20 Years Since Netscape Navigator 1.0

Screen shot of the Netscape 1.0N browser information page.

Twenty years ago today, Netscape Communications Corporation released version 1.0 of Navigator, the browser that became synonymous with the web (for the general public). Well, really the general public (and most developers) referred to the browser as Netscape, not by its real name, Navigator.

Based on Mosaic, Navigator quickly replaced the now not-so-cool Mosaic on my work and personal computer, and made Lynx look downright boring. It also presented the world with the creepy pulsing N, which was thankfully replaced pretty quickly. The first release also provided us with the familiar broken image icon that would persist until Internet Explorer's ubiquity usurped it.

Navigator persisted for more than thirteen years after that release, through the ups and downs of the oddly-named browser wars, until it was finally scuttled by its last owner, AOL, on December 28, 2007. AOL released security updates until March 1, 2008, marking the last update Navigator would ever see.

In honor of the browser where I cut my teeth learning all about the web, I grabbed the Navigator 1.0 release from the evolt.org browser archive (Mac and Windows 16-bit only, sorry, and it's the 1.0N release) and installed it on a shaky WindowsXP virtual machine. Unsurprisingly, trying to surf anywhere with it was a mess. The browser pre-dated frames, cookies, HTML tables (support came in 1.1), JavaScript, and support for any of the robust features of HTTP.

Screen capture of Wikipedia in Netscape 1.0.

Screen capture of Yahoo in Netscape 1.0.

Interestingly, Navigator was first released as free software, only to walk it back a couple months later. The Wikipedia post spends a couple sentences on this:

Netscape announced in its first press release (13 October 1994) that it would make Navigator available without charge to all non-commercial users, and beta versions of version 1.0 and 1.1 were indeed freely downloadable in November 1994 and March 1995, with the full version 1.0 available in December 1994. Netscape's initial corporate policy regarding Navigator is interesting, as it claimed that it would make Navigator freely available for non-commercial use in accordance with the notion that Internet software should be distributed for free.

However, within 2 months of that press release, Netscape apparently reversed its policy on who could freely obtain and use version 1.0 by only mentioning that educational and non-profit institutions could use version 1.0 at no charge.

If the history of browser is something you find interesting, Wikipedia has this handy timeline of web browsers dating back to 1990. On the plus side, this is an SVG file, so you can zoom in to read it. Eric Meyer has a more structured browser timeline, but it doesn't start until 1996.

"Timeline of web browsers" by ADeveria - Own work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

Interestingly, I don't use Netscape Navigator (any release) at all anymore, but I do still fire up Lynx a few times a month.

Netscape Navigator 2.01 Celebrates 16th Anniversary

As of March 18, 2011 Netscape Navigator version 2.01 has turned 16 years old. Back when it was released in 1996 it was the bees knees. It introduced JavaScript (originally LiveScript), Java support, plug-ins, an email client, auto-dithering, and Live3D. It also provided support for font color, div, wrap, sup, sub and textarea elements/attributes. It even gave us support for the (now cool again) animated GIF.

While I wanted to write this up last year, by the time I remembered to I couldn't get data for 2011 (Navigator 2's 15^th anniversary). Now that I let it lapse, however, I have data from 2011 to use for my screen shots.

Top 10 Sites of 1996 in Navigator 2.02

What I have done is gone back and looked at the most visited domains in 1996 — the year that Netscape 2 was making it big (2.0 came out in September of 1995, but factor time for adoption and sites to adapt, and 1996 represents more of the Netscape 2 world). I fired up my copy of Netscape 2.02 (which you can get from the evolt.org browser archive), set it to 640 x 480, and went about visiting the modern versions of the top 10 sites of 1996. You may note that some have gone away. Clicking the image will bring you to a larger size.

Top 10 Sites of 2011 in Navigator 2.02

If somehow you were resigned to using Navigator 2 for your surfing needs today, how much could you get done? Many sites try to serve XHTML and won't even render, other sites rely on JavaScript and won't render. Most sites use CSS so you won't see much layout. And if a site uses PNG images then you won't see many inline pictures, either. I did, however, assume a new monitor for our 1996-era user and scaled the window up to 1,024 x 768. Mostly so you could see a little more of the page. I surfed to the top 10 sites from July 2011 as determined by ads served (so my blog won't be in there).

Bonus for 16 Years of Animated GIFs

As you watch this video from PBS, remember that Netscape Navigator 2 really made animated GIFs possible by adding support for and popularizing it, now re-popularized in some odd hipster fascination with low-tech fun (on JS-only sites, of course).

Please don't say Jiff, it's Ghiff. Otherwise you should call it the Jraphic Interchange Format, and that's just silly. Unless you're a hipster too cool to use the accepted name and too young to remember its introduction.

Conclusion

Browsers from 1996 are fun.

Related

• Everything Will Be the New IE6

Update: October 14, 2014

Netscape is ten years old now, and Engadget covered it back in May: Whatever happened to Netscape?.

Everything Will Be the New IE6

There seems to be no shortage of people making a comparison to Internet Explorer version 6, or IE6, as the simplest way to declare that something is an impediment to progress. Sometimes the criticism is levied with the understanding that at one point IE6 was the bees knees (In praise of Internet Explorer 6), but more and more people forget that and just treat it, and by extension the subject of the comparison, with derision.

Here are some examples with the comparison right in the title, blithely link-baiting the unsuspecting reader:

• Is Google Chrome the New IE6?, December 2, 2011.
• JVM 5 is the new IE 6, October 31, 2011.
• Browser Market Pollution: IE[x] is the new IE6, September 27th, 2011.
• iPad Is the New IE6, January 31, 2011.
• IE 8 is the new IE 6, October 11, 2010.
• The iPhone is the new Internet Explorer 6, says mobile developer, February 8, 2010.

I'm not challenging the validity of these articles, some of them make some very good points and the comparison is apt. Having listened to non-tech people (the ones who use "HTML5" in conversation the way they used "DHTML") start to make these comparisons without any historic context, I think it's about time we as web developers came up with a new metaphor to flog. I kinda wish it was Netscape Navigator 2.

Remember Netscape Navigator 2, which brought us all sorts of innovations such as frames, cookie management, and JavaScript (nee LiveScript)?

People don't use Netscape Navigator 2 as an insult/comparison the same way because that browser didn't last more than 10 years in the wild (despite my best efforts), not to mention far too many people have never even heard of it now. IE6, on the other hand, has persisted thanks to too many developers targeting the browser instead of the standard, making corporate IT departments reluctant to move users to the next release. Let's not count the tie to the operating system and the inherent fear of upgrading from some sub-set of users.

Whatever your gripe with a technology, I think it's about time we only made the IE6 comparison when it is appropriate, not as a catch-all to something we don't like or that we think is making our job harder.

So let's start comparing things to Netscape Navigator 2 (Netscape 2, Navigator 2, NN2, NS2 and whatever other variants you want). Let's free IE6 from this burden and perhaps it will slip away into the night.

Somewhat Related on this Blog

• Microsoft Promoting the Death of IE6
• Enough about the Death of the Web