(Dis)Advantages of IE over Communicator??

[grrl]

I've always used Netscape Communicator instead of IE, partly out of principle and also because I like the interface better. Plus it doesn't change other parts of Windows.

I don't like Netscape 6.0, I prefer the Communicator version, but I'm interested in what people find are the pros and cons of Netscape/Communicator versus IE. My biggest gripe with the browser on Communicator is it crashes pretty often. I don't know if IE is any better.

Any thoughts?

 

[BCYL]

I used to use Netscape too, when 4.7 was the newest version...

The main reason I used Netscape was because it was stable... my IE4 would crash everytime I hit certain websites, while Netscape would just report an error... However I found netscape to be much slower than IE...

After I switched to IE5 and win2k, IE never crashes so I never used Netscape again...

 

[gsaldivar]

Netscape is ass.

Get over the "anti-Microsoft" thing, and give IE a try. You won't be dissapointed.

 

[grrl]

gsaldivar - but can I load IE without the interface affecting other parts of Windows? I load IE 4 before, but I didn't like the new interface and it changed control panel and other parts of Windows. Then I started using 98lite and Netscape.

 

[sandorski]

You may want to check out Netscape 6.2, it's significantly improved over 6.0.

Anyway, Netscape 4.7x is slow on a good cable or DSL connection, but I found it to be a lot faster on a modem connection generally speaking. NS 4.7x has superior Bookmark/Favorites handling, which has been made default in NS 6.2(available in 6.0, but you had to do some tweaking). NS 6.2 is faster than IE 5.5, but I haven't tried IE 6.x in comparison.

Checkout NS 6.2.

 

[Zebo]

One major disadvantage is when you right click>>Open in new window. It will open a new window in the "restore down" position unlike Netscape which always opens full screen. I use netcaptor now. I costs 30 but well worth it.

 

[gsaldivar]

I've only noticed *very* minor changes to the OS UI when I upgraded to IE 6.

I'm running W2K - I'd imagine if you are running an older OS, you might have more visible changes.

Whether the old interface is worth putting up with an unstable browser is a personal choice. My advice is to either get used to the new interface, or maybe search for middleware such as "skins" which will provide the same look/functionality of the old UI that you prefer.

At any rate - IE 6 is stable as a rock for me. I had to use Communicator/Composer for a class project a few weeks ago and I couldn't believe just how unstable and sloppy the programming really was. MS might be the company people love to hate, but they still make good software from time to time..

Good luck!

 

[stndn]

i mainly use netscape 4.7x, and not 6.x version because they are bloated
i also use msie and mozilla, but they are my least used browser

i'm typing this on msie because the forum works better with msie (netscape having problems with tables -- see below). but on a regular basis, netscape is what i use the most (browsing + email)

anyways...

< netscape mode on >
netscape is better because:
- better bookmark management (one file "bookmark.html" instead of multiple files for each link)
- better bookmark layout (span in multiple columns instead of having to scroll down if more than one page)
- does not take the OS down if the browser crash
- loads webpages a little faster than msie (i did some tests a while back). it only looks slow (esp on pages with lots of images and/or tables, etc) since it waits for all files to be loaded before displaying them to you (vs msie which displays file contents on the fly)
- can be safely uninstalled without affecting the OS
- integrated email client which is less virus prone
- built in wysiwyg html editor
- shows you how many percentage of file is loaded before the page is 100% completed
- safer in terms of virus attack (msie: activeX can be malicious)
- some javascript won't work, which is good (imagine webpages that adds their URL to your bookmark or set themselves as homepage and won't let you change it by editing your registry)

from a webmaster point of view:
- if there is an error in the HTML coding, the webpage won't be displayed. this is good because then you can detect that there is an error before sending the page out to public (vs msie that put the fixes for you, so it may look all nice when you test them, but crap out when netscape opens the page)

< netscape mode off >

msie is better because:
- loads "faster" than msie (not really true, since it's started with windows -- try starting msie on mac and compare the loading time to netscape)
- fix some html for you so the page will still display even if there are some missing html tags, etc
- more funtionalities added since the previous version (eg: layer, css, etc)
- render pages as they are loaded, so you can start looking at some stuffs on the webpage while they load (vs netscape that waits until you load everything before displaying it). only true for tables and images
- shows you how many items remaining before the webpage is loaded 100% (in the status bar)
- better bookmark management: bookmarks can be edited without going to the editor (just right click)
- crash less compared to netscape (but when it does, it takes your OS with you)


there are some more, but i'm too tired to type them up right now ...
tried to find the link where i posted this before, but couldn't find it ... oh well ....

