Using Communicator 4

A visual guide to using Netscape's Navigator 4 Web browser

By Rose Vines

You'll probably find 'Navigator 4' and 'Communicator 4' used interchangeably, although they're not the same. Navigator 4 is the centrepiece of Netscape's Communicator 4 Web suite. The suite includes the Navigator browser, plus Messenger (e-mail), Collabra (newsgroups), Composer (Web page designer), Conference (online conferencing) and Netcaster ('push' content).

B. Navigation Buttons. The Back and Forward buttons let you move back and forwards between pages you've visited recently. Hold down the Navigation buttons to see a list of recently visited sites. You can jump to any of these sites by selecting them from the list. If a site is taking a very long time to load, click the Stop button (at the far end of the toolbar) and then Reload to see if it will load faster. C. Bookmark Quickfile (also known as Page Proxy). Drag-and-drop this icon to create a link to the current page. You can drag it to the Personal toolbar, to the Bookmark icon, to the desktop (you can see a shortcut has already been placed on the Desktop at the bottom-right), or into a document.
D. Menus. The menus provide access to all of Navigator's features. If you have the whole Communicator suite, and not just the Navigator browser, the Communicator Menu gives you access to all the other components: Messenger, Collabra, Composer, Conference and Netcaster.

E. Title Bar. Check here for the name of the page you're visiting.
F. Security. Click the padlock icon to get a summary of security information on the current page (whether encryption is enabled, for example, making it safer to send sensitive information). This is also the place to come to get your own digital certificate (a form of Internet ID), which you'll need if you want to use Netscape's own SmartUpdate Web site for upgrading Communicator components.

A. Toolbars. Navigator sports three toolbars: the Personal toolbar, the Navigation toolbar and the Location toolbar. The toolbars give you quick access to the main functions of the browser. If you let your mouse pointer linger on any of the toolbar buttons, you'll see a quick description of its function pop up. The Personal toolbar is the bottom of the three, and you'll find it's highly customisable. All three of the toolbars can be manipulated using small Open/Close tabs. When a toolbar is open, the tab forms a horizontal strip at the left edge of the toolbar: click it to hide the toolbar (a small horizontal tab will remain visible) and clear up more browsing space. Click the horizontal tab to reopen the toolbar. You can also move the toolbars by dragging them with the Open/Close tab. G. Address Field. Type the name of the Web site you wish to visit here. You usually don't need to type the http:// part of an address if the rest of the address begins with www: Navigator will add the http part for you. Click the down-arrow at the right of the box to select from previously visited sites. Start typing a previously used address, and Netscape's AutoComplete will kick in and finish the typing for you. Alternatively, you can type the name of a site, for example, corel, and press Enter. Netscape will first look for a site called corel and then for www.corel.com
H. Component Bar. The Component Bar provides access to the other components of the Communicator suite. You can have it float on the Desktop, as it is here, or you can dock it to the status bar at the bottom of the browser by choosing the Dock Component Bar option from the Communicator Menu. To re-float it, simply drag it off the status bar.

I. Current site. The site you're visiting is displayed here. You can click any of the links to move to another page on the same site, or another site altogether. You'll notice your mouse pointer changes shape, or you get some other visual cue, when you point to a clickable link.

K. Secure server indicator. If you send sensitive information, such as your credit card number, to a Web site, you'll want to be connected to a 'secure server'. This little padlook will be closed if you're on a secure site; open (like this) if you're on an insecure site. If it's not closed, you may want to rethink what you're about to do. L. Status Bar. Check here for additional information when the tooltips aren't enough. Some Web sites also use this area to display messages.

J. Desktop Web shortcut. This is a shortcut to a site on the Web. You can return to that site simply by clicking the shortcut. This shortcut was created by dragging the Bookmark Quickfile (C) onto the Desktop.