NETSCAPE COMMUNICATOR FOR WINDOWS
Preview Release 1

These release notes cover:

• What's new in Preview Release 1
• Features not yet implemented
• Known issues in this release
• How to use Messenger and Collabra

Unknown problems and bugs -- please tell us about bugs you find.

Other Information:

• In the Help menu, choose Help Contents
• In the Help menu, choose Frequently Asked Questions
• Technical Notes

WHAT'S NEW IN THIS RELEASE?

General and Setup

• Enhanced visual appearance and user interface
• Taskbar that enables easy access to Communicator components
• Context-sensitive NetHelp

Navigator

• Layering
• Absolute positioning
• Personal toolbar
• Bookmark Quickfile
• Keyboard navigation

Composer

• WYSIWYG HTML editing
• Integrated with Messenger and Collabra
• Improved table editing performance
• Improved line and character spacing behavior
• Improved toolbars

Messenger

• IMAP4 for server-based mail
• LDAP directory access for Lightweight Directory Access Protocol
• HTML compose with composer toolbar
• Multi-part alternative (plain text is sent with an HTML message)
• Rules and filters
• Message search

Collabra

• Interface integrated with Messenger
• HTML compose with compose toolbar
• Search messages in Discussion
• Ability to read and post to Internet newsgroups

Conference

• Support of the ITU H.323 conferencing industry standard.
• File Exchange Tool to transfer files.
• New codecs (G.711, RT29 and SX8300P) for higher audio quality.
• Collaborative Browser Tool
• Support for custom-developed Plug-Ins.

Live 3D

• VRML 2.0/1.x support (including Live3D 1.0 Extension Nodes)
• JavaScript supported in Script Node
• Per-Vertex Colors Support for 3D sound using Intel's RSX Technology (can be downloaded 12/24/96)
• Support for 256x256 and MPEG textures
• Improved lighting and material models
• Support for large datasets

FEATURES NOT YET IMPLEMENTED

General and Setup

• NetHelp (Help Contents from the Help menu) is not completely implemented
• Multiple user profiles. The one profile that Communicator creates the first time you start this preview release is the only profile you can currently create.
• Spell Checker

Navigator

• Navigator plug-in enhancements
• Reorganized preferences
• Stop animation and applet items
• CryptoAPI 
• OLE automation improvements

Java and JavaScript

• CSS-1 and JSS style sheets
• The OBJECT tag
• WebFonts
• The event model for filtering keyboard events
• If a system halt related to the Kernel32.dll occurs, update the kernel. You can obtain the update from http://www.microsoft.com/kb/articles/q148/3/36.htm. This may correct the problem.
• In Netscape 3.0 dragging the cursor over the items results in an image being displayed in the top part of the frame. This feature is not yet working in Communicator.
• Entities in image size specifiers don't yet work properly
• Javascript-generated HTML is slower in this release than it was in previous versions of Navigator

Composer

• Plug-In API
• Composer Plug-In API
• Insert Background Image
• Undo command

Messenger

• Encrypted messages and digital signatures (S/MIME)
• Full synchronization of server mail folders and local mail folders
• Quoted text in HTML
• Embedding images within a message (MIME HTML)
• Server-based return receipts
• S/key for encrypted passwords
• Full vCard support
• Filter mail on the server
• UUENcode of attachments
• Wrap long lines

Collabra

• Display of categories
• Cross-discussion group searching
• Offline reading of discussions
• Retention policies for discussion messages
• Editing a message already posted
• End-user administration through menu items
• User-friendly discussion group names

Conference

• Voicemail
• Netscape Communicator Address Book interface

Live 3D

• Text, Fontstyle and Visibility Sensor
• Live3D 1.0 SDK 
• VRML 2.0 External Authoring Interface

