Web pages have a title associated with them, but for those that don't, the URL for the page is listed instead.
The URL of the Web page currently displayed in the document area is—by default—shown in the document URL field, which is located just below the toolbar. It is the field with the Location: label in front of it. (In some older versions of Netscape Navigator the document URL field may also be labelled as Netsite:.)
You also can use this field to directly enter a URL for a Web page. When you do this, the Web browser attempts to retrieve the page as though you had selected it with a hyperlink (note that when you start to enter a new URL, the Location: label in front of the document URL field is changed to Go to:).
Note:
By clicking the drop-down arrow to the right of this field, you can call up a history list similar to the one provided by the Go menu. This time, however, you see a list of URLs instead of document titles.
To the immediately left of the Document Location field is a small icon that looks somewhat like an anchor chain. By double-clicking on this icon you can copy the current URL to the clipboard. In addition, by clicking on the icon you can drag the URL into a bookmark or editor window. (No location icon is displayed in the standard Netscape Navigator version.)
Apart from giving you something to look at, the animated logo to the right of the document URL field indicates when Netscape Navigator is retrieving a Web page. If the animation is running, Netscape Navigator is busy. If it is static, no pages are currently being retrieved.
The last area of the Netscape Navigator screen is the status bar, located below the main document display area. The status bar displays a variety of information depending on what the browser is doing. When you place your mouse pointer over a hyperlink, the URL of the page or server that it points to is displayed on the left side of the status bar. Alternately, when a new page is being loaded, a counter is displayed in this area to indicate the page size and the number of bytes already retrieved. At the same time, on the right side of the status bar, a bar graph is displayed to represent the percentage of the page that has been loaded.
The Options menu provides a list of menu commands that enable you to tailor the way Netscape Navigator looks and operates. In the following sections, these menu items are briefly discussed.
Selecting the General Preferences item opens a dialog box where you can adjust settings that control how the Web browser component of Netscape Navigator operates. The options available through this dialog box are separated into the following categories:
Note:
Apart from being a Web browser and Web publisher, Netscape Gold can also send and receive e-mail, and read or post articles to Usenet Newsgroups. In previous versions of Navigator these features were included as a part of the Web browser window, but as of version 2, they have been split into separate components that use different windows.
| Appearance | This area controls whether images or text are displayed on the toolbar, stores the location of the Web browser home page, and indicates whether hyperlinks are indicated using an underline. |
| Fonts | This area is used to configure the default fonts for displaying text on Web pages. |
| Colors | The default colors for links, text, and the background of Web pages can be altered in this area. |
| Images | The setting in this area control whether images are displayed as they load, or after they have finished loading. You also can control how Netscape Navigator displays images on screens that can only handle a limited number of colors, by setting the Choose color options. |
| Apps | This area is used to select the external programs that are used when you click on a hyperlink that points to a Telnet or TN3270 connection. In addition, you also can set the default program for viewing the current Web page's HTML source code, and define the directory to be used for temporary storage. |
| Helpers | This area contains a list of programs that work in concert with Netscape Navigator. These programs include an audio player, image browsers, file compression utilities, and video players. |
| Language | Netscape is currently starting to enhance Netscape Navigator's support for foreign languages. In this area, you can control which languages you want to see when viewing multilingual web pages. |
To give you control over the way the Netscape Gold editor operates, an Editor Preferences dialog box has been added to the Options menu. For those reader who are familiar with Navigator 2, this is one of the few areas that looks different from what you have previously seen. (This option does not appear on the standard Netscape Navigator menu.)
The options available through this dialog box cover the following categories:
| General | This area is used to define the name of the Web author, the location of external Text and Image editors, and the location where templates for new Web pages are stored. |
| Appearance | Like the Colors area of the General Preferences dialog box, this Appearance area lets you control the colors of Web pages. In this case, however, you are setting the default colors for the Web editor. These colors are used whenever a new Web page is created. |
| In addition, you also can define a background image to be associated with each new Web page as well. | |
| Publish | This last area is for use with a new Netscape Gold feature called One Click Publishing. |
Two of the major changes for Netscape Navigator with the release of version 2 were greatly improved support for newsgroups, and e-mail. Both changes were carried into version 3. As a reflection of this greatly enhanced support, a separate Mail and News Preferences dialog box has been added to the Options menu.
The options that this dialog box manage include the following:
| Appearance | Use this area to configure the font and text styles used by Netscape Navigator when it displays e-mail messages and newsgroup articles. |
| Composition | When you compose a new e-mail message or newsgroup article, Netscape Navigator needs to be told how to handle the message. The composition area is where you do this. |
| Server | Use this area to tell Netscape Navigator the location of your personal Internet mailbox and the domain name of the Usenet News server you are using. |
| Identity | The Identity area is where you store personal information about yourself, including your e-mail address, a default signature file for outgoing messages, and the name of your business or organization. |
| Organization | The settings in this area control the order in which new e-mail messages and newsgroup articles are displayed. The order can be sorted by date, subject, or sender. |
Unlike stand-alone applications such as word processors, which need to communicate only with you and occasionally a printer, programs such as Netscape Navigator need to communicate with thousands of different computer systems all around the world. While many of these activities occur automatically, Netscape Navigator provides a number of preferences and other settings that enable you to tailor its performance across the Internet.
