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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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...

Figure 1: Wil's blog: Wil Wheaton dot Net

He's been lurking in the shadows for two months now, but I'm very happy to formally announce that Wil Wheaton has joined the Netscape Navigator team. Here's the post on Netscape, linking to his own in-exile tale of how he joined our team. Wil is well known for his acting, but I think he's better known on the Internet for being an outspoken individual who really loves blogging, technology, and participating in Internet culture in as many ways as possible. In short, he gets what's good about the web. As such, I think he's a perfect fit for our team and I'm happy to welcome him aboard.

You can check out all Wil's great submissions on his profile page. And make sure you check out his contributions on Del.icio.us, Digg, Reddit, and Fark, and his blogging on TV Squad, Card Squad, and his own "temporary" blog. Also, check out some of his video work over at Revision3.