KNOWN ISSUES IN THIS RELEASE

General and Setup

• Help information is available on some, but not all, tasks and topics. Minimum Install includes Help on some functions that aren't provided with the minimum installation. Resizing, maximizing, or restoring the Help window causes the contents to forward a page.
• Plug-ins from other companies installed in previous versions of Navigator aren't automatically transferred over to Communicator. You need to re-install these plug-ins.
• During installation, Communicator copies the address book from Navigator 3.0 to your user directory, but in order to update the address book format you need to import the address book file. To import address books, choose Import from the File menu in the Address Book window. The address book is the file address.htm in the user directory (the default is \Program Files\Netscape\Users\<user name>)
• After installing this release for the first time on a system that has a previous version of Navigator installed, the cookie file (cookie.txt) and the history file (netscape.hst) may not be copied to the first user profile. To use the information stored in these files, copy them from the previous Navigator directory (the default is \Program Files\Netscape\Navigator) to the user directory (the default is \Program Files\Netscape\Users\<user name>).
• There are several printing problems, including incorrect printing of images and improper alignment on the page.

Navigator

• On 256-color video displays, after browsing several pages the colors in your page might look distorted. You can usually restore the correct colors by minimizing and then restoring the window.
• Reloading a page containing forms might cause form elements to disappear.
• Resizing a window containing a QuickTime movie causes the browser to shift the location of the QuickTime movie.
• When reloading pages containing a frameset, certain frames may display incorrectly or may not display at all.
• Inflow layers, created using the <ILAYER> tag, are not implemented.
• For the VISIBILITY attribute of the <LAYER> and <ILAYER> tags, the only accepted values are HIDE and INHERIT. A value of SHOW is ignored and the layer's visibility defaults to INHERIT.
• Percentage values are not accepted for the TOP, LEFT, CLIP and WIDTH attributes of the <LAYER> and <ILAYER> tags.
• Using in-line JavaScript (i.e. JavaScript entities) to specify the values of attributes for any tag does not work. As a workaround, layers can be initially hidden, and subsequently positioned and shown using the left, top and visibility properties of the corresponding JavaScript layer object, within a <SCRIPT> tag.
• The following JavaScript layer object properties are not implemented: width, height, zIndex, background, bgColor, above and below. To change the z-order of a layer dynamically, use the moveAbove and moveBelow methods.
• For the visibility property of JavaScript layer objects, the only accepted values are "hide" and "inherit".
• Embedded plug-ins (created using the <EMBED> or <OBJECT> tag) and Java applets (created using the <APPLET> or <OBJECT> tag) within a <LAYER> tag may not be positioned correctly. They will not be hidden when the containing layer is hidden.
• Form elements in layers may not display correctly if the enclosing layer is moved or clipped by a parent layer.
• Resizing a page containing <LAYER> tags and JavaScript may result in a crash.
• <BLINK> tags do not display correctly if they are placed within a <LAYER> tag.
• Client-side image maps do not receive onMouseOver and onMouseOut events correctly when they are placed within a <LAYER> tag, unless the layer is positioned with TOP and LEFT values of 0.
• In the absence of an explicit CLIP value, the clipping rectangle of a layer should be sized to include the contents of the <LAYER> tag, as well as all its child layers. Currently, the clipping rectangle is only sized to include the contents of the <LAYER> tag.
• Acceptable values for the Z-INDEX attribute and corresponding zIndex JavaScript property should be all integers, where negative integers indicate that the layer should exist below its parent in z-order. Currently, only positive values are accepted and all child layers are forced to exist above their parent in z-order.

Java and JavaScript

• Some Java applets may not show; a gray box may appear instead.
• Various Java applets display have color palette problems. These applets display with wrong colors. The problems are more common on 256-color video.
• Resizing may cause applets to load improperly.
• Jzip files generated by applets are not removed from the temp directory
• Images in JavaScript do not appear when generated by XBM
• The main Java thread halts when a join is used. You need to restart Communicator in order for Java to work again.
• Running JavaScript for a prolonged period of time may result in lost resources.
• When the JavaScript onClick handler changes the anchor or the target of the link, a wrong page appears
• Entities in image size specifiers don't yet work properly
• Javascript-generated HTML is slower in this release than it was in previous versions of Navigator.
• Select method only works if the focus method is used on the form before the select method
• onClickhandler changing the anchor or target of a link doesn't work
• Resizing a JavaScript-generated HTML page causes a wysiwyg to appear in the location bar.

