The essential tool for using the Web.

Where can I find general information about Web browsers?

• BrowserWatch ~ This is a very complete site that provides up-to-date news about Web browsers. In addition, it lists every Web browser currently in use!
• BrowserTune 2000 ~ This invaluable Web site runs your browser through a series of Web pages designed to test over 300 features and functions so that you can see exactly what your browser does and does not do. This is a wonderful service - and best of all, it is updated constantly!
• ZDNet: Web Browsers Guide ~ Reviews, downloads, & more.
• CNET.com - Browsers ~ CNET's browser resources. Reviews, downloads, features, help, & more.
• Webmonkey | authoring : browsers ~ Webmonkey's collection of articles about the various Web browsers. There's some really great stuff here. And who can resist an article entitled, "Will Browsers Ever Not Suck?"?

Where can I find information about the history of Web browsers?

• Deja Vu: (re-)creating web history ~ This is a very cool site, which is really two different sites. "The Emulator" allows you to emulate Web browsers of the past, including NCSA Mosaic, Mosaic Netscape, Netscape Navigator 1.0, Internet Explorer 2.0, & HotJava. You'll be amazed! "The Timeline" is a really well done history of the Web browser, from it's earliest days through today. There are lots of illustrations & links to artifacts from the past. This is a must-visit site!

Three burning questions related to Web browsers:

• How can I check how my Web pages look in different browsers?
• Which browsers support which HTML?
• How many people are using the various Web browsers?

Where can I find information about Microsoft Internet Explorer 5?

• Internet Explorer Home Page ~ Straight from the home planet of Microsoft.
• Internet Explorer Product Downloads ~ Microsoft's list of security fixes, updates, & other essential Internet Explorer-related downloads. If you use IE, you should definitely bookmark this page and visit it often.
• Web Accessories ~ Extra goodies for IE from Microsoft. We highly recommend that everyone get the Internet Explorer 5 Web Accessories & the Power Tweaks Web Accessories. If you'd like a little extra eye candy, download the Toolbar Wallpaper. If you're a Web developer, you must install Web Developer Accessories - they're essential! 
• Internet Explorer 5 Configuration ~ This is a document Granneman Information Solutions prepared for a client which details how to configure Internet Explorer 5.
• Internet Explorer Tweak Guide ~ A lengthy overview about configuring Internet Explorer from the fine folks at 3D Spotlight. We don't agree with everything they recommend, but overall it's quite good. The best approach, in our opinion, would be to read both Internet Explorer 5 Configuration, prepared by Granneman Information Solutions, and this Internet Explorer Tweak Guide, and then use what works from each.
• Internet Explorer 5 Companion ~ An excellent overview of IE 5, updated continuously with new information. You won't believe how much information is here. This one is essential! 
• Internet Explorer Administration Kit (IEAK) ~ If you administer several computers and you want to standardize your installation of Internet Explorer, or you'd just like to control what Internet Explorer does, then this site is for you. Microsoft offers a free program - IEAK - which is designed to help you roll out IE to your end-users.
• Internet Explorer - Tips & Tricks ~ This is an index of articles & information prepared by Ed Bott, one of the leading Windows commentators. An excellent collection! Also see Ed's pages on Internet Explorer Setup & Configuration.

How can I make that little icon appear next to my favorites? OR What are all these references to "favicon" in my logfiles?

• How to Add a Shortcut Icon to a Web Page ~ Microsoft's explanation & how-to.
• Favicon.com - the java icon generator ~ This sites explains what the favicon is & how you can create one for your Web site.
• FAVICON.ICO How To and Tools ~ Has some very simple instuctions for creating a favicon, and also includes a free Windows-based tool to help you with the file conversion. 

Can I still find any information about Microsoft Internet Explorer 4?

• Note: We highly recommend that users upgrade from IE4 to IE5 if at all possible. The system resources used are roughly compatible, which means if you can run IE4, you can certainly run IE5. Further, IE5 introduces many new & useful features while fixing many annoyances that were present in IE4.
• Internet Explorer Tips ~ A list of tips for using Internet Explorer 4.
• Stroud's CWS Apps: Internet Explorer 4 ~ A review that covers all the basics about IE4.

What do I need to know about coding Web pages that work with Internet Explorer?

• MSDN Online ~ Microsoft's enormous Web site for developers. You've got to dig to find Internet Explorer-specific information, but it's there. In abundance.

Where can I find information about Netscape 6?

• Mozilla.org ~ OK, this might be a bit confusing. Back in 1998, in a bid to compete with Microsoft, Netscape released all the source code for the Netscape browser to the world and began a public project to rewrite the browser. The name of this project was Mozilla, hearkening back to the very first days of Netscape. The work done in the Mozilla project still continues today; it is the underpinnings of the browser release as Netscape 6. Basically, think of it this way - Netscape 6 is Mozilla plus a ton of AOL-based advertising and tie-ins (remember, AOL owns Netscape). If you want to use the pure Netscape, minus all the AOL stuff, then download Mozilla.
• Netscape 6 Release [link broken] ~ Here it is, straight from the horses' mouth - Netscape's own Web site about the Netscape browser. Granneman Information Solutions has used Netscape 6, and it's got a lot of interesting features that we like, but it's no IE-killer. We're sticking with IE5. If you're a confirmed Netscape user, though, you should upgrade immediately. Netscape 6 blows Netscape 4 away.
• My Sidebar Directory [link broken] ~ One of the coolest new features of Netscape 6 is the Sidebar. Basically, this allows you to have a Web site always available to you as you surf other sites on the Web. Netscape has hundreds of sidebars available, and this site is the place to go to look for them.

