Monday, November 13, 2000		Article

Navigating Net with Netscape Navigator
by Roli

BROWSER and the Internet are complimentary to each other The Internet has many uses like browsing, chat or e-mail. Most of these, except e-mail, require extensive use of a browser. Basically, a browser is an application-program that provides a way to look at and interact with all information on the World Wide Web. Two most popular browser s being used are Netscape Navigator and Microsoft Internet Explorer.

In this article we will explore Netscape Navigator, while we will navigate the World Wide Web with Internet Explorer in the next issue.

Netscape Navigator is a part of the Netscape Communicator suite that includes palm tools, utilities, AOL messenger, Netscape calendar, Messenger, Composer, Navigator and Winamp. All contents of Netscape communicator are important, as Messenger is Netscape mail whereas the Composer is the Web-publishing software from Netscape that is just like the Microsoft Front page. Utilities contain some important features, which may enhance the value of Netscape Messenger, whereas Winamp is the popular MP3 player. However, the most prominent feature of Communicator suite is Netscape Navigator.

Netscape Navigator is the preferred choice of many Internet users as it is considered safer than the Internet Explorer. Recently, some bugs were reported in the Internet Explorer 5.5, the latest offering from the Microsoft Corporation, which makes it quite vulnerable for intrusion by hackers.

Navigator has a user-friendly interface that makes browsing easy. It is fully customisable and can be changed as per choice. One can prefer to view Navigation toolbar, location toolbar, personal toolbar and floating component bar. One may select not to view any of these features in browser, if required. The user can also select to open the Web pages or any page of choice on opening the Navigator or may even open a blank page. Customise to open any of the components of Communicator, like Composer, Messenger, Calendar, and Navigator, on launching the Communicator. Even the colours and fonts used in Communicator can be customised.

Moreover, one can add as many sites as needed to the bookmark, which is also a great feature. Bookmarks help in storing the site in the memory of the browser and can be called back whenever a book-marked site is opened.

As mentioned earlier, the main features of Netscape Navigator are its user-friendly features that an ordinary user is not normally aware of. One such feature is related to search. If on a search mission, the normal option is to open the search engine and then key in the search. While using Navigator, no one needs to open the search engine as one can simply type search and then the word or phrase in the location bar on the Navigator Window. On pressing Enter, search results can be obtained.

If searching for jobs, type search jobs in the location bar of the Navigator and press Enter. This will automatically use the Netscape search engine and produce the results in Navigator window. That’s not all. At bottom of the Window, it will also give the option to search the specialist search engines like Altavista, Lycos, Hotbot, Ask Jeeves, Excite and Goto for your searching keyword. It makes the searching on the Internet easy.

A browser also performs advanced search by using the same feature. All one needs to add is + for including a key word in search and – for excluding. For example, if you wish to search for jobs in India, then you must type search Jobs + India? On pressing Enter, it will list all sites and Web pages that have key words, jobs and India. To exclude India type Jobs –India.

Alternatively, you can use Search button on the tool bar at the top of the window to search something on the Web.

Another great feature is What’s Related. This option is available just below the Netscape N logo on the top right corner. This contains the related information about the sites; similar to the ones you are presently in. Thus, if you type in www.yahoo.com in the location bar and wish to look at the similar sites, then you can know about all related sites and much more by pressing What’s Related. This is a good utility as it helps tremendously in surfing and searching the Web.

You can also create a Web page using the Navigator and add as many channels on the Web page. All that is needed is to type "My Netscape Centre" in the URL bar or the location bar.

Netscape Navigator is all about convenience. If you do not know the exact URL of a Web site, then the surfer may face some problem, as at times it is difficult to locate the URL. Using the Navigator you even need not remember the URL and easily find the site by using the smart browsing feature.

Smart browsing is available in the Netscape Communicator version 4.06 and above. However, if you have a previous version and still wish to use the smart-browsing feature, then you would be required to add Go before the keyword.

All plugins installed on the browser can be known in Netscape Navigator All you need to do is simply type "About plugins" in the location bar and press Enter. This gives a complete descriptive list of plugins installed in the browser. This may prove useful, as there are a lot of sites that require certain plugins to view its contents.

At times you may require seeing the sites visited. This is easy in Netscape Navigator as a detailed list of all sites visited, including the information like site address, first visited, last visited, expiration, visit counts can be seen just by pressing Ctrl + H together. The list can be sorted by name or location and a specific site can be viewed by using Ctrl + F.

This helps in keeping a track of all sites that have been browsed. If the user thinks this information is too personal to share, he can delete this from the preference window, which can be opened from the Edit menu on the menu bar in the History folder that can be had by pressing Ctrl + H.

Using Netscape mail, one can send Web pages, including the one that is being viewed currently through e-mail. For sending a Web page by e-mail, simply open the Netscape messenger (it should be configured for sending e-mail) and in the composition window, fill in the recipient’s address and then click attach. Now choose the Web page option in the attach menu and fill up the URL of the Web page you wish to send in e-mail. Click send and this will send the Web page by e-mail. Using Netscape Navigator you can select any image from the Web and save it on hard disk. The user can even save it as wallpaper for computer simply by clicking the left mouse button on the image to be saved and choosing the right option from the drop down menu.

Navigator is all about convenience and if one knows the short cuts like the one used for listing the sites previously visited, then the surfing becomes easier. There is another short cut for opening a new Navigator Window instantly. Press Ctrl + N together and this will open a new Navigator Window on the computer screen.