The Netscape Blog

Netscape 8 Update Forthcoming: You Can Flock Too!

Tom Drapeau — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 14:45:00 EST

As announced previously, as of March 1st, all official support for Netscape browsers has ceased, including all security updates. Early next week, users of Netscape Browser 8 will be presented with an update that will allow them to migrate directly to the current version of Flock. The update will look like the following:

Since Netscape Browser 8 no longer receives security updates, the Netscape team at AOL strongly recommends that those still using Netscape upgrade to a safe browser alternative. Flock is just such an alternative, based on a strong Firefox core with many additional features that allow you to manage your webmail and social networks. Plus, the core team that originally built Netscape Browser 8 is largely still intact, and is the same team that builds Flock.

In order to migrate from Netscape Browser 8 to Flock, when the above update appears, all you will need to do is click "Easily Migrate to Flock Now!". That's it. Your bookmarks and profile information will be transferred to your new Flock installation, and you'll be ready to try Flock out in a matter of minutes.

Flock is also planning to integrate the great improvements of Firefox 3, once they have been fully tested by the open source community. In the end, migrating to Flock, and then receiving the benefits of Firefox 3, is a low maintenance way to continue to experience the best that the Web has to offer.

Once again, many thanks to the Flock team for their expertise and dedication in creating a great way for Netscape Browser 8 users to migrate to a great new browsing experience!

Update (March 25th) - Here is a comment from Evan Hamilton of the Flock team:

Hey folks,

I just wanted to introduce myself. My name is Evan Hamilton, and I work at Flock as Community Ambassador. This means that I get to spend my days interacting with all the great people who use Flock.

Welcome to the Flock community! We appreciate that Netscape 8 was your browser of choice (most of the original Netscape 8 team now works at Flock) and we know that transitions can be hard. That's why we've built in the automatic Netscape-to-Flock import sequence. You'll see this during installation, but if you miss it (or need to try it again), you can access it by going to File>Import and choosing Netscape.

We are confident that Flock will be a great experience for you once you've transitioned, and we always invite feedback on how we can make Flock even better for you. You can submit feedback at http://www.flock.com/feedback or you can just email me directly (my address is below).

Once again, welcome to Flock! We're very excited to have some new Flockstars join us, and we're looking forward to making your browsing experience stable, safe, and social.

Evan Hamilton
Flock Community Ambassador
evan at flock dot com

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The Netscape Archive

Richard Klein — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 17:30:00 EST

As mentioned previously, the Netscape Archive has been created to preserve a final resting place for client side Netscape applications, given that official support is ending March 1, 2008. The archive is now available at archive.netscape.com, and contains the following pages:

Home is the archives landing page. The left hand column consists of the end of support notice and our recommendations for software replacements. The right hand side consists of two boxes. The top box contains links that can be helpful for Netscape discussions. The bottom box has links you may find helpful in navigating around the Netscape universe.

History has information about the Netscape/AOL history and the decision to end Netscape support. The page contains a link to the blog post for any discussion you may want to have about the decision.

Releases is a table with links to all prior Netscape client software releases. This table covers releases on all three platforms starting with Navigator 4.78 and ending with Navigator 9.0.0.6.

Add-ons is a page we created to help you to regain the Navigator 9 functionality in either Flock or Firefox. The left hand side of the page has all the extensions you will need. These extensions are not a one for one match, but will give you back the same functionality. Some of them have even more functionality than what was built into Navigator. The right hand column provides some information about the Mozilla sandbox. It also provides links to the propeller extensions which were part of the early Navigator 9 betas.

We are seeing encouraging signs from our server logs that show us that a great many people are having success migrating to Flock and Firefox via the auto-update option, which is great news! We want to make sure that folks can satisfy their sense of nostalgia, while still trying out the best of breed of current browsers.

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Netscape 9 Users: Time to Flock or Firefox

Tom Drapeau — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 11:40:00 EST

Users of the Netscape Navigator 9 browser will see the following major upgrade notice available today, released as Netscape 9.0.0.6. When the Netscape 9.0.0.6 upgrade is accepted and run, the following notice will appear, denoting the end of support date (March 1) and the recommendations of Flock and Firefox:

The "Remind me later", followed by clicking the "Stay with Netscape" button, can be used in case one wants to keep Netscape 9 after the end of support date. For those who are keeping Netscape, the Navigator 9.0.0.6 release contains the security patches contained in Firefox 2.0.0.12.

If one of the Download links are clicked, a progress will begin that downloads and installs the new browser, and migrates preferences/settings from Navigator.

People who decide against this upgrade can still find easy download links for Flock and Firefox on netscape.com. Just look for the following "Recommended Alternative Browsers" section on the right hand side:

For those who choose Flock, not only will you get a seamless upgrade of your preferences from Navigator 9, but you'll have the option to choose a theme that (to us) looks a lot like the Navigator theme. Very cool.

I'd like to thank Shawn Hardin, Clayton Stark and the whole Flock team, for continuing to create tools to help the Netscape faithful maintain a high quality browsing experience.

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Netscape Browser Support extended to March 1st

Tom Drapeau — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 15:40:00 EST

AOL support for Netscape browsers has been extended one month, to March 1st. Mozilla, Flock and AOL are working together to provide tools to ease the migration of existing Netscape browser users to our recommended Flock and Firefox alternatives. Both Flock and Firefox are built on the same Mozilla Firefox codebase.

