Netscape 7.0 Problems

I noticed a couple probllems with Netscape 7.0 . The first being that even though I have gone to manage bookmarks, and sort by name and from a-z the folders are not in alphabetical order, nor are my links that were imprted from IE. Secondly I've noticed in some web pges, that it doesn't all fit in the screen. While using any other browser such as IE or netscape 4.79, it fits fine. An exmple of where stuff is cut off is www.microsoft.com/windowsmedia Notice that things are cut off on the left side? I think this is a bug? or is there a workaround? Another question I have is I just saved all the links from my IE onto a cd, is there somewhere in Netscape I can just drop my favorites and they'll show up fine and in alphabetical order? thanks

 

Welcome to the Forum, KevinB52379

Hi Kevin,

According to the Netscape 7.0 Release Notes:

Bookmarks

Bookmarks cannot be rearranged if you have sorted them. To rearrange them, select Unsorted from the View menu, or click the Name column header until the arrow disappears.

You cannot save two differently named bookmarks for the same URL.
---

On the link you provided... Not only is the left side cut off, but also the top of the page, when I accessed the site. This is MS not adhering to W3C standards, which Netscape 7.0 does. This is definitely not a Netscape bug, this is poor coding on the site. Shame on MS!

As to your IE Favorites. They should have been automatically converted when you installed Netscape 7.0? Or, from within Netscape 7, Click Bookmarks | Manage Bookmarks | Tools | Import.

Ramona

 

The sorting of bookmarks is broken and is a known bug, that should be fixed in the future.


I can tell you why this is, it is because Microsoft has coded thier site to look for a specific version of Netscape and Netscape 7 is not on that list. This happens at other Microsoft Websites also. If you add the user agent string in to ID the browser as Mozilla 6.2, the Microsoft sites show up almost correctly.

user_pref( "general.useragent.override ", "Mozilla/5.0 (Windows; U; Windows NT 5.0; en-US; rv:0.9.4) Gecko/20011022 Netscape6/6.2 ");

I have also seen this behavior with other sites.

 

New ideas

Well I uninstalled Netscape 7 for now until the bookmark bug is fixed. I am now using Netscape Communicator 4.79, which I have to admit I love it. I forgot how well it runs (I liked netscape 7 better, but this is still good). Ok well is there a way I can import my bookmars from my favorites in IE 6? I have them stored in c:\windows\favorites...is there a way I can place those in netscape 4.79, or import them like you can in Netscape 7? Oh by the way, since that website that was provided that carries the streamline and scaled down versions of Netscape 7, does not carry netscape 4.79 anymore, you can actually still get it at www.download.com just type in Netscape and you'll find it. In case anyone still wants that version, I'm using it now.

Oh yea, by the way, how come Netscape 4.79 does display the microsoft windows media site correctly then? if version 7 doesnt??

 

Shutdown Netscape first of all.

To import the bookmarks into Netscape 4.x, open up IE, and go to File -- Import and Export.

Choose Export Favorites and click next.

Choose the IE favorites to export and click next.

At this next screen, you can choose to either export them directly to Navigator, or export them to a bookmark.htm file. Choose the Navigator one to directly overwrite the Netscape bookmarks. It will ask you for confirmation to overwrite them.

If you don't want to overwrite them, then you would export them to a file somewhere, then startup Netscape and Edit the bookmarks. In the Netscape bookmarks, there is an import function on the file menu that will allow you to import bookmarks from an html file.


As far as why it will display with 4.79 and not 7, it is because Microsoft does include the earlier versions of Netscape in thier list of browsers when it checks, but not 7. That is why I can use a custom Useragent string that tricks Microsoft into thinking I have Netscape 6.2 to get the site to display correctly. IT make Microsoft think I have an earlier version of it.

 

Went Back to Netscape 7.0

I didn't realize I'd miss Netscape 7.0 so much, sure it has it's little annoyances but I loved how much more stable it was than netscape 4.79 I managed to get the book marks in alphabetical order by dragging and dropping them into place. I also figured out how to import my favorites, thank you for whoever suggested that to me in my other post thread I just love how smooth it all is, does that make sense lol. I was so glad to find a N7 setup file that had it all in one package and not in little pieces too. I do have one other small problem with netscape, but I have to investigate it a little more, than I'll post back here again. But I am a very happy user of netscape 7, I believe it's the best one yet. I never did like any of the Netscape 6.xx series though, too buggy and weird.

 

Welcome back to the fold!

Hi Kevin,

Well, I'm delighted to see that it didn't take much to bring you back to the newer, improved, Netscape 7.0. You just hang in with us, and those annoyances will soon be a thing of the past.

Ramona

 

Same here Kevin. I just cannot live without it. I actually started using the developers version Mozilla months ago, and I hate it when I have to use IE now.

And the Sillydog version was just what I needed to install on our Public Access Internet Terminals.

