Netscape 4.x ?!?

Which version do you test with?

[bill]

For those of you that do test with Netscape 4.x, exactly which incarnation of 4.x do you use? On my desktop I've got shortcuts to 4.03, 4.07, 4.08, 4.5, 4.51, 4.6, 4.75, & 4.77 and I know there are more...It's nice to have these, but I really don't need all of them...do I?

[papabaer]

Hello Bill,

When you are testing... how much variance do you find across your family of v.4's? a little? a lot? or none at all? The answer is there. And from what I have read in various stats suggests that the later versions v4.5 thru 4.79 are much more common.

[DrDoc]

.. except that 4.51 has some major issues with animated gifs and certain JavaScripts.

I'd say 4.0x, 4.5, and 4.7x .. Those cover the major changes/bugs in the NN4 family. You could possibly drop 4.5 as well if you want.

[backus]

We don't. People should be using up to date browsers, not these dinosaurs.

[DrDoc]

Aww .. backus, you don't like dinosaurs? Good thing my fiancee is an archaeologist, and not a paleontologist! ;)

Seriously, that is true .. But sometimes we have to support those older browsers for whatever the reason ..

Believe me, I wish we didn't!

[pvdm]

From what I have read here at WMW forums, Netscape 4.03 is still important for some specific reasons:

1. Many Yahoo! editors are known to test and review your site submission with Netscape 4.03 on APPLE (!) computers. If there are problems, you have 30 days to re-design all the pages with problems, or you loose your 299 USD submission 'review' fee. Quite a stress...

2. In some countries, Apple is still popular (example: France), and Netscape also. Netscape makes up to 5% of visitors from those countries. Can you afford to loose whatever percentage of visitors?

I don't know when will be the right time to consider writing for more recent browser versions, but I guess it is still a year away. It limits all web designer's freedom, but it looks like there is no alternative today.

[Reflect]

I don't know when will be the right time to consider writing for more recent browser versions, but I guess it is still a year away.

For me I depend on my log files to tell me what to write for. One site is still around 30% NN 4.X and another site is around 5% NN 4.x. For the second site OK I will write for a higher version but make sure it degrades gracefully. The first site, well I write it for NN 4.x as a good chunk of users are on that version.

Comes down to your audience I think.

Brian

[BlobFisk]

I have always used Navigator 4.74 as my NN4.x test browser. The reason being that on all of the stats I go through from my sites, it's the one that shows the highest 4.x useage.

[txbakers]

Can you afford to loose whatever percentage of visitors?

Yes I can. It's not worth the grief to code for dinosaurs.

The earliest Netscape I support is 4.79 and only reluctantly. I had one customer try to use my site with IE 3 and I told her point blank that either she upgraded or I refunded her money.

The same for early Netscapes.

All software comes with a list of system requirements. If your system doesn't meet these requirements you can't use the software. Web based software is no different.

Unless your websites are purely informational, you are running application software.

[chris_f]

Netscape 4.7 is a must for you site testing. It was the worst Netscape release (which even they admitted failed to view a large percentage of sites correctly). If you site works in Netscape 4.7 then it will work in most Netscape browser versions.

Chris.

[bill]

It's been so many years since these came out that I've lost track of which versions fixed which problems ;). When I do use Netscape 4.x to test I generally do what DrDoc suggested; 4.0x, 4.5, and 4.7x. I'm usually just looking for the general look of the site. If nothing breaks too badly then I leave it alone. As long as NN 4.x users can read the content I'm not to concerned whether it's pretty.

[tedster]

I recently turned down a client who wanted me to support the AOL 3.0 browser on Windows 3.1. He wouldn't believe anything I said or showed him.

After looking at the web on that set up, Netscape 4 on Win 95 is cutting edge.

[stlouislouis]

For those mentioning Netscape 4.7X,
my question is 4.7 what? 4.77, 4.79?

Which one?

Thanks,

Louis

[BlobFisk]

For those mentioning Netscape 4.7X, my question is 4.7 what? 4.77, 4.79?

4.79

[fireice]

I use Netscape 4.74 still although I agree w/ Txbakers.
"It's not worth the grief to code for dinosaurs"
and don't ya love crazy clients.

[mattur]

I've got some stats from a UK university to throw in. In May 2002, 33% of on-campus users browsed with netscape 4.x, mostly 4.08 for historical reasons. It is slowly decreasing. This seems to reflect the general trend in UK academia.

So if your site is targeting students or academics, dont discount NN4 just yet.

Aside: the other day I stumbled across someone using NN4 on Windows XP...!

[tedster]

> if your site is targeting students or academics, dont discount NN4 just yet.

Amen! I was just analyzing some logs from a site that gets nearly 40% NN4 - trying to understand why. Some of the longest NN4 sessions were coming from ai.mit.edu!

[martinibuster]

mattur
With all due respect, I'd like to know the source for the 33% uk campus user stats. Speaking frankly, but with all respect to you, it is difficult for me to believe.

Here in the United States, many if not most college campuses have had high speed connections for years. Maybe the situation is slower in the UK?

I've always considered Europe as on the forefront on many issues and technologies.

[mattur]

martinibuster,

Just to clarify, that 33% was for one university. The figure comes from analysis of an intranet server's log file.

In my experience, NN4 is still quite widespread in UK academia, though I haven't got stats for the sector as a whole. Sorry if my previous post didn't make that clear.

The university has had a (very) high speed Internet connection for many years. The users consistently get fast connection speeds (>1mbps to the desktop) it's just they still use NN4...