Netscape 5 alpha

It is no secret that I dislike Web pages that use unnecessary plugins and graphics, especially if the site's reason for being is to provide facts. If, for example, a local government Web site is there to offer information on its services then it has no business forcing visitors to download Shockwave when straightforward HTML will do. And then, of course, there are the sites that make use of unique, proprietary features supported by one particular version of a browser. If you have been responsible for a "Best viewed with ....." type of site, then be afraid - be very afraid. Netscape 5 will put a stop to all of that!

Netscape 5, also known as Mozilla, will play it by the book. If an HTML tag is not in the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) "rule book", then Mozilla will ignore it. So non-standard browser features and HTML short cuts are out. Even features that are unique to earlier versions of Netscape - and that includes layers - are out.

Web designers still have plenty of time to check their site before Netscape 5 is officially launched. Developer versions have been available for some time but now M13 (standing for Milestone 13), a relatively stable alpha version, can be downloaded from the Mozilla site (http://www.mozilla.org/) so that designers can check the behaviour and appearance of their pages.

Not everyone will immediately change to the new browser when it is released, but it is dangerous to assume that IE will maintain its leadership in the browser wars. Remember that Netscape is now owned by AOL and will no doubt be shipped on AOL installation disks and upgrades, and there are a lot of AOL users. But are there any advantages to switching from Netscape 4 or Internet Explorer?

To start with the software is much more compact, is faster to load and displays pages more quickly than Netscape 4 and IE. In fact it is almost as fast as Opera (http://www.opera.com/).

Another feature is that it is modular: the email, newsreader and composer are quite separate and can be omitted from the installation if you so desire.

Initially, the general appearance of the version that I looked at gave me a bit of a shock as it looked totally different from Netscape 4, but this impression was largely due to changes in colour and alterations to some of the graphics. Looking through the preferences, where you can change the appearance of the browser, there are various "themes" from which you can choose. With my version of M13 there was "Purple and Blue", "That 70's chrome"(!) and "Classic 4.x", so you can always convert it into a Netscape 4 look-alike if you start suffering withdrawal symptoms.

When you get down to looking in the menu bar, the options are very similar to N4 so Netscape fans will not have to learn a whole new series of commands. There are some additions and a few options have moved. For example "Find in Page" has moved from under the Edit option to a new Search option. (Find in Page enables you to look for individual words or phrases in the currently displayed Web page). The separate Search option also enables you to find words in your Bookmarks, email messages, Usenet postings stored on your PC and in your address book.

Other useful additions include an import IE favorites facility, an IE style side-bar that can be easily customised, options under View so that you can quickly enlarge and reduce font sizes, the ability to switch character sets (for example from Western to Cyrillic fonts), and a translation option. At present only translation pairs involving English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese and Spanish are supported. The option was not actually working in my alpha version so I can't tell you more about the Who, How and How-good-is- it?

So should you all go off and download M13?

Mozilla/N5 M13 is not intended to be a fully functional every-day browser, so if that is all you are interested in then don't bother. Wait for a beta version - preferably number one or two down the line. If, however, you are responsible for a Web site and you are now starting to panic re accessibility via N5 then perhaps you should pay a visit to www.mozilla.org. BUT.....because it is just an alpha version it is not a straightforward, standard Win 9x installation process. (Rest assured that beta and full release versions will be). You may need to download and install additional files and if you are in any doubt at all about what you are doing, seek advice from your IT bods or don't do it all.

Should you have a look at Netscape 5 when it is officially launched? Yes! Yes! Yes! Even if you are an IE fan, it is worth a try. So far, I like what I see: it has a good mix of old features and significant new functionality. And a really nice feature about all the Netscapes is that you can have more than one version loaded onto your PC, which means that you can always leave N3 or 4 installed to access those essential but awkward, non-standard sites.

If you should find that one or more of your favourite sites does not work in N5 then complain to the owners of the site! It's the content that matters and any web designer worth their salt can create a site that can be viewed with any browser.