There will be an update made available for Netscape 9 users through the established Netscape browser update feature that will streamline the process of choosing from these two great browser alternatives.

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Updated Flock available NOW!

Tom Drapeau — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 17:15:00 EST

As promised, the Flock team has delivered a new version of their social browser with an import feature for Netscape Navigator 9 users looking to migrate to a new browser.

As shown in our previous post, in order to migrate from Netscape 9 to Flock, first download and install Flock. The installation process will ask whether or not to import from a previous browser, and there is now a "Netscape" option.

For those who miss the import question - start the browser, and choose File -> Import, then the "Netscape" option.

Its that simple!

But Wait... There's More

In addition to the Netscape import capability, the following fixes are present in Flock v1.0.7:

Allow Non-admin Windows accounts to install Flock. Please note that on Vista you will still be asked for an administrator password. Also, no Flock shortcut will be created on the desktop.
Search plugins without associated icons no longer break the search flyout of the search box.
Fixed Ctrl and Shift functions in the Favorites Manager.

The only thing left to say is, enjoy Flock!

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Simple Green Successor to Netstripe

Richard Klein — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 09:00:00 EST

Netstripe was the Netscape Navigator theme we previously released for Firefox. The Netscape team is discontinuing our development of this theme and is disabling it from the Mozilla add-on website.

Sailfish, a long time theme editor and Netscape champion, has created with our approval the successor to the Netstripe theme. This new theme is called Simple Green.

Simple Green is a bundled theme containing both the browser (Navigator) and mailnews (Messenger) skins thus working for both Firefox and Thunderbird. It contains bug fixes and minor enhancement work. His plan is to support the theme through Firefox 2 and Thunderbird 2, at minimum.

The theme can be located on the Mozilla add-ons website or you can get it with all the latest changes from https://www.projectit.com/.

All bug reports, enhancement requests and questions should be sent directly to sailfish@unforgettable.com.

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RSS specifications moving to RSS Advisory Board

Tom Drapeau — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 16:30:00 EST

The RSS specification documents, DTDs, and help files for the first versions of RSS (v0.9, v0.91) are being moved to RSSBoard.org, where they will be hosted by the RSS Advisory Board in perpetuity. Netscape will continue to host these files (via redirect) on the My Netscape domain (my.netscape.com) until August 1st, 2008.

Netscape launched RSS on March 15, 1999, with the My Netscape Network and an RSS 0.90 specification written by Ramanathan Guha. Four months later, RSS 0.91 was launched with a specification written by Dan Libby. Five years after revolutionizing the web browser, Netscape sparked another revolution on the web with XML-based syndication.

All websites that produce RSS 0.9 or RSS 0.91 feeds will need to either convert to using the current standard (RSS v2.0), or if desired, convert their v0.9/v0.91 feeds properly using this guide, provided by the RSS Advisory Board, by August 1st. This is a great opportunity for websites to upgrade to RSS 2.0 though, as the conversion guide mentions:

"You can do a lot more with RSS 2.0 that's not covered here, because the format has become more versatile since its humble origins as Netscape's headline-exchange format in 1999. RSS 2.0 supports podcasting, tagging, XML namespaces and other improvements. The RSS Profile contains our best advice for how to take full advantage of the capabilities of RSS."

Here are some links to relevant documents, now hosted on RSSBoard.org:

RSS v0.9 spec: http://www.rssboard.org/rss-0-9-0
RSS v0.9 DTD: http://www.rssboard.org/rss-0.9.dtd
RSS v0.9 Help: http://www.rssboard.org/mnn-help
RSS v0.9 FAQ: http://www.rssboard.org/mnn-faq
RSS v0.9 Character Encoding: http://www.rssboard.org/html-entities
RSS v0.9 Troubleshooting: http://www.rssboard.org/mnn-troubleshooting
RSS v0.9 Future Directions: http://www.rssboard.org/mnn-futures
RSS v0.9 Terms of Use: http://www.rssboard.org/mnn-terms-of-use

RSS v0.91 spec: http://www.rssboard.org/rss-0-9-1-netscape
RSS v0.91 DTD: http://www.rssboard.org/rss-0.91.dtd
RSS 1.0 schema: http://www.rssboard.org/schema-1.0.dtd

For anyone who has questions about upgrading, or need help with RSS 0.9 or RSS 0.91, feel free to post on the RSS Advisory Board's mailing list.

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Migrating from Netscape to Flock

Tom Drapeau — Thu, 17 Jan 2008 18:10:00 EST

Following on from yesterday's announcement, Netscape users eager to give Flock a try do not have to start with a blank slate. The team at Flock has created a simple migration path for people who want to use Flock and have access to their profile information, bookmarks, etc, from their old Netscape profiles.

This migration path will be available in the Flock v1.06 release, scheduled for early next week. Here is a look at how the migration works: this first image is a dialog box that a person would see when installing Flock - notice the "Netscape" option here under "Import Settings and Data".

Once the "Netscape" profile, etc, has been imported, the remainder of the Flock install proceeds as usual. If you already have Flock installed, and also want to benefit from this simple migration, you can import Netscape settings (shown here on Mac OS X):

Thanks to the hard work of the Flock team, with these import options the process of moving from Netscape to Flock becomes painless. Keep in mind that this will only work with Netscape Navigator 9 profiles.

