March 20th 2007

Netscape 9's Sidebar Browser

Posted by Chris Finke

› tags: browser, mini browser, my.netscape, netscape 9, sidebar, sidebar browser

In Netscape 9, we've built upon Firefox's option to load a bookmark in the sidebar by extending sidebar browsing to all links. (Right click on any link and choose "Open Link in Sidebar;" you can also drag and drop a link onto the sidebar if it is already open.)

In order to properly support this feature, we've enhanced the sidebar browser by adding a navigation menu, address bar, and link target toggle. The default link target is to have all links clicked in the sidebar launch in the main browser window, which is best suited for a single webpage that has lots of outgoing links (like your My.Netscape page, example shown below). You can also choose to toggle this and just browse in the sidebar as if it was a regular browser window.

My.Netscape in the sidebar; click to view the full image.

The sidebar browser can be opened with a toolbar button, a hot-key combination, or via the View > Sidebar menu.

related links ›

Comments

(Page 1)

2:20PMGreg

Very nice ... but when's the first public beta coming?

Enquiring minds need to know!

2:26PMAntony Shen

I think the mini-menu will make the sidebar a bit too complicated.

3:59PMGreg

Nice ... but when the first public beta coming?

Enquiring minds need to know!

7:38AMdavid carroll

Netscape has managed to screw up just about every version it puts out. This should be no different. Tried to use Nescape for several years and it just keeps imploding. If you want something like firefox, just go use the real deal and say goodbye to a bad product.

11:27PMM. Prins

I think this could be interesting, but like the last commenter, I'm worried about Netscape just copying Firefox (and maybe not doing it as well -- although I hope you do). This could be very useful, however, particularly if you're able to make some improvements on what Firefox was able to do.

8:12PMThorsten

I had only one problem the sidebar of firefox . When you want to use java script let surfer bookmark your page, the sidebar is always the target of the bookmark and not the the main window. May the new netscape is better.