Where can I find information about Netscape 5?

• You can't - there is no such thing! Netscape 6 is a total and complete rewrite of the source code for Netscape 4. To mark the complete change, Netscape skipped over Netscape 5.

Can I still find any information about Netscape 4?

• The Mozilla Museum ~ This is a great page! In its very early days, Netscape's mascot was Mozilla, a green, friendly-looking Godzilla-like creature. This Web page collects pictures of Mozilla. A lot of them are funny, and almost all are cute. This page really brings back memories!
• Origin of a Browser ~ This is a really wonderful history of the early days of Netscape, or "Web archaeology", as the author of the site puts it.
• The Netscape Unofficial FAQ ~ This is a Web site put together by Netscape fans that attempts to help Netscape users work with their favorite browser. It covers Netscape 4 and earlier.

What do I need to know about coding Web pages that work with Netscape?

• DevEdge Online [link broken] ~ Netscape's own site for developers. This should be the first place you look for help coding a Web site for Netscape.
• HTML Tag Reference [link broken] ~ This site at Netscape explains itself as follows: "... a complete reference to all the HyperText Markup Language (HTML) tags and attributes supported in Netscape Navigator 4.0 and earlier." Note that it was posted 19 November 1997, and has never been updated. Thus, it is a frozen document focusing exclusively on Netscape 4.

Where can I find information about Opera, the 3rd most popular browser?

• Opera - the fastest browser on earth! ~ This is the homepage for Opera. Opera is really a great browser - we like it quite a bit here at Granneman Information Solutions (although we rely on Internet Explorer for most of our Web work). We highly recommend to our readers that they download and try out Opera. There is a free version which is ad-supported, or you can pay $40 for a non-ad-supported version. We paid our $40, and we couldn't be happier.
• Opera 5 FAQ ~ This is a collection of issues & questions that is billed as "By Opera users, for Opera users". It is pretty darn complete and kept up to date. If you've got questions about Opera, you might want to check this page out.
• Opera Buttons ~ How to customize the buttons on your Opera toolbar. You can also download new button images if you don't like the ones provided with the browser.

Are there any other browsers out there I should know about?

• K-Meleon ~ This is an interesting experiment. K-Meleon uses the Netscape 6 Web rendering engine (better known as Gecko) but looks and acts like Internet Explorer! I guess the point is that Netscape 6 is a better renderer of Web sites, but that IE has a better UI (user interface). Hmmmm. We're not sure we completely agree, but it's certainly worth a look. Windows only.
• iCab ~ This is a German-made Mac-only browser. We've never used it, but we've heard that it's definitely worth checking out if you use a Mac. The iCab strategy is going to be the same as Opera's - offer a free version and a pay version for $29.
• Amaya ~ This is a browser created and updated by the W3C, the body that oversees Web standards. The browser is interesting because it is also an editor - you can change the Web pages you're viewing. The other reason to try out Amaya is that it is standards compliant, so you can test out your code to see how it is supposed to work. Out experience has been that Amaya is fine to use for testing, but you wouldn't want to use it for day to day Web browsing - it's just not very good for that. Not to mention, it's UI is one of the ugliest we've ever seen! Runs on Unix & Windows.
• Lynx [link broken] ~ An oldie but still goodie. This is a text-only Web browser - no pictures, no sounds, no movies. Just plain ol' text. Lynx is standard on Unix machines, where it gets its greatest use. However, a lot of people use Lynx to test how disabled users would experience their Web pages. If you're interested, Lynx is available for Unix (of course), Windows 95/98/NT (but not 3.1), DOS, & OS/2 EMX; a Mac version is forthcoming.
• NeoPlanet ~ This is a browser similar to K-Meleon, in that it provides a "skin" that uses another Web browser's rendering engine. In the case of NeoPlanet, however, that rendering engine belongs to Internet Explorer 4 or above instead of Netscape. NeoPlanet provides users with over 500 skins so that they can customize how the browser looks to an insane degree; in addition, NeoPlanet offers hundreds of bookmarks organized into "Channels". If you like Internet Explorer but don't like the way it looks, try NeoPlanet. Windows only.
• Konqueror ~ If you're running Unix, then you may want to check this browser out. It was written to work with the K Desktop Environment 2 (KDE 2).

Where can I find lists of Web browser User-Agents?

• www.user-agents.com ~ Tells you what your user-agent is & lists several others the site has seen.
• Agent strings from delorie.com ~ This is a voluminous list of user-agents, at least several MBs in size. Go fishing.

Help - I need to download a browser from a few years ago! Where can I find these antique browsers?

• The evolt.org Browser Archive ~ This is one large and amazing list! If you're looking for an antique browser, this is the place to go. There are browsers on this list that none of us at Granneman Information Solutions has ever heard of - now that's comprehensive!
• Netscape Browser Archive ~ If all you want is an old version of Netscape, for almost any operating system (including Linux and OS/2), then this is your Web site.
• Netscape Products: Archived Products [link broken] ~ Netscape also provides antique browsers for users to download.

Want to suggest a Web site we've missed, or let us know about a broken link? Email & let us know!

Note: These links lead to Web sites that are not under my control. I bear no responsibility for the content of these sites.