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Netscape Recommends Flock, Too

Richard Klein — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 21:00:00 EST

Previously, the Netscape Team recommended that Netscape browser users adopt Firefox as their next web browser. We would also like to suggest Flock as another alternative to the Netscape web browser. Flock is a web browser that combines all of the advantages of Firefox with the addition of social integration. If you are looking for your next browser and are interested in Firefox with social integration, give Flock a try.

Don't Know Much About Flock?

Flock is a web browser, built on Mozilla's Firefox codebase, enhanced to deliver your friends, feeds, sites and media in one convenient view, putting you at your own epicenter of interests and activity. It eliminates the need to continually click from site to site to stay up to speed with your friends and interests.

Flock is the browser for people who like to be connected, informed and in control.

Connected to their community of friends and family
Connected to their favorite services, like Facebook, Twitter, Delicious, and others
Connected to their favorite content, from anywhere on the web: Nytimes, CNN, etc
Connected to their favorite video and photos from Flickr, YouTube, Photobucket, Truveo and others


My World	People	Sharing

For those interested in trying Flock, you can download it here.

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Netscape Internet Service Provider

Richard Klein — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 15:40:00 EST

Some people may be confused by the recent end of service announcement and how it relates to the Netscape ISP. To clarify, the previous announcement does not effect the internet service provider in any way. The Netscape Internet Service Provider will continue its operations. http://isp.netscape.com will continue to exist as the ISP's homepage, and will continue to be programmed.

Visit http://help.isp.netscape.com/Netscape/supportcentral/supportcentral.do?id=m1 for any Netscape Internet Service Provider questions you may have.

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Migrating from Netscape to Mozilla Firefox and Thunderbird

Richard Klein — Tue, 08 Jan 2008 14:35:00 EST

Now that we have recommended users adopt Firefox and Thunderbird for their browser and e-mail needs, some people have asked how to go about migrating their data. Thanks to the Netscape Champions we now have some FAQ on how to accomplish this.

Q: How Do I Migrate From Netscape Navigator 9 To Firefox?
A: Note: This will only work with a new installation of Firefox
Note: Make sure that Navigator and Firefox are NOT running

1. Install Firefox and make a note of where the profile is located, usually in C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox

2. Locate your Navigator 9 profile, usually in C:\Documents and Settings\usernameApplication Data\Netscape\Navigator

3. In the Navigator directory, hilite both "profiles.ini" and the /Profile/ directory and copy both to the clipboard using CTRL+C

4. Go to the /Firefox/ directory and paste the contents of the clipboard using CTRL+V and when prompted to overwrite, answer YES

That's it, when you start Firefox, the Navigator 9 profile will now be in Firefox

Note: You MUST have "Show hidden files and folders" enabled in your explorer view options
Note: If you have multiple profiles, all will be migrated using this method.

Q: How Do I Migrate From Netscape Messenger 9 To Thunderbird?
A: The best way is to move the profile directory and profiles.ini in the same fashion as moving from Netscape Navigator 9 to Firefox that is outlined above.

Q: How Do I Migrate From Netscape 8 To Firefox?
A: There is no direct way to migrate to Firefox successfully as there is no import routine included in Firefox to migrate from Netscape 8.

However, through a lot of trial and error on my part, I have come up with a successful method. Assuming that you have not installed Navigator 9:

Note: Make sure any master passwords are removed before migrating.

1. Make sure that Netscape 8 is your default browser => Tools => Options => General => Default Browser

2. Download (http://browser.netscape.com) Navigator 9.0.0.5 and install. During installation you will be prompted to migrate from a list of applications, choose Netscape 8. That's it, all there is to it

If Navigator 9 is already installed:

1. Make sure that Netscape 8 is your default browser **IMPORTANT**

2. Edit your Navigator 9 desktop shortcut by right-clicking the shortcut and select "Properties"

3. Edit the commmand line, so that it reads: "C:\Program Files\Netscape\Navigator 9\navigator.exe" -p "default" -migration

Note: "default" is the profile name, yours may vary.

4. If you have more than one profile, substitute "default" for the name of your other profile(s)

5. Double click the shortcut to initiate the migration routine.

Now the move to Firefox:

1. Install Firefox (latest version)

2. Locate your profile path for Navigator 9, usually in: C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\Netscape\Navigator

Note: There is one directory /profiles/ and two files => pluginreg.dat and Profiles.ini.

Hilite the profiles directory and profiles.ini only and hit CTRL+C to copy to the clipboard

3. Locate your new Firefox profile in: C:\Documents and Settings\user\Application Data\Mozilla\Firefox Now, hit CTRL+V to paste from the clipboard and when prompted to overwrite, answer YES

4. Your Navigator 9 profile has now been transferred to Firefox which was originally migrated from Netscape 8

Q: How do I migrate from Netscape 6 or 7 to Firefox?
A: New installs of Firefox will present you with a migration wizard dialog allowing you to select to migrate from Netscape 6 or 7.

Q: How do I migrate from Netscape 6 or 7 to Thunderbird?
A: New installs of Thunderbird will present you with a migration wizard dialog allowing you to select to migrate from Netscape 6 or 7.

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End of Support for Netscape web browsers

Tom Drapeau — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 12:00:00 EST

AOL has a long history on the internet, being one of the first companies to really get people online. Throughout its lifetime, it has been involved with a number of high profile acquisitions, perhaps the largest of which was the 1999 acquisition of the Netscape Communications Corporation. Netscape was known to many as the thought leader in web browsing, and had developed a number of complementary pieces of software that allowed for a rich suite of internet tools.

