This post originally appeared on the Netscape Blog.
Netscape is pleased to announce the immediate availability of the first release candidate of Netscape Navigator 9. The release is available for download from browser.netscape.com.
Due to Netscape.com’s transition from a social news site to a traditional news portal (and the resulting re-launch of the social news site at Propeller.com), we made the decision to remove the built-in social news functionality from the Netscape Navigator Web browser. We will be releasing those features as stand-alone Propeller-branded browser extensions shortly, and our browser development efforts will be refocused on providing new features and browsing enhancements not specifically tied to a single Web service.
The following changes have been made since Beta 3:
- Added splash screen
- Fixed formatting bug in Mac license
- Fixed a bug that was preventing custom background colors
- Mini-browser enhancements
- Removed social news integration
- Exposed more preferences in the Preference Dialog for tabs and the mini-browser
- Fixed reversed preference for opening searches in new tab
- Fixed Mac bundle signature
- Fixed default icon and file assocations
- Moved custom FTP style out of userContent.css
- Added URL correction preferences to Advanced Preferences page
- Added drop-down menu to print button
- Added drop-down menu to home button
- Added Firefox profile importing
- Added support for importing Netscape 8 bookmarks after the initial install
- Fixed theme issues on Linux
- Fixed truncation of Reload button label
- Fixed bugs with URL correction and country codes
- Added “Save to Linkpad” option to History context menu
For a complete list of the new features in Netscape 9, see What’s New in Netscape Navigator 9? at browser.netscape.com; you may want to also check out the Netscape Navigator FAQ for information on running Navigator 9 alongside previous Netscape browsers.