-844-

 

[Elledan]

<< msie is better because:
- loads "faster" than msie (not really true, since it's started with windows -- try starting msie on mac and compare the loading time to netscape)
- fix some html for you so the page will still display even if there are some missing html tags, etc >>

This makes IE worse IMO. And yes, I'm a webmaster.


<< - more funtionalities added since the previous version (eg: layer, css, etc) >>

Mozilla (and NS 6.x) have the same functionality.


<< - render pages as they are loaded, so you can start looking at some stuffs on the webpage while they load (vs netscape that waits until you load everything before displaying it). only true for tables and images >>

Never noticed this.


<< - shows you how many items remaining before the webpage is loaded 100% (in the status bar) >>

Useful? Not really.


<< - better bookmark management: bookmarks can be edited without going to the editor (just right click) >>

Mozilla/NS offers the same functionality. Mozilla/NS 6.x even has drag & drop capability in its Sidebar


<< - crash less compared to netscape (but when it does, it takes your OS with you) >>

I've seen IE crash more often than NS/Mozilla (aside from the early and Beta builds). Right now Mozilla (which is my standard browser) crashes very seldom, even though I'm using nightly builds only at the moment.

 

[grrl]

Thanks for the post stndn!

 

[stndn]

bah ... i know i'm always confusing people .....
that's what i got for working 10 hours a day ...

====
<< msie is better because:
- loads "faster" than msie (not really true, since it's started with windows -- try starting msie on mac and compare the loading time to netscape)
- fix some html for you so the page will still display even if there are some missing html tags, etc >>
This makes IE worse IMO. And yes, I'm a webmaster.
====
actually, what i mean was that people think msie is better because of the above. people will think msie loads faster and thus better, whereas it's actually not true (it's loaded with windows OS)
and the second, people think it's better because with msie automatically "fixing" the broken html, people will think that msie display webpages better and msie cannot handle missing tags, etc.
of course we know that it's not true, since webmasters who only test and support msie won't catch the simple errors that msie "fix" on the fly...


====
<< - more funtionalities added since the previous version (eg: layer, css, etc) >>
Mozilla (and NS 6.x) have the same functionality.
====
yes they do, but msie renders them better (esp layers) than netscape 6.x/mozilla do.
or maybe they do the same, but i haven't realized them yet (i don't use 6.x, and mozilla is only used less than 10% of the time).
actually, maybe i shouldn't comment on this one since i don't have background info on this ...


====
<< - render pages as they are loaded, so you can start looking at some stuffs on the webpage while they load (vs netscape that waits until you load everything before displaying it). only true for tables and images >>
Never noticed this.
====
try dialup and open a big page with tables (or actually, try dialup and open any threads on this forum).
you will notice that netscape will wait until everything in the table is loaded (including the subscribe/email/pm/profile/print icons) before it displays one table (including the message text), whereas msie will display the message text, and then display the icons as they are loaded
if you open a text-only page, you won't notice it.
again, a webpage with tables and lots of images will show you what i mean (plus dialup really helps)


====
<< - shows you how many items remaining before the webpage is loaded 100% (in the status bar) >>
Useful? Not really.
====
can be useful if you're on dialup and wondering if you're done loading a page or not .....
at least i think it is (eg: you load a page full of images and you wonder how many images left that has not been displayed, since it's already taking 5 minutes to load most of the pics -- useful when browsing "certain websites" )


====
<< - better bookmark management: bookmarks can be edited without going to the editor (just right click) >>
Mozilla/NS offers the same functionality. Mozilla/NS 6.x even has drag & drop capability in its Sidebar
====
don't know ... i always have to go to "manage bookmark" to edit the link (cannot click on bookmark, right click on link, and edit from there). haven't tried sidebar yet since that's always the first thing i remove from my view (taking up too much space, imo)


====
<< - crash less compared to netscape (but when it does, it takes your OS with you)>>
I've seen IE crash more often than NS/Mozilla (aside from the early and Beta builds). Right now Mozilla (which is my standard browser) crashes very seldom, even though I'm using nightly builds only at the moment.
====
mozilla crash less, but netscape crash more often than msie for me (or maybe because i use netscape more than msie? or because you're using netscape 6.x and i'm on netscape 4.78?)
but try to browse "certain sites" with lots of popups, and your browser will crash in no time


grrl: you're welcome (or is it welcomed?)
there are some more discussed on off-topic forum a few months back -- search didn't give me any result so i didn't post the longer list i had last time -- maybe tomorrow i can think of more (if necessary)



-845-

 

[Zebo]

<< < netscape mode on > and < netscape mode off > >>



What did you mean by this?