At the time of the acquisition, the Netscape team had begun working on converting their flagship product - the Netscape Communicator web suite - into open source software, under a new name: Mozilla. AOL played a significant role in the launch of the Netscape 6 browser, the first Mozilla-based, Netscape-branded browser that was released in 2000 and continued to solely fund the development and marketing efforts of Netscape-branded browsers. In 2003, an independent foundation was created to support the continued development of the open source web suite. AOL was a major source of support for the Mozilla Foundation and the company continued to develop versions of the Netscape browser based on the work of the foundation.

While internal groups within AOL have invested a great deal of time and energy in attempting to revive Netscape Navigator, these efforts have not been successful in gaining market share from Microsoft's Internet Explorer. Recently, support for the Netscape browser has been limited to a handful of engineers tasked with creating a skinned version of Firefox with a few extensions.

AOL's focus on transitioning to an ad-supported web business leaves little room for the size of investment needed to get the Netscape browser to a point many of its fans expect it to be. Given AOL's current business focus and the success the Mozilla Foundation has had in developing critically-acclaimed products, we feel it's the right time to end development of Netscape branded browsers, hand the reins fully to Mozilla and encourage Netscape users to adopt Firefox.

Q: What will this mean?
A: We'll continue to release security patches for the current version of the browser, Netscape Navigator until February 1, 2008. After February 1, there will be no more active product support for Navigator 9, or any previous Netscape Navigator browser. This includes Netscape v1-v4.x, Netscape v6, Netscape v7 Suite, Netscape Browser v8, and Netscape Navigator/Messenger 9.

Q: I use Netscape now. Now that Netscape is stopping support, what do I do?
A: The Netscape Team fully stands behind the fine work being done by the Mozilla Foundation. We recommend that you download Mozilla Firefox and give it a try. We know you'll enjoy it!

Q: Will I still be able to use Netscape?
A: You will still be able to download old versions of Netscape from the Netscape Archive (link coming). However, these products are no longer supported. Our recommendation for the nostalgic out there is to download Mozilla Firefox, and add on the Netscape theme and Netscape extensions which are available here:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/user/56836

This way you'll have a current web browser that is very secure, and has the look and feel you have grown accustomed to with Netscape.

Q: Will anyone be around to answer my questions?
A: The following sites will continue to exist and offer information about Netscape after February 1, 2008: The UFAQ (http://www.ufaq.org/), the Netscape Archive, the Netscape Community Forum (http://community.netscape.com/n/pfx/forum.aspx?webtag=ws-nscpbrowser&redirCnt=1).

Please bear in mind that no active product support will be available.

Q: Does this mean that Netscape is dead?
A: While we will no longer support the Netscape web browser as of February 1, 2008, Netscape.com (http://www.netscape.com) will still continue to serve as a general use Internet portal.

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Netscape Navigator 9.0.0.5 Available

Richard Klein — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 13:26:00 EST

Navigator 9.0.0.5 was released earlier today in order to incorporate the security fixes included in Firefox 2.0.0.11. Please be sure to update your installation of Navigator when prompted by the automatic updater, or you can force the update manually by choosing "Check for Updates" from the Help menu. The release notes for this release are here.

You can also download the full installer for Netscape Navigator 9.0.0.5 from browser.netscape.com.

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Netscape Navigator 9.0.0.4 Available

Chris Finke — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 14:58:00 EST

Navigator 9.0.0.4 was released earlier today in order to incorporate the security fixes included in Firefox 2.0.0.10. Please be sure to update your installation of Navigator when prompted by the automatic updater, or you can force the update manually by choosing "Check for Updates" from the Help menu. The release notes for this release are here.

You can also download the full installer for Netscape Navigator 9.0.0.4 from browser.netscape.com.

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Netscape Messenger 9 Alpha 1 Released

Chris Finke — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 08:47:00 EST

Netscape is pleased to announce the availability of the first public alpha of Netscape Messenger 9, a mail and news client, to complement the Netscape Navigator Web browser. This release is now available for download from mailnews.netscape.com for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

The release notes for 9.0a1 are here; they include download and installation instructions.

NOTICE: This alpha release is an early developer milestone of the next major version of Messenger. It is being made available for testing purposes only. If you are currently using a previous Netscape mail client, you should not switch to Messenger 9a1 as your primary mail and news client. Feel free, however, to install and test it so that you can help shape the future of this product.

Report any bugs, or request any features, via this feedback form.

Netscape Messenger 9a1 is based on Thunderbird 2.0.0.9, giving it a secure and efficient base, as well as allowing it to support Thunderbird-compatible extensions. As we move through the alpha period with this product, we look forward to adding the most-requested features from the community, allowing us to improve on an already great product.

Along those lines, we have two questions for you:

1. What is the #1 killer feature that you'd like to see in the final release of Messenger 9?

2. Google and Yahoo have recently made announcements to the effect that they'll be building social networking features into their webmail clients. Are you interested in seeing social features added to Messenger?

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Netscape Navigator 9.0.0.3 Available

Chris Finke — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 12:32:00 EST

Navigator 9.0.0.3 was released earlier today in order to incorporate the stability fixes included in Firefox 2.0.0.9. Please be sure to update your installation of Navigator when prompted by the automatic updater, or you can force the update manually by choosing "Check for Updates" from the Help menu. The release notes for this release are here.

You can also download the full installer for Netscape Navigator 9.0.0.3 from browser.netscape.com.

