Menu items
Netscape Handbook: Table of
Contents
- File
- Send Mail/Post News (File/Mail Document
dialog)
- Document Information (File/Document
Information dialog)
- Edit
- View
- Go
- Bookmarks
- View Bookmarks (Bookmarks dialog)
- Options
- Window Styles (Options/Preferences
panel)
- Link Styles (Options/Preferences
panel)
- Fonts (Options/Preferences panel)
- Colors (Options/Preferences
panel)
- Mail (Options/Preferences panel)
- News (Options/Preferences panel)
- Cache (Options/Preferences panel)
- Network (Options/Preferences panel)
- Applications (Options/Preferences
panel)
- Directories (Options/Preferences
panel)
- Images (Options/Preferences panel)
- Security (Options/Preferences panel)
- Proxies (Options/Preferences panel)
- Helper Applications (Options/Preferences
panel)
- Directory
- Help
- Pop-up Menu
File
- New Window
Creates a new window with the same history items as the
previous window while bringing the oldest page in the history (usually
the home page) to screen.
- Open Location...
Produces a dialog box that lets you enter a Uniform Resource
Locator (URL) to bring the specified page into the content area.
Every page has a unique URL that identifies its protocol, server, and
file pathname.
- Open File...
Lets you select a file to open from a dialog box.
- Save As...
Produces a dialog box that lets you create a file containing the
content area of the current Netscape page. You can save the page in
plain text format or in source (HTML) format (on UNIX, you also have
the option to save in PostScript format).
- Mail Document...
Produces the Send Mail/Post News dialog box that lets you
send a mail message and page attachment to an e-mail address you
specify. If you have not specified the name of your mail (SMTP)
server and your own e-mail address in the appropriate fields of the
Mail panel, you'll receive a dialog box telling you that you
must do so for mail or news postings to be sent.
- Document Information
Produces a read-only dialog box stating the current document's
title, location (URL), date of last modification, character set
encoding, and security status. Secure documents specify the type of
encryption used and certificate data. The certificate states the
version, serial number, issuer (identity of the certifier), and
subject (identity of the server). The certificate uses abbreviations
for: Country (C), State or Province (ST), Organization (O),
Organizational Unit (OU), Locality (L), and Common Name (CN).
- Page Setup... (On Windows: a button in the Print...
dialog box) (Not on UNIX)
Produces a dialog box that lets you specify printing
characteristics associated with the current page.
- Print...
Prints the content area of the current Netscape page. A dialog box
lets you select printing characteristics. In addition to
Print, the Windows platform offers a Print Preview menu
item to display the layout of a printed page.
- Print Preview (Windows only)
Shows a representation of a printed page on screen.
- Close
Closes the current Netscape page. On Windows, exits the Netscape
application when you close the last page.
- Exit (On Macintosh: Quit)
Closes the current Netscape page and exits the Netscape
application.
Send
Mail/
Post
News (File/Mail Document
dialog)
This dialog box is produced by choosing the File/Mail Document
menu item. The dialog may also be produced by clicking on a link or
button designed to initiate e-mail, and is the same dialog used to
post articles to newsgroups.
Fields in the dialog work as follows:
- Your e-mail address (as stated in the Mail panel) is
displayed in the From field.
- Enter the e-mail address of the intended mail recipient in the
Mail To field.
- Enter the name of the newsgroup you wish to post to in the Post
To (Newsgroup) field. If you're posting from a newsgroup listing
or article, this field is preset with the name of the newsgroup.
- Enter a description of the e-mail or posting in the Subject
field. If you're sending mail or posting from news articles, this
field is preset with the name of the current page.
- Any file you've attached is shown in the Attachment field.
- Enter a message or include the text of the current page in the
large message field. If you're sending mail, this field is preset
with the current page's URL. If the Mail panel specifies a
text file containing your signature, the signature is appended.
Buttons in the dialog work as follows:
- Press the Attach button to send a separate document along
with the e-mail message. The button produces a dialog box with radio
buttons for choosing a Document Text, Document Source,
or File attachment. The File alternative offers a
Browse button for selecting a local file.
- Press the Quote Document button to import the text of the
current page into the message field. The imported text is appended to
any other content in the field and each line is preceded with a
greater-than (>) symbol.
- Press the Send button to distribute the mail into the
network and close the dialog box.
Document
Information (File/Document
Information dialog)
This dialog identifies elements of a document that help you establish
the document's authenticity and other security characteristics. In
the upper portion of the dialog, the document's title, location,
modification date, and character set encoding information are
presented. The lower portion of the dialog consists of a panel
detailing the particulars of a document's security status.
To interpret the security status of a document, you should verify that
the information you see in the dialog box:
- Is consistent with your knowledge of the party with whom you are
communicating.
- States that the document is secure or insecure.
- Designates for secure documents the type of encryption used in the
transmission and the certification of the server.
If a document is insecure, the security information panel notifies you
that encryption is not used and there is no server certificate. If a
document is secure, the security information panel notifies you of
the encryption's grade, export control, key size, and algorithm type,
and, in a scrolling field, the server certificate presents coded data
identifying the:
- Certificate version and serial number
- Issuer of the certificate
- Subject (organization) that is being certified
To ensure you are communicating with the organization you want,
examine the subject of the server certificate. The organization
should identify itself with the name and location you expect.
Like documents, certificate information is protected by encryption to
ensure authenticity and integrity. You can interpret the coded data
as follows:
- Country (C): two-character country code
- State or Province (ST): unabbreviated state/province name
- Organization (O): legal, registered organization name
- Organizational Unit (OU): optional department name
- Locality (L): city the organization resides or is registered in
- Common Name (CN): the server's fully qualified host name (such as:
hostname.netscape.com)
Edit
- Undo
Reverses the last action you performed, if possible.