 

[stndn]

<<

<< < netscape mode on > and < netscape mode off > >>



What did you mean by this? >>



nothing, really ...
just trying my best to support netscape, that's all ... and the netscape mode on/off just adds some boost to the advantages of netscape over msie

please disregard .... my brain was dead at that time

-846-

 

[Nothinman]

Mozilla kicks ass, I've been using it as my main browser for months. I don't remember the last time I was forced to startup IE. Netscape 6+ is just a repackaged Mozilla with AOL crap and it's usually worse than the current mozilla because it's older.

 

[Agent004]

NS 6.2 loads faster than IE 5.5 ? You're sure?

If so I am interested and will try it out. NS 6.0 loads way slower (even when it's in cache) but rendering pages is just a little bit slower than IE

Can someone tell me more about Mozilla?

 

[stndn]

again, i don't know netscape 6.x (don't really like it), but on netscape 4.78, pages load faster than msie 5.5

try this website. the difference will show up best on a modem connection -- open in msie and netscape (one after the other -- don't open both at the same time).

using msie 5.5, you can start reading the pages before everything is loaded, so it looks as if msie loads faster
using netscape 4.7x, you will have to wait until a big portion of the webpage is loaded (since they use tables a lot), so it will look as if netscape loads slower

but if you count the time to load 100% (until the msie globe stops spinning or the netscape meteor stops falling), you will see netscape is faster

and yes, i am a netscape (pre-aol) fanboy and junior msie basher

-848-

 

[Kingofcomputer]

<< I use netcaptor now. I costs 30 but well worth it. >>

What's the advantages of netcaptor make it worth to pay $30 to get it?

 

[Sleater]

Netscape 4.77 is my default browser. I also use IE 5.5 and Netscape 6.1.

The only problem, to me, with NS nowadays is sloppily made homemade websites sometimes don't work properly in NS, but IE can render them.

NS requires tight accurate html code while IE is very unforgiving.

NS 6.1 is quite nice and totally stable (NS 4.7x doesn't crash my system but sometimes needs to be ctrl-alt-del to close the program and re-open it when it gets glitchy). The only thing I don't like about 6.1 is that the bookmarks don't cascade like 4.7x.

Does anyone know if NS 6.2 has the cascading bookmarks?

 

[stndn]

netscape 6.x has the scrolling bookmark a-la msie
same with mozilla as well
(another reason i keep my netscape 4.78 < recently upgraded from 4.75 > )

i just hope they realize how bad that is, and revert to the old sideways bookmark style (or better yet, have user being able to choose which style of bookmark they want to use)

-851-

 

[n0cmonkey]

<< Mozilla kicks ass, I've been using it as my main browser for months. I don't remember the last time I was forced to startup IE. Netscape 6+ is just a repackaged Mozilla with AOL crap and it's usually worse than the current mozilla because it's older. >>



If Mozilla supported all of my platforms I would use almost NOTHING else. (omniweb has its uses on my Mac). It may not be the best, but with the autostart (or whatever it is called) feature it is just as fast as loading as IE.

 

[flenn]

Is Netscape still around?

 

[Agent004]

<< using msie 5.5, you can start reading the pages before everything is loaded, so it looks as if msie loads faster
using netscape 4.7x, you will have to wait until a big portion of the webpage is loaded (since they use tables a lot), so it will look as if netscape loads slower >>



Actually, if it can't render the page as it go, then it's slow. So NS still has the table problem, I stick to ie5.5 until ie 6 sp 1 comes out

 

[Zebo]

<<

<< I use netcaptor now. I costs 30 but well worth it. >>

What's the advantages of netcaptor make it worth to pay $30 to get it? >>



I runs off IE so to speak since explorer is always running it puts a nice shell on top of it and acts as your browser.

-Very fast
-Captor groups
-Browsers tabs which are very confiqureable
--opens new links in these tabs MAXimized unlike explorer


Download it and you'll see after awile why it's worth it

 

[elimcpheron]

hey stndn:

how do you include the number of your post in your post... eg: you have -851-

do you do that in your head?

 

[dukdukgoos]

If you don't want to use IE, use Netscape 6.2 or Opera 6. Both are very nice...infinitely better than Netscape 4.x.