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Netscape Navigator 9.0.0.2 Available

Chris Finke — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 18:16:00 EST

Navigator 9.0.0.2 was released earlier today in order to fix a bug related to searching using both the location bar and the default Netscape search engine. Please be sure to update your installation of Navigator when prompted by the automatic updater, or you can force the update manually by choosing "Check for Updates" from the Help menu. The release notes for this release are here.

You can also download the full installer for Netscape Navigator 9.0.0.2 from browser.netscape.com.

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Netscape Navigator 9.0.0.1 Available

Chris Finke — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 12:15:00 EST

Navigator 9.0.0.1 was released earlier today in order to incorporate the security fixes included in Firefox 2.0.0.8. Please be sure to update your installation of Navigator when prompted by the automatic updater, or you can force the update manually by choosing "Check for Updates" from the Help menu.

You can also download the full installer for Netscape Navigator 9.0.0.1 from browser.netscape.com.

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Propeller.com Social News Browser Extensions

Chris Finke — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 14:59:00 EST

A few weeks ago, we announced that the social news functionality was being removed from the Netscape Navigator Web browser in parallel with Netscape.com's transition to Propeller.com; at that same time, we promised that we'd release these features as standalone browser extensions.

We're making true on that commitment; the following social news features that had been standard components of early betas of Netscape Navigator 9 have now been reborn as browser extensions. These extensions are compatible with both Firefox 2 and Navigator 9:

Propeller.com Friends' Activity Sidebar

Propeller.com Sitemail Notifier

Propeller.com Tracker

Propeller.com News

The News and Tracker extensions are still available only in the Mozilla Addons sandbox; read this for more information about the sandbox.

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Netscape Navigator 9.0 Available

Chris Finke — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 13:00:00 EST

Netscape is pleased to announce the immediate availability of the official release of Netscape Navigator 9. The release is available for download from browser.netscape.com.

The following changes have been made since Release Candidate 1:

Added security measures when installing extensions from the sidebar browser
Fixed error that was displayed after updating (with auto-update) from 9.0b3 to 9.0RC1

For a complete list of the new features in Netscape 9, see What's New in Netscape Navigator 9? at browser.netscape.com; you may want to also check out the Netscape Navigator FAQ for information on running Navigator 9 alongside previous Netscape browsers.

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Netscape Navigator 9 Release Candidate 1 Available

Chris Finke — Mon, 01 Oct 2007 10:06:00 EST

Netscape is pleased to announce the immediate availability of the first release candidate of Netscape Navigator 9. The release is available for download from browser.netscape.com.

Due to Netscape.com's transition from a social news site to a traditional news portal (and the resulting re-launch of the social news site at Propeller.com), we made the decision to remove the built-in social news functionality from the Netscape Navigator Web browser. We will be releasing those features as stand-alone Propeller-branded browser extensions shortly, and our browser development efforts will be refocused on providing new features and browsing enhancements not specifically tied to a single Web service.

The following changes have been made since Beta 3:

Added splash screen
Fixed formatting bug in Mac license
Fixed a bug that was preventing custom background colors
Mini-browser enhancements
Removed social news integration
Exposed more preferences in the Preference Dialog for tabs and the mini-browser
Fixed reversed preference for opening searches in new tab
Fixed Mac bundle signature
Fixed default icon and file assocations
Moved custom FTP style out of userContent.css
Added URL correction preferences to Advanced Preferences page
Added drop-down menu to print button
Added drop-down menu to home button
Added Firefox profile importing
Added support for importing Netscape 8 bookmarks after the initial install
Fixed theme issues on Linux
Fixed truncation of Reload button label
Fixed bugs with URL correction and country codes
Added "Save to Linkpad" option to History context menu

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And the winner is...

Chris Finke — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 13:37:00 EST

...Mario Herbert, who designed entry #11 from yesterday's post. Congratulations Mario!

Mario's design will be the default splash screen for Netscape Navigator 9. We especially liked the clean look and the throwback feel of the ship's wheel.

Many thanks to all of the other participants in the contest; the choice was difficult to make due to the high quality and aesthetic appeal of all of the entries.

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Navigator 9 Splash Screen Design Contest: The Entries

Chris Finke — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 09:34:00 EST

In no particular order, here are all of the entries in the Navigator 9 splash screen design contest. Feel free to campaign for your favorite in the comments section.

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Splash Screen Design Contest: 3 days left to enter

Chris Finke — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 16:00:00 EST

We've gotten some great entries in the splash screen design contest for Navigator 9; we'll be accepting entries until 11:59PM Central Time on Friday, September 21, so you only have two and a half days left to enter. After the entry period ends, we'll post all of the submissions and announce a winner.

It looks like "Money" is winning the poll as to what the designer of the first-place entry should receive, with the other three options in a tie for second place. We'll have to see if we can't put together a prize package that satisfies everyone, but remember that you can't win anything if you don't enter; send your designs in PNG format to browser@newnetscape.com by midnight on Friday to have a shot at the prize, the fame, and the glory.

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Propeller lives!

Tom Drapeau — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 13:30:00 EST

We have just completed our planned changes to Netscape.com. As we originally reported, a new portal has been launched on Netscape.com, and the social news site previously located there has been moved to propeller.com.

