SAN FRANCISCO (11-21-95) - How many two-year-olds do you know that are leading an industry around by the nose? With version 2.0 of its Navigator Web-browsing software, Netscape -- which turns two in April 1996 -- is once again pushing the boundaries of the World Wide Web, offering site designers new ways to deliver in-line information and new tools with which to format Web pages.
Live from Cyberspace
While previous HTML browsers require helper applications to handle data that's more complex than text or an image or two, users of Navigator 2.0 will interact with what Netscape calls Live Objects: in-line viewers and Java applets. In-line viewers are small applications that third-party developers write to Netscape's API. These viewers reside in folders on a user's hard drive and load dynamically to display multimedia content within the Navigator 2.0 window. Since the viewers load within Navigator, not as individual applications, several viewers can execute simultaneously, thanks to Navigator's use of the Thread Manager in the Mac OS. Depending on the whim of the page designer, a viewer can appear in a number of window types and sizes, with or without extra controls to manipulate the data stream. In-line viewers that should be available at the final release of Navigator 2.0 include those for QuickTime/QTVR movies, Adobe Acrobat documents, Macromedia Director files, and RealAudio files. Navigator 2.0 will also run Java applets--mini applications written in Sun Microsystems' Java Programming Language and then embedded in Web pages.
"Enhanced for Netscape Navigator 1.1," a common road sign on the Web, signifies a page built with nonstandard HTML tags -- tags designed by Netscape and supported only by Netscape's browsers. Version 2.0 of Navigator will introduce a new set of page-layout tags that designers can use to divide pages up into multiple, independent regions called frames and ledges. Frames are panels within the Navigator window; each frame displays a separate URL, with designer-optional scroll bars. By creating a ledge, the designer freezes a region of the Navigator window but allows users to scroll through the rest of the page. A ledge is similar to a frame, except that it lacks scroll bars and is intended to be a static area containing controls or graphics that the design er wishes to have constantly available. If they are adopted by Web-site builders, both of these tools promise major changes in both the appearance of Web pages and the way sites are constructed. Designers will be able to lay out pages that contain discrete regions right from Navigator, rather than relying on tricks and hacks to get around HTML, which still handles text much the way a word processor does: from the top down, with the occasional nod to justification or indentation.
Rounding out the new tools available to site developers, Navigator 2.0 also features an object-oriented scripting language. Scripts can be placed within HTML documents and can, for instance, perform actions when a page opens or closes, adjust the way a page looks, validate the contents of fields before a user submits a form, and control embedded Java applets.
Beyond strictly Web-centric improvements, Netscape is touting Navigator 2.0 as the only Internet client you'll ever need. The E-mail and news readers have been completely overhauled and given multipaned interfaces. Users can build HTML E-mail messages, complete with embedded, in-line images; and Navigator 2.0 will support the MIME multimedia extensions for E-mail and news messages. Initially, users won't be able to set up rules-based filters (these are expected in a later version), but users will be able to encrypt and digitally sign Navigator 2.0 E-mail, using Netscape's SSL security technology.
More Than Just Browsers
Several companies have produced tools for HTML editing and page creation, from word processor add-ons to dedicated programs. Netscape will join their ranks this year with Navigator Gold, which adds WYSIWYG content- creation tools to the Navigator 2.0 browsing features. Users will be able to see what their page looks like as they create it and will have access to all Netscape features and extensions, from backgrounds, tables, and forms to frames, ledges, and live objects. Netscape expects the public beta of Navigator Gold to be available in late October, with the shipping version appearing in December for roughly US$79.
Netscape intends to have all of these products appear for the Mac OS and Windows 95 simultaneously, but there are other projects in the works that won't appear on the Mac for six months, if ever. Along with Navigator 2.0 and Gold, Netscape has announced a package of Web-site management and content-development tools titled LiveWire. But since there is currently no Mac OS Netscape server (and no plans for one), Mac site managers shouldn't hold their breath waiting for LiveWire. Slightly closer to reality are two applications Netscape announced earlier this year, for Windows 95: SmartMarks (a bookmark collection and organization tool) and Chat (offering real-time communication over IRC or Netscape Community System). Neither of these applications is expected to be ported to the Mac OS until late in the spring of 1996, although Macintosh users shouldn't despair completely, as Netscape has dramatically improved bookmark handling in Navigator 2.0.
The new functions of Netscape Navigator 2.0 are a gauntlet thrown in the face of nearly every company developing software for the Internet. This is particularly true of the new HTML tags used to implement frames and ledges. Netscape's new tags, Live Objects, and support for Java offer compelling benefits for both site designers and surfers. In the time- honored tradition of toddlers and young technology companies, Netscape has grabbed the ball and is running for the horizon -- daring everyone else to either follow, or get left behind.
[Copyright 1995 Macworld, International Data Group Inc. All rights reserved.]