Last update, November 16, 1996
here are very few reasons not
to upgrade to NetScape [and zero reasons not
to try it], and many compelling reasons to do so. It is fast, easy to use, and
very well designed. Many pages are written with NetScape in mind, i.e., it won't look as
good on another browser. This is one of them. Sun's new
Java browser is hot, more interactive, and has some great graphics and special effects, but NetScape is compatible
with the Java applets, its new 3.0 version
supports them. NetScape is compatible with basically all the online services. Here's how
to use NetScape with AOL using Windows 95 or Windows 3.11, and with NetCom at
PC's help page. In case you're interested, NetScape [ticker: NSCP] is now a $4.9 billion [!!!] dollar
company [as of 11/16/96, down from about $6 bln at the peak]. Yes, I know people like the
MS Internet Explorer too, so you
may want to test drive that sucker but I just don't like those guys!!.
ow, unless you do not have standard,
colour video equipment, or are colour blind, I suggest that you follow the following
instructions on configuring your NetScape. Use Latin1 for the encoding. Use a TrueType
font, such as Times New Roman [12] for the proportional font, and Courier New [10] for the
fixed font. Under Colors, use the document's color scheme, i.e., allow the incoming document
to control the colours. For goodness sake, don't use that gray background! Allow links to
be underlined. This is not as important since there are other visual clues that a
link is around anyhow. For you new writers out there, if your document is mostly text, use
a light coloured background with dark text [this page has a white background and black text].
Conversely, your graphics dominated document would appreciate a dark background -- the
pictures will have better contrast. Use this chart for the
proper hexadecimal colour code. Or download this small, freeware HTML Color Picker [45k] [windows]
by Vector Development. Set
Windows to display the most colours, and the highest resolution, possible for your video
card / adapter. The colours will not look correct if you are running your display
adapter at 16 or 256 colours. If your video memory is small, there is normally a tradeoff
between resolution and colours.
are should be used in setting your
browser's window size. Most web pages are written with word wrap, that is, the text will
stretch as long as the window is wide. A browser window that is too wide [normally] results
in l-o-n-g text lines, which are more difficult to read. Yes, this is why newspapers have
columns. A browser window that is too narrow will create a paragraph out of a sentence. And
that ain't no good either! Play with your settings, including your font sizes. I wrote this
page to view under Times New Roman 10 font, with roughly a 10 inch wide browser window [I
am using a 1024 x 768 resolution]. Note that this page will not reformat no
matter how you size your window. So there : )
love the use of frames. It really allows for
well-organised web pages. The moving banner on top is simply a gif89a image. Read more about
this great format at Royale Frazier's
excellent page. Most browsers [yes, of course NetScape] can read this low bandwidth
format. If you run into an infinitely recursing [forever moving] gif, simply hit the Escape
key a few times and the animation will cease. Gif89a also allows for transparency, in which
basically makes it easy to use graphics on different colured backgrounds. For answers to
the question: "Should I use gifs or jpegs?", go to the JPEG Faq. By
the way, that site is the place for
FAQs. Any other questions? Email me.
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