Over the last week, we have received some very positive feedback, both from early social news adopters and from those who were gradually won over by the communal experience at Netscape.com. I want to thank you all for your great feedback, and want to reiterate that the Propeller social news experience is not going away. On the contrary! In the coming weeks, you will be able to see Propeller content on both the new Netscape.com portal, as well as AOL News.

We have not been neglecting our member feedback either. We do realize that there have been undue performance problems and a few technical glitches over the past few weeks. Let me apologize for this poor user experience, and assure you that we are hard at work in fixing these. We have also had more spam escape our filters lately, and I want to apologize for that as well, and give thanks to all of our great members who reported these stories as such.

Also, we are not happy to simply stand pat with our existing features. In the near future, we will be able to share information about our new social news platform, which we are extremely excited about. It will bring together the best of all worlds: a world class design team, an advanced website platform, and a host of new and interesting ways to enjoy social news.

Best of all, we won't rush the new social news site to the public. We will want to hear your opinion on the new site, as it is because of you, the newly named Propeller member base, that we continue to develop social news services. We really hope that the Netscape.com social news community will come visit Propeller.com. We are confident that you will feel right at home!

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Social News Update

Tom Drapeau — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 19:30:00 EST

Netscape Community Update

We promised you in our last communication about the Netscape.com site that we would get right back to you about where your current social news site will live after we redirect to the new Netscape portal.

The Netscape social news experience that you are currently using today will be migrated and revealed soon at http://www.propeller.com/. We're working hard behind the scenes to ensure a smooth transition before we officially launch at this new destination.

It is important to us that you feel empowered to choose how you want to consume your news and participate in the community. As we mentioned in a recent post, the Netscape.com site will soon be redirected to the new Netscape portal, a more traditional and editorially-driven news experience. It's already live, so you can check it out now if you haven't already. You'll notice some elements of our social news site there in short order, so that it will be easy for you to go back and forth and engage in each if you like.

Please continue to check back with us on the Netscape blog (or subscribe to our RSS feed for real time information), as we'll be keeping you in the know about when you can expect to see the Netscape social news site up and running at http://www.propeller.com/.

Our goal is to allow you to continue to share and communicate with each other around the news stories of interest to you, so you can anticipate that the social news site will be coming sooner than later.

We appreciate the patience of our community members as we make these adjustments to better provide you with the options that you deserve.

~ The Netscape Team

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Navigator Splash Screen Design Contest

Chris Finke — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 11:58:00 EST

We've gotten a lot of feedback during the Navigator beta period that many users want the option of a splash screen. Well, we've decided to give our design team a break and let you submit your own idea for how the splash screen should look. The winning image will be used as the splash screen in the final 9.0 release of Navigator, and the designer will (of course) be listed in the browser credits. We've already seen some great designs in the Netscape community forums, so we know that there's untapped talent out there.

Send your designs in PNG format to browser@newnetscape.com; we'll be posting them here as they come in. You have until September 20th to enter, and don't forget to vote in the poll on what the final prize should be for the winner.

View Poll

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Upcoming Netscape changes

Tom Drapeau — Thu, 06 Sep 2007 21:00:00 EST

To the Netscape Community...

There are some upcoming changes to the Netscape.com site that we hope will improve your experience. We'll be providing two different news options for you based on what you've told us over the past few months.

Visitors to Netscape.com will see a more traditional news experience very soon. Don't worry, the social news site isn't going away! We will keep you updated on where you will be able to find the social news site as we get closer to making the switch.

Why is this happening?

Many of you may remember that Netscape.com used to be much different than it is today. In fact, it used to contain more mainstream news before we shifted to the social news site you see now.

We received some feedback that people really do associate the Netscape brand with providing mainstream news that is editorially controlled. In fact, we specifically heard that our users do have a desire for a social news experience, but simply didn't expect to find it on Netscape.com.

The decision to redirect the current Netscape.com site is based on that feedback and our desire to better serve our community.

Now where can you go?

You have the power to decide!

Have you visited the new Netscape portal experience yet? It's already up and running. If you bookmarked the current Netscape.com site, this is where you'll land once we make the transition. We just launched it recently, so we'll be busy making improvements along the way.

From checking your mail to local weather updates to the latest news headlines to celebrity gossip, you'll find it here.

If the social news experience is more your style, rest assured that we'll be rolling out a site for you in the very near future. You may have read a bit about our plans for the social news site in the press already. We will be sure to communicate specific dates and additional information on the new social news destination in this blog, so stay tuned.

What does this mean for the Netscape browser?

Absolutely nothing will change. The only area that will be affected is Netscape.com. Anything else associated with the Netscape brand will remain the same.

How can you stay in the know about the upcoming social news site?

We want to keep you as up to date as possible as we work to provide the best news experience for you. Please be sure to check back on the Netscape blog frequently, as we'll be updating with new developments. Most importantly, we'll be providing you the new location for the social news site.

We, as a company, remain committed to delivering a compelling social news experience for our users. This move is an effort to make both the former portal experience and the social news experience accessible so that you can decide which you prefer--or, even better, that you want to participate in both.

We look forward to unveiling a new social news site as soon as possible. The ability to post, comment, rate and share the news that's most relevant to you is as important to us as it is to you. We will be maintaining an open dialogue with you, our users, so that you'll be the first to know as soon as we're ready to pull back the curtains.

