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Anything you can do, I can do better
I can do anything better than you…
- Annie Get Your Gun
And so goes the Battle of the Internet browsers
between Netscape's Communicator and Microsoft's Internet Explorer (IE).
And who is the big winner? The consumer. For as long as at least two competitors are vying for our
attention, the product keeps getting better.
Healthy competition keeps the price down and the quality
up. Currently, both browsers are available for free,
and they are chock-full of features. But the
browsers themselves are not all that much different.
As one company adds an innovation, the other rushes to best it or at least to match it. Jostling
for position from one release to the other, the
resulting browsers are strangely quite similar. Occasionally
one browser manages to offer a feature the other
doesn't, but it's rare. Each browser handles functions in
its own unique way, but the desired results are
achieved in both, just differently. It is only in this
difference that they are truly set apart.
In March of 1999, Microsoft released IE version 5.0. The last week of September 1999,
Netscape Communicator v 4.7 was available for
download. Both companies have pushed the products beyond
a simple method of viewing web pages; the browsers now give users an incredible assortment of
features, add-ons, and stand-alone services and benefits.
Netscape and IE display content a little
differently from one another. IE can display Searches,
History, and Favorites within a split screen to the left of
the main display. For some people, this feature is
welcome. If an entry is selected within the split
screen, the result is displayed in the main area. I find
this feature helpful during a search. If the split screen
is closed to allow more viewing room for the
resulting page, upon reopening the search screen, it returns
the same list of results as before, without resetting.
Other people find the split screen feature
annoying. Netscape uses the main display area for
everything, searches included. If you choose a link, you
must then use the Back button to return to your search
results. Netscape does let you open a new window
from within the browser, but the two are not linked.
However, Netscape opens the History in a separate
floating window that remains open in the
background, after an entry is selected.
Both browsers have added a feature called smart browsing. At one time, entering an incorrect
Internet address or URL gave you an error message that
said your page could not be found. Now, both
browsers try to match your entry as closely as
possible. Netscape displays a selection of possible web
site matches for you to choose from and IE opens a
split search, which displays a list of possible matches
in one window and the closest site-match in the
main window.
Both browsers have added the ability to sort
the History items. I find the results more obvious
and satisfying in the Netscape History window than in
the IE split screen. I like the way IE handles the
marking of sites I want to revisit. Even though IE calls
them Favorites and Netscape calls them Bookmarks,
they are the same thing. In IE, you can create a new
folder for your Favorite at the same time you mark the
site, while in Netscape you must setup a new folder
separately. IE has also added the ability to manage
your Favorites from the split screen view, which was
not possible before version 5.0.
Copying and printing Internet content works differently in the two browsers. Both browsers let
you set a picture as a background or save the picture as
a file on your system. But Netscape does not have
an option to copy a picture to the clipboard; IE
does. Both browsers can copy text, but Netscape does
not copy graphics.
With IE, you can send a selected area of a web page directly to the printer by highlighting a
section of text and/or graphics, and clicking on the
Selection option of the Print Range within the Print
window. Netscape's Selection option is grayed out and
unavailable in the Print window.
However, Netscape has a slick print feature that
is noticeably absent in IE. When you are viewing a large web page that would exceed one printed
page, IE doesn't have a way to tell which page the
information would be printed on. Netscape, on the
other hand, has a print preview option that formats
the web page content onto a series of previewed
pages. You can then easily select which page or range
of pages to print.
Both browsers have added the ability to listen
to radio using a media player. IE lets you choose
either its media player or RealPlayer; Netscape
requires RealPlayer. If you don't have RealPlayer
installed, downloading it from the Real Networks site is an
adventure I don't recommend. I suggest you get the CD from either Netscape or Microsoft instead.
On the whole, I find IE does a better job of
arranging the available features and buttons than
Netscape does. For example, IE has a History button right
on the toolbar, while in Netscape you must choose Menu Options|Communicator|Tools|History.
In IE, you can access the Radio feature using its
own toolbar, whereas in Netscape you must go
through the menu. In Netscape, I do like the My
Netscape and Shop buttons, which are not available in IE.
The My Netscape button provides a link to a
customized NetCenter and lets you set a different URL for
the Home button.
If you can't decide which browser to use, you
have another option: you can load both browsers on
your desktop. Because Netscape comes bundled with some Internet provider software, many people
often believe that you must use that browser if you
select that provider. However Netscape and IE are just
software applications; you can use either or both, at
your whim.
When you install the second browser on your system, it asks to be set as your default browser.
You can answer No and decide for yourself, which browser has the features you want. If you are
fairly new to computing, I recommend that you get the
CD version of the browser(s) or browser upgrades
you want on your system. Although both browsers can
be downloaded from the Internet, it requires a bit
of know-how to download and install certain
plug-ins. If you are not comfortable with Windows, you
may want to wait for the CD. If you consider yourself
a little more savvy, try downloading.
So in the long run, it seems that one browser is
apparently not to be outdone by the other. It all
comes down to personal preference. And as long as
both browsers exist and continue to have a healthy
market share, we users can be assured of continued
upgrades in their features and services. Cheer on
the gladiators…long live the good fight!
The Internet Explorer Screen.
The same web site in Netscape.
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