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.

It has been established that Netscape 9 will be based on Firefox 2.0. One of the greatest things about Firefox is its community of extension developers - if you want a feature that is not built into the browser, chances are that someone has written an extension to add it. We've even released several extensions of our own for people who use Firefox with Netscape.com.

However, chances are that you've run into an extension you'd like to install, only to find that it's not compatible with your browser version. This is because extension authors must test and update their extension every time a new browser version comes out to ensure that it works properly with that version of the browser.

Since Netscape 9 will share an architecture with Firefox 2, it is very likely that most Firefox 2 extensions will work in Netscape 9 without modification. This is why Netscape 9 will allow you to install extensions that list Firefox 2 as a compatible version but do not explicitly list Netscape as well. This feature will give all users of Netscape 9 immediate access to Firefox's wealth of custom extensions without having to wait for each author to update the extension's compatibility file.

We've updated the Friends' Activity Sidebar Firefox extension to include the option to be notified of your friends' votes (in addition to their stories and comments). To use this new feature, install version 1.1 of the extension from Mozilla Addons, and after restarting your browser, open the FAS options dialog via Tools > Add-ons > Netscape Friends' Activity Sidebar > Options. Check the "Notify me of new votes by my friends." box and click OK.

Today we released two Firefox extensions that hook into Netscape.com: the Sitemail Notifier extension and the Friends' Activity Sidebar. We hope that these extensions will allow you to get even more value out of Netscape. Both extensions are compatible with Firefox 1.5 through 2.0.0.* as well as the latest release of Flock.

Sitemail Notifier

The Sitemail Notifier extension adds a button (shown below) to your toolbar that indicates when you have new sitemail messages at Netscape.com. Clicking the button will bring you to your messages page.


Figure 1: The two main states of the sitemail button.

Friends' Activity Sidebar

The Friends' Activity Sidebar (FAS) extension helps you keep tabs on what stories your Netscape friends are submitting and commenting on. A new toolbar button (shown below) features Chad, the older, more mature brother of AOL's little yellow chat mascot. When there is new activity by your friends (i.e., a new comment or a new story submission), the button will be activated and Chad will send a friendly wave your way. Clicking on the activated button will open a list of your friends' activity in the sidebar, allowing you to easily browse their stories and comments. Each time you view your friends' activity, you will only be shown activity that is new since the last time you opened the sidebar.


Figure 2: The two main states of the FAS button.

Note: The sidebar limits activity to five stories/comments for each friend. To view more of a friend's recent activity, click on their avatar or username to be sent to that friend's profile.


Figure 3: The Friends' Activity Sidebar

Suggestions for future extensions or improvements on these extensions are most definitely welcome.