Netscape Navigator 9.0.0.6 on Windows Vista displaying the main page of the English Wikipedia |
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| Developer(s) | Netscape Communications AOL |
| Development status | Discontinued as of March 1, 2008 |
| Written in | C++ |
| Operating system | Cross-platform |
| Type | Web browser |
| License | Proprietary |
Netscape Navigator 9 is a web browser produced by the Netscape Communications division of parent AOL, first announced on January 23, 2007. After AOL outsourced the development of Netscape Browser 8 to Mercurial Communications in 2004, Netscape Navigator 9 marked the first Netscape browser to be produced in-house since Netscape 7.[1]
It also saw the return of the classic Navigator name, which was previously used between Netscape versions 1.0 and 4.08.[2]
The program's first beta was released on June 5, 2007,[3] with the Beta 2 on July 12,[4] and Beta 3 on August 16.[5] After a release candidate, the final release was issued on October 15, 2007.
On December 28, 2007, Netscape developers announced that AOL would discontinue their web browser on February 1, 2008.[6] On January 28, 2008, Netscape revised this date to March 1, 2008, and offered support for migration to Flock and Mozilla Firefox.[7]
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The Beta releases of Netscape Navigator 9 includes enhanced newsfeed support and was more integrated with the Netscape.com Internet portal,[8] including enhanced methods of discussion, submission and voting of web pages.[9] However as of Netscape Navigator 9 beta 3, the Netscape.com integration is now optional, and certain aspects of integration can be manually enabled or disabled,[10] with integration being totally removed in Navigator 9.0rc1 as the portal relaunched as Propeller.[11]
The user interface of the program has also been updated, and the theme was also later released for use on Mozilla Firefox.[12]
Like Netscape version 8.x, Navigator 9 is based upon the Mozilla Firefox, this time version 2.0, and should have full support of all Firefox add-ons and plugins, some of which Netscape is providing.[13] Netscape has also been releasing some of its features as extensions for Firefox, including the Site Mail Notifier and Friends' Activity Sidebar, the Digg Tracker, as well as Netstripe, the new default theme for Netscape 9.
The browser also includes URL self-correction, which corrects common URL misspellings,[14][15] an improved FTP listing interface[16] and a dedicated News menu with integration to the Netscape.com news portal.[17] A quick "link pad" has also been included so web pages can quickly be added to the pad for later viewing without adding to the bookmark lists.[18] Navigator 9 also sees the browser return to multi-platform support across Windows, Linux and Mac OS X.[19] Netscape's signature splash screen also reappeared in the release candidate of the final program.
Unlike Netscape 8, the browser does not use Internet Explorer 6's Trident layout engine as an alternative engine option, alongside various other additional features.
Netscape Navigator did not include an email and newsgroups client or an instant messaging client as Netscape 6 and 7 did. Netscape did, however, plan to produce a companion email client to complement the Navigator, confirmed as Netscape Messenger 9.[20][21] While that software was in production, Netscape advised its users to use the Netscape 7 series of suites, which includes an email client, alongside Navigator 9 for browsing purposes.[18]
A new verse 8:20 of the Easter egg The Book of Mozilla was written for the release of Netscape 9, consisting of "And thus the Creator looked upon the beast reborn and saw that it was good". This could have reference either to the re-development of Netscape in-house once again, or the Mozilla Foundation and its contributors.[22]
CNET Download.com claims Navigator 9 has some "neat" components, contains many "tricks we love" and is "more than a backup browser"; which they previously used to describe Browser 8. Most of the bundled features from version 8 have been removed.[23]
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| Preceded by Netscape Browser (8) |
Netscape Navigator 9 (final) |
Succeeded by development ceased replaced by Mozilla Firefox and Flock |
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