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Information Resources

Updated Sites

News Sources (http://www.rba.co.uk/sources/news.htm)

Financial Times (http://www.ft.com/)
The ft.com site has undergone yet another makeover and this one is significant. For starters, you do not have to enter a password and ID unless you want to look at charged-for articles in the Global Archive. This means that you can wander round most of the site without having to worry about registration. This has had a knock-on effect in many of the search engines. Now that free information in ft.com is no longer password protected a search in, for example, Google will include current ft.com articles.

The most obvious change, though, is the home page. It is totally different from previous versions so you will have to start hunting for your favourite sections all over again :-((

The Global Archive is my most frequent port of call on ft.com so it was good to see that it now has a prominent place on the front page. A search in the Global Archive gives, as well as a list of articles in the archive, any information that is available on your subject or company in pages on the current ft.com pages, and relevant sites that it has found on the Web.

Also on the front page is an option to browse the FT Business Directory. This is powered by Inktomi but I have yet to find out how the sites are selected for inclusion in the directory. It does come up with useful listings but is idiosyncratic at times. If you browse the index and, for example, select Industries, Consumer Industries and then Food producers & processors you are given a list of just nine sites. Two are food industry portals, one is the Irish the food board, another the Hungarian Society for food Industry but the only company that is listed is Procter & Gamble. I suspect that I am not using the site in the right way so more investigation on my part is needed, I think.

The Times (http://www.the-times.co.uk/)
The Times has at long last resurrected its search engine but only for issues going back to January 1st, 2000. If are looking for articles before then, you still have to browse the archive issue by issue. Alternatively do a search on the FT Global Archive to locate the date of the Times article and then go to The Times and browse the relevant issue until you find your article.

New Sites

One of the requests that we receive for information is comparisons of UK offshore interest rates. This one first came from one of our training course delegates about 12-18 months ago but resurfaces every 4-5 months. We have now added three Web sites that cover this area to our Miscellaneous section (http://www.rba.co.uk/sources/misc.htm)

Moneynet Offshore (http://www.moneynet-offshore.com/)
The best of the three to date, and one that was found quite recently by the original requester.

Offshore.net (http://www.offshore.net/)
An Interactive Investor site that covers offshore investments across the world.

Moneyworld offshore rates (http://www.moneyworld.co.uk/rates/general/offshore.html)
To find all of the offshore pages on Moneyworld, go to the home page (http://www.moneyworld.co.uk/) and type offshore into the local search engine.

And finally, a set of pages that will shortly be heading a new section in our Business Sources entitled "Keeping up to date":

Keeping your research up to date - Current Awareness Services (http://www.lboro.ac.uk/library/aware/index.html)
Compiled by Alison McNab at Loughborough University, this is an excellent collection of links and information on how to keep up with changes to Web sites, news, books and anything else that is new on the Internet!

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These things are sent to try us!

Buying Software Online

There was a time when registering and paying for your software was straightforward. You handed over the money in one form or another, received a registration code or "unlock" key and typed it into the relevant box when you next started up the program. It was nice and easy but also open to abuse: there was nothing to stop a person using the same "key" to unlock copies of the program on more than one PC. It is not surprising, therefore, that more complex procedures have been adopted by many online vendors.

The Good News

I first noticed that things were getting a little more complicated when I registered a copy of DreamWeaver 1.2 a couple of years ago. I used the online registration form and my credit card - all safely encrypted - and the registration process automatically installed my registration details and numbers onto my PC. All totally painless at the time but I did have problems when the PC concerned died a horrible death and I had to reload DreamWeaver onto a new machine. I found a backup copy of DreamWeaver and installed it but there was no way I could enter my registration details. Luckily the DreamWeaver staff were very helpful and as I had all my original registration details to hand they were able to give me detailed instructions on how to get back up and running.

It was with some trepidation, though, that I recently decided to tackle upgrading to DreamWeaver 3. Armed with my credit card I logged onto the Macromedia site, quickly found the appropriate page and entered my details plus credit card number (again all safely encrypted). Once that was done, I was invited to download an upgrade file. It was a piece of cake. Only about 700K in size ("Amazingly compact upgrade" I said to myself) and I thought I was home and dry.

