\r\n1) It's the only browser I know that really does full screen. I don't need\r\ntabs, I like screen estate. Alt-tab does a fine job of going window to\r\nwindow.
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Given you apparently won't try much else, this isn't surprising.\r\nMozilla, Galeon, Konqueror, Phoenix, and Safari all support this.
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Mozilla and Galeon both allow widget elements to be visible or not:\r\nmenu, navigation bar, bookmarks bar, statusbar. On my 800x600 display,\r\nfullscreen mode with just tabs and bookmarks visible provides a\r\nreasonable amount of real estate.
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You repeatedly maintain that Netscape is shit. Well, 3.x was\r\nstrongly growth promoting. 4.x stank to high heaven. 6.x mouldered.\r\nThis codebase was then scrapped.
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The Netscape 7.x browser is a debasement of Mozilla, but it's worlds\r\nand worlds better than the old codebase. Mozilla itself is clear of\r\nmuch of the commercialization AOL's piled onto Netscape, and the\r\nGecko-based alternatives Galeon and Phoenix are driving\r\nuser-mandated features. These are slowly back-filtering into\r\nthe AOL/Netscape product.
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And this is the core concept behind Mozilla & co.: the\r\nincentives driving development are far more geared toward end\r\nusers, NOT "business partners" of AOL or\r\nMicrosoft, for whom a browser is little more than an eyeball aggregator\r\nand pipeline through which to shovel shit at you and your money to them.\r\nMore on this in my unwritten essay "You Get What They Pay For"
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Upshot: criticisms of Netscape through v 6.x has no bearing\r\non Mozilla. And Netscape itself is a debasement of Moz. For full\r\nfreedom, look at the derived products.
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\r\n2) It looks very nice.
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Subjective. Frankly, the widgets give the the chills. I like\r\nGaleon's default Gtk view, and [link|http://www.deskmod.com/?show=showcat&cat_name=mozilla|Mozilla's\r\nskins] can be quite nice (or really distracting). I usually swap the\r\ndefault for lofi, which uses smaller icons.
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Frankly, I prefer my Galeon config. Emphasis on my: I use\r\na [link|http://twiki.iwethey.org/twiki/bin/view/Main/UserContentCSS|userContent.css\r\nstylesheet override] so that every site presents the same\r\nfonts, at the sizes I prefer. Makes for a uniformly pleasant reading\r\nexperience.
\r\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\r\n\r\n\r\n
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\r\n3) Most websites are opimized for it (not my world, not my rules).
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Most optimized websites are tuned to the environment the client, the\r\nboss, or in many cases, the graphic designer producing the chrome, uses.\r\nWith concommitant problems when deployed to the real world. There are\r\nfew site "optimizations" which preclude use of other browsers. Frankly,\r\nI prefer a browser which allows me to override site defaults --\r\nbanners; poorly contrasting, garish, or hard-to-read color schemes;\r\nplugins and embeds; background music; etc. Which MSIE pointedly\r\ndoesn't support.
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For the most part, this point boils down to "you see the site's font\r\nselections rather than yours" (um...and why should I want this?).\r\nOccasionally, for a very poorly designed site, efforts are made to\r\nexplicitly deny browsers matching (or failing to match) certain\r\ndescriptions. Which is why my w3m user-agent string reads:
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\r\nStop fucking obsessing over user-agent and code to W3C standards already.\r\n
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There was a time designers coded for Netscape 4.x. The clients ended\r\nup paying to fix that fuck-up too.
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\r\n4) The toolbars can be stacked and made to waste as little space as\r\npossible.
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See above.
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\r\n5) The toolbars can be locked once you get them like you want them.
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BFD. I can set my config-files read-only or handle this through\r\nversion control.
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\r\nn) It's a browser, not a religion.
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...which then explains your religios gut-reaction against\r\nother browsers on what basis?
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IIRC, the scientific method had something to do with proposing,\r\nthen experimentally testing, a hypothesis.
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Strikes against MSIE?
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\r\n- It doesn't run on my platform of choice (GNU/Linux).
\r\n- No tabs.
\r\n- No cookie control. Galeon puts this in a 1st layer menu, accessible\r\nvia hotkey.
\r\n- No animation control. Galeon puts this in a 1st layer menu,\r\naccessible via hotkey.
\r\n- Very awkward Java/Javascript control. Galeon puts this in a 1st\r\nlayer menu, accessible via hotkey.
\r\n- Horribly bookmarks control. Galeon absolutely shines in this\r\ndepartment. The personal Portal page is also slick.
\r\n- No User-defineable stylesheets, including default stylesheets which\r\noverride / specify rendering preferences over what the site\r\nsays. Galeon provides this, and puts the control in a 2nd layer menu\r\nwhich can be torn off for ready access.
\r\n- No popup control. Readily accessible in Galeon's 'Preferences'\r\ndialog.
\r\n- It spies on you. Searches directed to MSN by default. No thanks.
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Respect, dammit!
- (marlowe)
- (45)
- Jan. 15, 2003, 04:02:35 PM EST