Network Preferences include the following:
| Cache | Netscape Navigator stores a copy of each page that you visit on your computer's hard drive in what is called a local cache. This allows the pages to be reloaded without having to query the remote server again to download the pages. The Cache area controls the amount of memory and disk space used for cache purposes. The more memory and disk space you allocate, the more pages can be held in the local cache. |
| Connections | When Netscape Navigator encounters a Web page that includes images, it starts downloading several images at the same time. Doing this allows the rest of the Web page to be displayed even though inline images are only partially downloaded. The Connections area is where you tell Navigator how many separate images and files it should attempt to download at the same time. |
Raising the number of connections can slow down the time it takes to display a web, depending on the speed of your connection and computer. As a result, you really need to test out this setting for yourself to determine an optimum value.
| Proxies | A number of businesses and other organizations connect their computer systems to the Internet through what are known as firewalls. Firewalls protect computer systems at the site from invasions by unwanted guests. |
| If you are connected to the Internet by a firewall, you will usually need a proxy server to communicate with the World Wide Web and other Internet services. The Proxies area lets you configure Netscape Navigator for use with a proxy server. | |
| Protocols | With the increased use of Cookies and e-mail based forms, some users have demanded greater control over the use of such capabilities. The protocols area lets you request the display of warning messages whenever a cookie is requested of a form submitted by e-mail. |
| Languages | These options let you enable or disable support for Java and JavaScript programs. |
As more business move onto the World Wide Web, the issue of security has become a dominant factor in many Internet discussions. To cater to this growing area of concern, Netscape Communications has developed new security features that enable business transactions to be conducted on the Web with a high level of protection.
The Security Preferences settings, listed below, enable you to tailor the level of security provided by Netscape Navigator to your specific needs:
| General | These settings control the alert message which Navigator displays when secure or unsecured data is sent to or from your Web browser. |
| In addition, there are also controls to configure the level of SSL data encryption supported by the Web browser. | |
| Passwords | To prevent illegal use of your Web browser by other people, you can assign passwords that are requested whenever secure data is to be transmitted from your Web browser. |
| Personal Site Certificates | Navigator 3 introduces support for personal site certificates. See the Verisign site at http://www.verisign.com/ for more information about obtaining a personal site certificate. |
| Site Certificates | This area contains a list of site certificates for computer systems and people you want to communicate with in a secure manner. Site certificates are a bit like an electronic fingerprint, which can be used to sign and encrypt messages so that only certain people can view their contents. |
| Unlike traditional encryption systems, which simply scramble the information so that it is unreadable by prying eyes, a Site certificate also can be used as proof of identity, something which guarantees that the site or person you are sending information to is actually who they say they are. |
The implementation of security certificates is still in a state of constant flux. As a result, the options provided by this dialog box may very well change by the time you read this book. However, the basic principals involved still remain the same. Refer to the release notes and online documents provided by Netscape Communications for more details. In addition, the VeriSign site at http://www.verisign.com/ contains information about obtaining your own security certificate.
Selecting this menu item controls whether the toolbar is displayed below the Menu area. The Show Toolbar item is on a toggle switch: Select it once to display the Toolbar and select it again to hide it. When the option is active—the default—a small check mark or tick is displayed beside the menu item.
This menu item controls whether the document URL field is displayed below the toolbar. Like the Show Toolbar item, the Show Location item is also a toggle switch. Select it once to display the document URL field and again to hide it. When the option is active—the default—a small check mark or tick is displayed beside the menu item.
Selecting this menu item adds an extra toolbar below the document URL field. This toolbar duplicates the links provided by the Directory menu. When you click any of the buttons on this toolbar, Netscape Navigator immediately retrieves the selected Web page. When the option is active—the default—a small check mark or tick is displayed beside the menu item.
This option is provided as a tool for people developing Java applications for use on the World Wide Web. If you activate this option, a window that reports on the progress of running Java applets is displayed. When the option is active—de-activated is the default—a small check mark or tick is displayed beside the menu item.
If you deselect the Auto Load Images item, Netscape Navigator loads only the text of the document and insert placeholders where all the inline images are meant to go. When the option is active—the default—a small check mark or tick is displayed beside the menu item.
The main advantage of doing this is timesaving. Loading a Web page with placeholders takes only a matter of seconds. When you consider that some pages may take up to 10 minutes to load using slower modems, deselecting the Auto Load Images option makes a lot of sense.
Note:
The only disadvantage of not loading images is that you will not be able to use image maps. You can get around this, however, by using the Load Images button on the toolbar to retrieve images on pages where they are used.
With the development of support for languages such as Japanese and Chinese, there is a need for new methods of encoding and representing Web documents.
With Document Encoding on the Options menu, you can tell Netscape Navigator what encoding method it should use.
