Netscape Navigator
(Netscape Communications®)
= Index DOT Html by Brian Wilson [bloo@blooberry.com] =

Main Index | Element Tree | Element Index | HTML Support History

Platforms Macintosh: 68K, Power Mac
PC: Win95, 3.X, NT [Intel and Alpha], OS/2
Unix: AIX, BSDI, HP-UX, IRIX, Linux, OSF, Sparc Solaris, SunOS
VMS: VAX, Alpha
About the
Browser
Netscape has the current majority of all browser market share (at some reports as much as 70+ percent.) It has continually led the way in new features and HTML support. It was also the first major browser to create its own elements. Many of these elements were previously not supported under an official HTML specification, but that has since changed.

Version Released Features



1.0B1 Oct. 1994 The First Beta of version 1. The original release of the browser supports all basic HTML 2 elements and some limited HTML 3 functionality.
1.0 Dec. 1994 Final Release of version 1.0

1.1B1 Mar. 1995 The first Beta of version 1.1 added table support as well as many of its own new HTML elements and attributes.
1.1 Apr. 1995 Final Release of version 1.1

1.2B1 Jun. 1995 First Beta of version 1.2 which updated the user interface for Windows 95 and added no new HTML support.
1.2 Jul. 1995 Final Release of version 1.2

2.0B1 Oct. 1995 First Beta of the Navigator release added several HTML 3 elements, Frames and the ability to handle Java.
2.0B3 Dec. 1995 This version added the ability to process JavaScript
2.0 Mar. 1996 Final Release of version 2.0

3.0B1 Apr. 1996 First Beta which was originally titled Atlas, this release added many new plug-ins, and support for background colors in tables.
3.0B5 Jul. 1996 This version adds support for underlining, frame border control and Font FACE styles. It also adds new elements to allow for column layout (<Multicol>) and spacing control (<Spacer>)
3.0B7 Aug. 1996 The only new HTML feature in this version appears to be the ARCHIVE attribute to the APPLET element.
3.0-3.04 Aug. 1996-
Oct. 1997
Final Release of version 3. Point releases beyond this add no new HTML support, just address Javascript functionality and security bugs.

4.0B1 Dec. 1996 Preview release of 4.0 (Netscape Communicator.) This adds the new LAYER element that allows precise positioning control in documents.
4.0B2 Feb. 1997 Second preview release of 4.0 (Netscape Communicator.) This adds in-line layering, and Cascading/JavaScript Style Sheet Support.
4.0B3 Apr. 1997 Third preview release of 4.0 (Netscape Communicator.) Improves upon the very rudimentary style sheet support in Beta 2 (PR2.)
4.0B4/5 May. 1997 Fourth and fifth beta of 4.0. Beta 4 was a PC-only release with minor HTML improvements, while Beta 5 is cross-platform and adds the Netcaster push technology.
4.0-4.07 Jun. 1997-
Oct. 1998
Final Release of Communicator. Final tally adds more CSS support (much but not all of the CSS1 spec and the CSS positioning draft are implemented), minimal dynamic font and OBJECT element support. Point releases beyond this add no new HTML support, just address security bugs.

4.5B1 Jul. 1998 Various functionality improvements, but no new HTML or CSS support.
4.5B2 Sep. 1998 Beta 2.
4.5 Oct. 1998 4.5 final release.


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