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Netscape Navigator 9 Beta 3 Released

Chris Finke — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 08:03:00 EST

Netscape is pleased to announce the immediate availability of Netscape Navigator 9.0 Beta 3. The release is now available for download from browser.netscape.com for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Beta 3 includes the following changes from Beta 2:

New preferences in Tabs panel of Preferences dialog
Added "Link Pad" to the "Clear Private Data" dialog
Fixed issue with Link Pad icon blinking indefinitely
Added News preferences to Netscape.com pane of Preferences dialog
Fixed bug with feed processor that was causing both a memory leak and excessive CPU usage
Added tab preference for opening bookmarks
Added tab preference for links opened by Netscape.com integrated components
Changed URL correction confirmation to be enabled by default
Fixed bug in URL correction that was interrupting the auto-addition of "www" and ".com"
Fixed bug that caused the "Confirm correcitons" item in the Location bar's context menu to be hidden
Added button in preferences to easily disable Netscape.com integration
Various performance fixes

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Live and Kicking

James Marcus — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 16:33:00 EST

Late yesterday afternoon, a TechCrunch blogger insisted that he had just heard Netscape's death rattle. According to Michael Arrington, AOL was on the verge of killing off this very site "and redirecting traffic to the Netscape portal instead. One source says it's a done deal. Another says no final decisions have been made." Arrington also reported that the editorial department was "completely freaked out" and that the site would be going black just about any minute now.

Gloomy news indeed--if any of it were substantiated. As the head of the non-freaked-out editorial department, let me say a few things. AOL did just launch a Netscape-branded portal, designed to accommodate those members who don't wish to participate in a social news site. (Those members also have the option of using a personalized portal over at My.Netscape, not to mention the regular AOL portal itself.) No doubt some members will jump ship. But since the social news version of Netscape launched more than a year ago, most of the people with a yen for an old-fashioned portal have already left. Certainly the 323,589 individuals (as of this moment) who have joined the community didn't do so simply to check the weather and headlines.

Our director, Tom Drapeau, already responded to Arrington's post on TechCrunch itself. So did Marcien Jenckes, identified by TC as an "AOL spokesman" but actually a senior vice president in charge of some of the company's premiere properties, including AIM and Userplane.

"I want to echo Tom's post," noted Jenckes. "Community has been a core element of both AOL and Netscape since their inception and will continue to be. As the text on the site explains, we wanted to give a more traditional portal alternative to the Netscape users who requested it. You can rest assured that social news will continue to be an important part of what we do."

Arrington was quick to assail this comment for its vagueness. But he knows as well as we do that corporations--especially corporations as large as AOL--move in mysterious ways. They are hotbeds of rumor. Can we say with absolute certainty that our corporate parent will or will not pull the plug on us? Of course not. But neither can Arrington ("no final decisions have been made"), and neither can his sources, who he declined to identify.

Here at Netscape, we prefer to dwell on the good news. With millions of unique visitors per month, the site is the focus of a growing, enthusiastic community. We have major design initiatives on the schedule for the next year, and will continue to respond to feedback from our large, energetic, sometimes rambunctious membership. We're still here. Should that change, our community will be the first to know.

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Navigator 9 Beta 2 has been released

Chris Finke — Thu, 12 Jul 2007 17:00:00 EST

Netscape is pleased to announce the immediate availability of Netscape Navigator 9.0 Beta 2. The release is now available for download from browser.netscape.com for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Beta 2 addresses the following issues that appeared in Beta 1:

Added URL as a tooltip to Linkpad entries
Added "Reload" to the FAS and Tracker sidebar context menus
Closing the last tab will now close the browser window
Fixed the CFBundleSignature on the Mac DMG
Fixed bug when removing the location bar while customizing the toolbar
Various fixes to in-browser voting
Various performance fixes

Automatic updates have not yet been enabled for Beta 1 users, but they will be available soon.
For a complete list of the new features in Netscape 9, see What's New in Netscape Navigator 9? at browser.netscape.com; you may want to also check out the Netscape Navigator FAQ for information on running Navigator 9 alongside previous Netscape browsers.

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Happy Birthday, Netscape!

James Marcus — Fri, 15 Jun 2007 15:40:00 EST

As strange as it may seem, the "social edition" of Netscape launched exactly one year ago today. We've come a long way since then, with a rapidly expanding community of more than 268,000 members and millions of other weekly visitors. Of course the site itself has continued to change, thanks to our technical and editorial teams--the Netscape you see in 2008 will doubtless look very different from this year's model. But this did feel like an excellent moment to look back and see how we got here.

Alex Rudloff was part of the initial development team back in March 2006, and he recalls that the "social edition" was "largely the brainchild of Jason Calacanis and Brian Alvey. While much of the design and general direction of the site had been laid out prior to my involvement, things really kicked off out at the Viceroy Hotel in Santa Monica, California. We discussed Netscape's early role as a means of discovery for Internet users, current Internet trends, and the unfortunate tarnishing of the brand over the years. It was clear that we all shared the same vision."

To carry out this vision of Netscape as an innovative social new portal, the existing site would have to be totally overhauled. This was a tall order. What's more, the team had only three months to pull it off. "It wasn't easy," says Rudloff. "That kind of schedule had its difficulties, especially for a virtual team. Our hard deadline meant that we were launching no matter what, even if that meant reductions in initial functionality and performance. Frustration, stress, and eventual exhaustion affected both anchors and developers alike. When we launched, though, it was one of the greatest feelings in the world."

Rudloff put in two more months on the project, improving code and security before returning to Blogsmith (he was, in Brian Alvey's phrase, only "on loan" to Netscape.) He continues to be proud of his involvement: "The brand has returned to its role as a discovery mechanism for Internet users of all demographics."