I double clicked on the downloaded file and the next couple of screens made it clear that this file merely checked that I already had a registered copy of the program, initiated the download of the new package (I can't remember how big it was but it took about 45 minutes) and then installed the new version. Nevertheless, the procedure was relatively painless and there were no technical hitches. Unfortunately my next attempt at online registration was not so easy.

The Bad News

I had installed PaintShop Pro 6.2 from a magazine CD and decided to register it online. I logged onto the JASC site, found the relevant page and was taken to Digital River who manage the online purchasing side of things for PSP. I filled in my credit card details and then a window popped up offering me two options: one that involved something called ebot and the other a straightforward "http" download.

I decided to try the ebot but nothing happened. At first I thought that I needed to actually install the ebot myself onto my PC but the information on the screen suggested that it should happen automatically. I checked that I was accepting cookies, that Java and JavaScript were enabled but still no activity.

"OK. Let's try the http download" I thought.

I clicked on the link and got an error message telling me that there was a missing piece of data and that I should contact support quoting "Error content 55". It was Sunday, so I could forget that. I was NOT a happy bunny!

I logged off and had a think. I use Netscape 4 and I began to wonder if I could get the ebot to download if I used Internet Explorer 5. I decided to give it a go having first enabled Active-X (a sackable offence in my company but then I am the boss!). I managed to make my way to the download site but had to enter part of my credit number and my customer number, which had by now been sent to me by email. I was then admitted into the download area. Once there, the ebot thing installed itself and then proceeded to download all 16MB of PaintShop Pro 6.2, which I already had on my machine. There is no option, I have been told since, that lets you instruct the ebot to set up just the registration details.

One hour later and PSP was installed and registered, but I did not like what I saw of the ebot. It remained on my machine and asked me if I wanted it to monitor various Web sites for updates. It had wormed its way into just about every nook and cranny on my machine and looked ominously like Big Brother. ebot had to go! I uninstalled it, searched through the entire hard disk and registry and expunged every reference to it. I heaved a huge sigh of relief.

Am I prepared to go through this again?

I doubt it. If this machine crashes, I face the prospect of contacting the help desks and asking for special instructions on how to legitimise the reloaded copies of their programs. If I had bought the software on CD it would have been more expensive (you often get a discount if you buy and download via the Internet) but it will save me a lot of time and hassle if something goes wrong with one of my PCs.

If, despite this tale of woe, you do decide to register and buy software online do make sure that you print out Web pages with reference numbers and purchase details. Also print off any emails that are sent to you confirming the purchase. These all contain essential registration and customer numbers that you will need if anything goes wrong during the initial installation procedure or at a later date. Loose these and you are back to a very expensive square one.

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Meetings and Workshops

March 30th, Business Information on the Internet
Presenter: Karen Blakeman, RBA Information Services
Organised by: TFPL (http://www.tfpl.com/)
Venue: TFPL Training Suite, 17-18 Britton Street, LONDON EC1M 5TL
Contact: Sian Chalke, mailto:sian.chalke@tfpl.com
Tel: 020 7251 5522

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Publications

The 2nd Edition of Search Strategies for the Internet is now out.

Author: Karen Blakeman RBA Information Services, November 1999,
A4 Ring Binder
ISBN: 0 9527191 4 2
Price: GBP 35.00 (UK only. Prices outside of the UK available on request)

Further Details can be found on http://www.rba.co.uk/publications/search.htm

If you bought the first edition and registered for an ID and password to access the online pages, your ID is still valid and you can download updates free of charge. (The starting point is http://www.rba.co.uk/search/index.htm). If you would prefer to purchase a hard copy of the 2nd edition - and some of the PDF files on the Web site are rather large - the contents only (no ring binder) can be obtained from RBA Information Services at a cost of GBP 15 a set. If you require a new or additional binders, these can be purchased at a price of GBP 10 each.

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