Composer

• You cannot change the Font face property through the Character Properties dialog box. Instead, use the Font Face popup menu in the Composer Toolbar.
• Hiding Tables in Mail Composer or Netscape Composer may cause your system to halt.
• Changing the height or width values in the Insert Image dialog box may cause your system to halt.
• Undo does not yet work
• Images from your local drive that you insert in mail in the HTML Mail Composer don't currently display when you send the message.

Messenger and Collabra

• When composing a message and attaching a file, you cannot delete the attachment. It may appear that the attachment is deleted, but when the message is sent, the attachment is still there. The workaround if you want to remove an attachment is to compose another message and copy and paste the contents from the old message to the new message.
• In the Address Book, if you type in a name in the type down field and select it and press Delete, the name in the type down field doesn't get deleted. Instead, the address that is highlighted in the list of addresses is deleted.
• HTML in messages- Recipients of mail messages may see HTML tags in the mail message if viewed using a mail reader besides Netscape Communicator or Navigator. If sending to these recipients, uncheck the HTML Compose Window option in the Mail and News Preferences dialog. This feature will be improved in future releases.
• Quote Messages is Not Automatic - When replying, users must click the "Quote Original" toolbar button to get the contents to appear in the Compose window.
• "No Pages to Print" Error - The problem usually occurs if you have just scrolled down to the bottom of a mail or news message. To workaround, you need to scroll back to the top of the message.
• System Halt with the Compose Window - If you get a system halt when invoking the Compose window, rename abook.nab (Address Book file) located in your users profile directory. Reported problems with the Address Book becoming corrupted will be addressed in future releases.
• Preference Settings - Some Preference settings are not completely implemented yet. In such cases, this release uses the settings from Netscape Navigator 3.x.
• Unreadable Columns in Address Book or Subscribe Dialog - When using the Address Book or the Subscribe Dialog, all the columns may appear "squished" to the left. You can remedy this by clicking on the < and > buttons in the column heading area.
• Add Name to Address Book - The Add to Address Book button in the Search Phone Book dialog does not work. Selected names will not be added to the Address Book. The workaround is to access the LDAP Search feature from within the Address Book, select the desired name, and choose to compose a message. Copy the address and then from the Address Book, add a new user and paste address in the specified field.
• Shortcut Keys on Windows NT 3.51 - Shortcut keys may not bring up the correct dialog or perform the correct action.

Messenger

• In the Message window, the File button on the toolbar does not work. To file messages, choose File Message or Copy Message from the Message menu.
• After you get new messages, the message you had selected before downloading stays current. To get to the first new (unread) message, click Next Unread on the toolbar.
• Netscape Message Center Icon - Clicking on the Netscape Message Center icon next to the Total Messages display may halt your system. This problem will be addressed in a future release.
• Next Unread and the Trash Folder - If your Trash folder contains unread messages and it happens to be the next folder in your list, Next Unread might go to the Trash folder.
• Mail Filters - If Communicator has not yet accessed a mail folder (and built a summary file for it internally), a mail filter using that folder may not correctly filter messages to that folder. The messages appear in your Inbox rather than in the designated folder.
• Setting Priority of Outgoing Mail - You can set the priority of outgoing mail under the third tab in the Composition window. You must reselect the addressing tab prior to sending the message, otherwise the priority reverts back to Normal.

Mail with IMAP Servers

• You can access IMAP4 Servers with this version of Communicator. However, the functionality of using Communicator with IMAP4 servers is currently limited to basic functionality.
• Filing or Copying Messages - The only way to file messages on the server is to drag and drop between the Folders window and the Message List window.
• Trash Folder Creation Message - You may get an error message about creating the Trash folder when you first set up for IMAP. This is a harmless message that you can ignore. The Trash folder does get created.
• Inbox Icon in Taskbar showing Question Mark - After you log into the IMAP4 server and get new mail, the Inbox icon in the taskbar may still display a question mark.
• Creating Folders - You cannot create or rename a folder with a space in the folder name. An error message appears. Also, on some IMAP4 servers, there have been reported problems with being able to create a folder.
• Emptying Trash Folders - Emptying of the online Trash folder is not working. However, there are reported problems of getting a General Protection Fault error if you've manipulated folders and messages into the Trash folder by drag and drop.
• Cancelling Password Dialog - Ignore the error message that appears when you cancel the password dialog . To get the password dialog again and to re-enter your password, close and reopen the Message List window.
• Watched View - Once you switch to the Watched View, you cannot choose another view from the View menu. You must open another folder and then reopen the current one.
• Searching All Mail Folders - Searching all mail folders does not find items located in an online folder.
• Accessing IMAP4 Server after long period - If you are away from your machine for more than one hour or so and Messenger is running, you may get a "Socket Error" message. The workaround is to exit and restart the program.
• Saving or Viewing Attachments - There are reported problems with saving or viewing attachments in messages.

