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The Holmes Page NAVIGATOR AND IE COMPARED

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The following comparison compares version 3 of the two most popular browsers. In general, I prefer the features in Navigator (like the download speed indicator), but IE crashes less. 
The various differences and shortcomings of the two browsers emphasise the fact that a Web page designer must develop and test with both browsers. 
FeatureNavigator
3.01
Internet Explorer
3.0
Displays cps while loading pages yes no
Displays cps during downloads yes no
E-mail creation facilitates fonts no yes
Add bookmarks/favorites fast,simple slow,cumbersome
Storage of bookmarks one file many files (slow)
Warns of duplicate bookmarks when adding no yes
Shows local links as "visited" yes no
Plays local .WAV/.MID files no (URL bug)yes
Fast table handling no yes
Displays full URL of links yes no
Can display "document info" yes no
Can show source of frames on main menuright mouse click
Handles LOWSRC option of <IMG> tag yes no
<TAB> key moves between links no yes
<UL> tag has superfluous blank line after list before list
Supports the &trade; symbol (TM)no yes
Supports internal links in local files yes no


Bugs

    Navigator
  • When a table cell has a background color and there is a background page image, selecting then unselecting text shows the page background color rather than the cell background color.
  • When a line ends at the right margin and is followed by a <BR>, Navigator handles the "word wrap" and the <BR>, which causes an extra blank line.
  • When a link points to a .wav or other embedded file (on the local drive), the link does not work. I suspect that Navigator gets the path wrong. (i.e. dir\sound.wav rather than \dir\sound.wav). The status bar shows the full path, but the media player does not.
  • The "Images" button only loads the images for the current frame. Although this sounds like a good feature, it falls flat when no frame is selected -- the containting frameset has no images.
  • When the status bar reads "Connect: Host ... contacted. Waiting for reply...", Navigator locks out any other actions, even in the mail window or any other Netscape window. The multi-threading ability is blocked while waiting for a reponse. This is extremely irritating because of the many slowdowns and delays on the Internet.
    Internet Explorer
  • When viewing the contents of a directory, double-clicking on an .htm file brings up the default browser, instead of opening the page with IE. On my system Netscape is the default browser, so double-clicking a file in IE launches Navigator. IE should be smart enough to open the file itself.
  • When the page is reloaded, the browser is moved back to the top of the page. This error occurs because IE does not support internal links in local files (i.e. <A HREF="file.htm#link"> goes to the top of the file only). This behaviour is annoying when developing and previewing pages because you have to constantly page down to get to the area of the page you are working on.
  • When a table is followed by the <CENTER>..</CENTER> tag, the last line of text in the last row of the table is also centered, even though it comes before the <CENTER> tag. To fix the problem, either add an image (such as a single-pixel transparent GIF) to the end of the text in the last row of the table, or add anything after the table but before the <CENTER> tag.


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