Meanwhile, the site took off with a bang. The top story during the first month, "AOL Copies Digg," took Netscape's corporate parent to task for meddling with the old portal. The second most popular story, "Netscape's Blunder," was equally unforgiving. In a way, this was a tribute to the intense loyalty of Netscape's original user base. Within a week or so, however, other subjects and stories percolated to the top. Guantanamo, Matt Lauer, Microsoft--the community made its areas of interest loud and clear.

By the second month, the focus had widened still further. The titles of the most popular stories said it all: "Worst President In History," "Lance Bass: I'm Gay," "Newt Gingrich Connects The Dots: Says World World III Has Begun." Stories assailing George W. Bush have continued to dominate the hit parade here at Netscape. But other public figures have gotten their moments in the sun, including Martin Luther King, Jr., Steve Irwin, Donald Trump, Cindy Sheehan, and that perennial pincushion Ann Coulter. And while the focus on politics is pretty consistent here, our membership can be notably passionate about other issues. Last month, to choose just a single example, there was a stampede of voting and commentary about that $64,000 question, "Should Prostitution Be Legal?" (And what's our most recent story? That would be number 411,694, "A Special Report on 21st Century Cities," submitted by Netscape member Deidre. Thanks!)

While the community has grown by leaps and bounds, our technical and editorial teams have kept up the pace of innovation. Recent feature launches include the return of My.Netscape and the Netscape Navigator 9.0 browser. We've also added NewsQuake, where the editorial staff blogs about news, culture, and politics. This mingling of old-fashioned editorial content with the brave new world of Web 2.0 is, of course, a work-in-progress. How will it pan out? We invite you to stick around and see.

Where will the site be going next? Tom Drapeau, Director of Netscape and wearer of the Fearless Leader medallion, has this to say: "The future for Netscape looks very bright. We will continue to develop great new products. We will continue to listen to member feedback. We will continue to develop our social news site, which we believe will become the best of its kind on the Web."

Will the audience remain receptive to these innovations? "Netscape members are unlike other groups on the Web," says Drapeau. "And I am extremely flattered by the kind sentiment I have received through feedback channels. Not all the feedback is kind, of course. But the real conversations I have had with people of every stripe have been rewarding. Please, keep it coming! And here's to Netscape's second year being bigger than the first!"

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Navigator 9 Beta has been released

Chris Finke — Tue, 05 Jun 2007 10:15:00 EST

Netscape is pleased to announce the immediate availability of Netscape Navigator 9.0 Beta 1. The release is now available for download from browser.netscape.com for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

Some of Navigator 9's new features are listed below; for a complete list, see What's New in Netscape Navigator 9? at browser.netscape.com; you may want to also check out the Netscape Navigator FAQ for information on running Navigator 9 alongside previous Netscape browsers.

What's New In Navigator 9?

URL Correction

Navigator 9 will automatically correct common typos in URLs. For example, if you accidentally type googlecom, Navigator will fix it be to google.com. The browser will watch for nearly 30 different types of common mistakes and correct them for you (asking you to confirm, if you choose to enable confirmation).

News Menu and Sidebar

The latest news is built right into the browser, under the News menu. Provided by Netscape.com, you can customize this menu to contain only the news sections that you want to monitor.

In-browser voting

Share your opinions with the world! The icons in Navigator's address bar let you share interesting stories you find as well as vote on stories shared by others.

Sidebar mini browser

You've always been able to have bookmarks open in the sidebar, but we've improved this functionality and extended it to all links, not just bookmarks. Additionally, we've added a navigation toolbar to the sidebar for even easier split-screened browsing. Just right-click on a link and select "Open Link in Sidebar" to get started!

Extension Compatibility

Navigator 9 shares its architecture with the latest Mozilla technologies; as such Navigator 9 will allow you to install extensions that are compatible with Firefox 2.

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Introducing NewsQuake!

James Marcus — Mon, 14 May 2007 16:30:00 EST

The Netscape team is very proud to roll out a new feature: NewsQuake. This is where our staff will blog about current events (in the real world and the virtual one), politics, culture, and some of the zanier stories unearthed by our membership. New posts will appear every single day--often more than once a day--and we encourage visitors to stop by, sample the smorgasbord, and leap into the discussion threads.

Frequent visitors may recall that there already exists something called the Netscape Blog. This area of the site has suffered an identity crisis over the past few months. It was originally launched to update the community about the site itself, as well as delivering bulletins about other Netscape products. In January, however, we began to post articles, interviews, and reviews there--and this promiscuous mingling of very different types of content created some major confusion. The Netscape Blog will now revert to its original function, while the staff will blog its collective heart out over at NewsQuake.

Again: we encourage you to stop by NewsQuake. Sample our first salvo of posts--on France's post-electoral hangover, Hillary's sagging profile in the blogosphere, and the pedagogical use of Brokeback Mountain--and let us know what you think. We're listening!

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Flight of the Navigator

Chris Finke — Tue, 01 May 2007 12:40:00 EST

To avoid confusion between the different Netscape products, we have made the decision that the next Netscape-branded browser (previously known only as Netscape 9) will be named Netscape Navigator 9. What's old is new again!

You may ask, "Won't this be confusing as well, since a number of Netscape.com users are known as Navigators?" Yes, that would be confusing. We'll have to do something about that...

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