New Browser Releases
September 2001
Major releases from all three browser developers
New browsers are imminent from all three vendors: in
the next few weeks, releases of Internet Explorer, Netscape and Opera
will update software to introduce new features and provide bug fixes.
The public preview of IE 6 includes:
- web privacy tools, such as notification of when sites third-party
cookies
- fault collection services to identify problems and improve reliability
- expanded support for DHTML and CSS
- auto image resize (to make images fit into a window)
- image and media toolbars providing quicker access to features for
printing, saving etc.
The beta of Netscape 6.1 includes:
- greater stability
- improved efficiency and reliability in areas such as downloading
files, searching and managing bookmarks
- built in support for AOL Instant Messenger
- more control over customisation for features such as My Sidebar
The latest version of Opera 5.12 includes:
- bug fixes
- enhanced pop up window handling
- a new Java runtime environment
- enhanced integration with the email client.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, it is the newest version of IE that is both eagerly
awaited and causing concern. IE 6 will include support for smart tags,
providing information on web pages that is posted not by the web producer
but third parties such as MSN. Opinion is split over how useful this will
be to users and how much it will take away control of web sites from producers.
|
In the meantime Netscape has fallen a long way
since its position as market leader in the mid-1990s. The current
beta release is a response to widespread criti-cism over the perceived
lack of stability and compat-ibility with version 6.
The last point has become particularly problematic
for the company, in that an increasing number of sites do not work
hard to make their sites compatible with it any more. If Netscape
6 does not perform well but also cannot show sites at their best,
its market share looks set to decline even further.
|
 Previous
stories
IE6 Beta Preview
New Browser Bugs
Browser Beta Battles
Relevant sites
Internet
Explorer
Netscape
Opera
|
|