Collabra

• The Remove News Host feature is not yet available
• Search News Messages - Searching news messages is case sensitive.
• Sending to Default News Server - Composing a message to a newsgroup via the Compose menu item (as opposed to using To: News from within the newsgroup) will send to the default server. You will get an error message if the newsgroup isn't on your default server. The workaround is to compose a message from within the Newsgroup so that the To: News toolbar or menu item is available.
• Accessing an Admin Server to Create and Moderate a Discussion Group
  This feature is not implemented in this beta release. The workaround is to create the newsgroups from Collabra Server. Please consult the Collabra Server release documentation for instructions on creating and managing newsgroups.

Conference

• When calling someone from the Address Book for the first time, Communicator prompts you to enter a conference address. Enter dls.netscape.com in the text field and make sure that DLS address radio button is checked.
• Conference needs to be running to receive calls.
• Help within dialogs is not yet available, and the F1 key doesn't yet produce help in all Conference tools.
• Collaborative Browser does not work with Frame structures, JavaScripted pages that require user action, and anchors linking different portions of forms.
• Collaborative Browser does not yet automatically open a new Navigator window if you have the Address Book or Composer or the Collections window running without the Navigator window running.
• Each time you click the Search Directory, Communicator opens another Navigator window
• Calling a fictitious user generates a prompt to leave Voice Mail.
• Calling a valid user that has selected Do Not Disturb does not generate a prompt to leave voicemail.
• Pending Invitation dialog status reports "Disconnected".
• When calling a valid user already in a conference the "Pending Conference" status reports "Line busy, try again later" but does not generate a prompt to leave voicemail.
• Placing a call to a user who does not have Conference running does not generate a prompt to leave voicemail.
• Pending Invitation dialog status reports Dial Tone.
• Placing a call to a valid user that is running Conference but does not accept or reject your call does not time out and prompt you to leave voicemail.
• Placing a direct Call (IP Address) to an invalid IP causes the incorrect Dialog to appear. Select Cancel toclear this dialog.
• The mute function with the half-duplex sound card and Auto-Switch selected is not yet working.
• Netscape Conference does not interoperate with CoolTalk or with the Netscape 411 Server for CoolTalk.
• Netscape Conference does not usually run across firewalls unless the fiirewall is configured to allow UDP data to pass through.
• Netscape provides a central DLS server. You may run your own DLS server, but if you do you'll currently be restricted to calling within your 'realm'.

Plug-ins

• Plug-ins currently do not redraw correctly after resizing the window.
• AVI or sound files (au,wav,aiff, or mid) that are attached from a local disk drive in a mail message do not play.
• Plug-ins from other companies installed in previous versions of Navigator aren't automatically transferred over to Communicator. You need to re-install these plug-ins.

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How to Use MESSENGER AND COLLABRA 