BTW, don't forget to install the pop-up blocker to reactivate the blocking of Pop-up ads in Netscape.
http://www.ufaq.org/ns7/adblocker.html

After installing it, the setting you need to uncheck in Edit -- Preferences -- Advanced -- Scripts & Windows is the open unrequested windows.

This prevents almost all pop-up ads.

 

more questions (tired of me yet lol)

I have a couple more questions concerning netscape..I have both versions now 4.79 and 7. I notice in 4.79 that if for example let's say I go to an ebay auction I book marked. and then I click on the book mark again, it does not refresh the time remaining..so I am assuming the page is not refreshed. I find that if I hit the refresh button, the page gets refreshed and shows the time remaining. So in other words clicking on the link to the auction does not refresh the page, it reads it from the cache, but if i hit refresh it does refresh the page. Is there any way I can make it refresh everytime I click on the bookmark/link and it will refresh with out me having to hit reload? Also does Netscape 7 have this same problem? Or can I just reclick on my bookmark link and it will refresh automatically? thanks

 

Never tired of Netscape questions!

Hi Kevin,

In Netscape 7:
Preferences | Advanced | Cache
Enable "Every Time I View the Page ",

In Communicator:
Preferences | Advanced | Cache
Enable "Every Time "

then clear your Memory and Disk Cache, especially if you are watching or bidding at eBay.

Ramona

 

What a greatl tip, Brooks.

I added the line to my user.js (backing up prefs.js first). It works in Mozilla 1.0rc3 also - Microsoft's Knowledge Base search and kb articles are much more readable now.

As a test, I removed the line from my user.js and after reopening Mozilla the Microsoft pages were still working correctly! I checked my current prefs.js and the line had "migrated" there, which I did understand might happen, which is why you should always back up your prefs.js. I then restored the backed up prefs.js (without the general.useragent.override line) and the microsoft pages were "broken again ".

Anyway, I added the line back to my user.js since it's so much better with it there.

Thanks for your bookmark tips also, here and elsewhere .

 

Alice,

I believe Moz/N7 back up the latest prefs.js by default on each start of the browser. If not, you can add this line to your user.js to set the number of backups that you would like. I also recommend backing up the user.js just in case you break something and forget which line you added...especially if you have a large user.js file.

Code:

// this line is a comment
// X is some number 1 or higher.
user_pref( "backups.number_of_prefs_copies ", X);

tranquilo

 

Hi tranquilo,

I didn't know that prefs.js was backed up automatically. Where is the backup and what is it named? I did a Find on pref*.* and don't see anything other than the normal file in my profile folder and my own backup.

I like making my own backups, though. I'd rather be in control

I do have a backup of my (very small) user.js.

 

Your welcome Alice.

 

It should be called "pref.bak ". However, thinking about it further I am not sure about the automatica backups because I have used that line in my user.js for a while, since I cannot keep from tinkering.... The user.js file here is very large.

Of course there is always the possibility that Netscape is slightly different than Mozilla in this regard.

tranquilo

 

tranquilo,

You are correct, it is called prefs.bak. I have not included that line in my user.js or prefs.js for Netscape 7.0, and I do have a prefs.bak file.

You're right on... as usual!

Alice,

The file is located in:
C:\WINDOWS\Application Data\Mozilla\Profiles\username\xxxxxxxx.slt

Ramona

 

OK, tranquilo you had me going there, sorting the files in my profile by size, looking for a match to prefs.js

Right now I keep my backups with the same name but in a separate folder (C:\Alice\Backup\Mozilla) since I find it easier that way, expecially using the W95 powertoys sendtoX

I like to make manual backups right before making changes, (similar to using W95's ERU for registry backups) so I don't think I'll try your method but thanks for the idea.

Ramona,

I have no prefs.bak in my profile folder which, by the way is located in C:\WINDOWS\\Mozilla\Profiles\wyman\xxxxxxxx.slt
(no Application Data folder) - guess my setup is a bit oddball but that's where Mozilla installed itself!

Is your prefs.bak the same size as prefs.js, and what's the date?

 

Alice,

No Application Data folder must be the OS difference.

The prefs.js and prefs.bak files are the same size, and same date (current).

Ramona

 

Ramona,

Well, I believe you, but Mozilla certainly isn't making automatic backups for me! Seeing you don't have the line tranquilo mentioned in your user.js or prefs.js, maybe it's a Netscape7 feature?

By the way, do you or tranquilo have a reference for that line? I couldn;'t find it in any of my Mozilla or Netscape 6/7 bookmarks.

 

That sounds like a good idea. The default backup method for mozilla/n7 backs up the prefs.js file when you close mozilla, which is when it writes to the prefs.js file. It does work, but manual is better for peace of mind. Of course, this is the reason to keep most of the options in the user.js file, and keep them properly commented. As you may know, the prefs.js file has many profile specific settings (mail & news paths, password file, wallet file, etc.) which require manual editing if you ever need to create a new profile.

tranquilo