• Add a Collabra/news server and subscribe to discussion groups - use the Choose Newsgroup from the File menu in the Netscape Message Center folder window. For more information on how to search for and subscribe to discussion groups, choose Help Contents from the Help menu.
• New windows:
• Folder window: displays the Netscape Message Center, which contains lists of mail folders and discussion groups to which you subscribe
• Message List window: displays the contents of a mail folder or discussion, and provides a collapsible message area in which you can view a selected message
• Message window: displays the content of a selected message
• Reusable windows - When opening mail folders, discussion groups, and messages, Communicator reuses the Message List or Message window you currently have open, instead of opening a new window
• One- or two-pane display in message list window - The Message List window has a collapsible message area, which you can use to view a message you select from the message list
• New mail icon - The Inbox icon on the taskbar indicates when you have new mail on your server. Opening your inbox no longer downloads new messages. To receive new messages, click Get New Messages button on the toolbar.
• Mail Notification application - To launch this feature, run Netscape Mail Notification from your Communicator program folder. This notification runs minimized on the Windows 95 and Windows NT 4.0 taskbar. To set up this mail notification, right mouse click on the mail notification icon in the taskbar. You can check to see if you have new mail (without having Communicator loaded) or run mail directly from this icon. This mail notification program remains loaded unless you exit by using the right mouse menu. This feature does not work when your mail is set up for an IMAP4 server.
• Reuse Message List and Message Windows - There is an option to reuse the Message List and Message windows or open a new window when another folder, discussion or message is selected. You can set this option from Mail and News Preferences, Mail & News tab. The option is "Reuse thread and message window."
• One or Two Pane Display in Thread Window - There is an option to show the message contents from the Message List window (two panes) or to show just the threads (one pane). You can set from Mail and News Preferences, in the Mail & News tab. The option is "Open message pane in the thread window by default." You can also switch between one or two panes by clicking on the blue arrow toggle shown in the left side of the window below the end of the thread list.
• Next Unread - Next Unread spans across mail folders and newgroups
• Backtrack and Forward - Backtrack is a feature, available from the toolbar and from the Go menu, that takes you to the messages that you have just read. Forward, available from the Go menu, takes you to the messages you've backtracked from.
• Inbox Icon in the Netscape Taskbar - Unlike Netscape Navigator 3.0x, displaying the Mail Inbox or the Netscape Message Center does not automatically get new messages for you. To receive new messages, click Get New Messages on the toolbar or the Message menu.
• Filing or Copying Messages - Instead of trying to display both the Message window and a Message List window side by side to drag and drop messages into folders, you can file (move) or copy messages directly from the Message List window or from the Message window. Use the File toolbar button to move messages into folders or use the commands from the Message window. You can also file news messages into folders that you create to capture information you want to refer to later.
• "More" feature - You can press the spacebar to read through all your unread messages.
• Send Later - You can defer sending of your messages by choosing the Send Later command under the Message menu. Choosing Send Later places your message into the Outbox folder. You can send the outgoing messages by choosing Message | Send in Outbox from the Netscape Message Center or from the Outbox's Message List window when you are online.
• Drafts - You can save messages that you are in the process of composing. From within the Composition window, click the Draft toolbar button. You can continue composing your message and then send it. Or, you can close the Composition window and then go into the Drafts folder and select the draft you saved. Double-click the draft and the Composition window appears for you to modify the message and send it.
• Filters - Filter support allow you to organize your incoming messages. Use Mail Filter Rules in the Edit menu to create filters.
• Views - You can display four different views in the Thread window. They are: New, Watched, Ignored, and All. Use the Threads command in the View menu to change views to one of these options:
  New - Only unread messages appear. If your messages are sorted by thread and the unread message is a reply, the "parent" of this reply also displays.
  Watched - Only new messages which belong to a thread that is marked "watched" (using Watch Thread from the Message menu) appears in this view. For example: When you only have time to read new messages for the threads that you've marked watched, you can access those threads directly by choosing the Watched view after getting new mail or opening a newsgroup.
  Ignored - All messages, including messages which belong to a thread that is marked "ignored" (Ignore Thread command in the Message menu)l appear in this view.
  All - All messages, except ignored threads, appear in this view.
  Note: When switching views, you may not see any changes because the views are cached. If this occurs, use the "All" view and select another message to clear the cache or close and reopen the folder or newsgroup.
• Showing More Columns in the Thread Window - Communicator defaults to showing a specified set of columns in the Netscape Message Center and the Netscape Message List window. You can increase or decrease the number of columns shown by clicking on the < or > buttons at the right of the column headings.
• Choose Newsgroup Dialog - There is a new dialog for adding news servers and adding newsgroups. The Choose Newsgroup... command is available in the File menu of the Netscape Message Center. We will be adding more features to this dialog. As an alternative, you can also add a newsgroup with the Add Newsgroup command in the File menu, just as in Navigator 3.0.