- Cut...
Removes the current selection and places a copy on the
clipboard.
- Copy
Places a copy of the current selection on the clipboard.
- Paste
Puts the contents of the clipboard into the current Netscape
page at the position of the selection marker.
- Clear (Macintosh only)
Removes the current selection.
- Select All (Macintosh only)
Creates a selection composed of the entire contents of the area
occupied by the selection marker.
- Find...
Produces a Find dialog box that lets you specify a
word or phrase to locate within the current Netscape page. Pressing
the Find button begins the search. If a match is found, the
text is selected and, if necessary, scrolled to a visible position in
the content area. If the Match Case option (Case
Sensitive on Macintosh and UNIX) is checked, a match can only
occur when the use of uppercase and lowercase letters is the same;
otherwise a match can occur regardless of case. If the Up
option (Find Backwards on Macintosh and UNIX) is checked, the
search proceeds from the selection bar toward the beginning of the
page; otherwise (Down is checked;Find Backward is
unchecked) a search proceeds from the selection bar toward the end of
the page. If a search reaches the end or beginning of a page
(depending on the direction of the search), a dialog box asks whether
or not to continue the search to the beginning or end of the
document.
- Find Again (Not on Windows)
Searches for another occurrence of the text specified
after using Find.
View
- Reload
Brings a fresh copy of the current Netscape page (from
cache or, if changed, source) to replace the one originally loaded.
The reloaded page displays any changes made to the source page from
the time of the original loading.
- Load Images
Displays the images of the current Netscape page. Typically,
images automatically load into pages. However, if the Options/Auto
Load Images menu item is unchecked when a page loads, a small
icon is substituted at the position of each image. Choosing Load
Images replaces all of the small icons with their corresponding
images. Images are loaded from their source files, however the page
is not reloaded (links to images are not updated from the source
page).
- Refresh (Not on Macintosh)
Brings a fresh copy of the current Netscape page from
local memory to replace the one originally loaded. The refreshed page
does not display changes made to the source page from the time of the
original loading.
- Source... Produces a View Source dialog box (or
opens a viewer application) showing the current page in the textual
format of HTML (HyperText Markup Language). The HTML source text
includes the commands used to create the content and content style of
a single page. The dialog box contains a read-only listing, though
the text can be selected and copied to an application with editing
capabilities. On Windows, the source text is displayed in a dialog
box without the option to save. On Macintosh, the text is stored in a
temporary file and displayed using the Macintosh's generic text
application capable of saving the file (if no text application is
available, a dialog asks you to save or delete the text file). On
UNIX, the text is displayed, along with the document title and URL,
in a dialog box that offers a Save button. The Save
button allows you to save the source listing in the same manner as
the File/Save As menu item. On all platforms, you can specify
an application of your choice to view the source text (bypassing the
dialog box or generic viewer). The Applications panel (choose
Options/Preferences/Applications) offers a View Source
field and Browse button to specify the location of the viewing
application you wish to use as the default viewer.
Go
- Back
Brings the previous page in the history list. A history list is a
reference to a hierarchy of pages you have viewed.
- Forward
Brings the next page in the history list. If you have used
Back or a history menu item to bring back page B, then
Forward brings the page ahead of B in the history list. The
Forward command is only offered after using Back or a
history item.
- Home
Brings the home page whose location is specified in the Window
Styles panel. The default is Netscape's home.
- Stop Loading
Halts the connection in progress that is bringing a page to the
screen.
- View History...
Produces a History dialog box that lists, in two columns,
the title and URL of each page you have seen as you "most recently"
descended from the home page. (For example, if you go from page
Animal to page Cat to page Calico, then back to page Animal and
traverse the path Animal to Dog to Spaniel, your history maintains
only the most recent Animal-Dog-Spaniel lineage.) The history list is
sorted with the most recently viewed pages at the top. One item in
the list is always selected. Pressing the Go to button brings
the selected page back to the screen. So does double-clicking on an
item. Pressing the Add to Bookmark button puts the selected
page into the bookmark list.
- History item 1
Brings the first page in the history list (each menu item
is a title of a page).
- History item 2
Brings the second page in the history list (and so on,
each menu item is a title of a page).
Bookmarks
The Bookmarks menu provides fast and easy access to your
favorite pages. Initially, the menu displays only the two items that
help you add and modify pages in a bookmark list. However, as you add
a page to a bookmark list, the title of the page (or any other name
you wish to supply as a bookmark title) is appended as a menu item.
Selecting the title brings the page to your screen.
Bookmarks are maintained in lists, each list is represented by a
bookmarks file. You can maintain multiple bookmark lists, each with
its own set of titles linked to favorite pages, though only one
bookmark list can be active at a time. The menu item View
Bookmarks produces a Bookmark List dialog box offering
options that allow you to build and maintain one or more bookmark
files. Any changes you make to the active bookmark list (the one
currently available through the Bookmark List dialog box) are
saved and available the next time you start Netscape.
You can organize and customize items in the Bookmarks menu
through the Bookmark List dialog box. Bookmark menu items can
be arranged hierarchically. The dialog box permits you to create a
hierarchy by defining header items in the list, then inserting
bookmark items indented (in outline form) below each header. The
Up and Down buttons (arrows on the Macintosh) control
the line position and indention of items. An item indented one deep
in the bookmark list appears as a submenu of the header in the menu.
An item indented two deep in the list appears as a submenu of a
submenu, and so on. Each indentation of an item in the bookmark list
corresponds to the item's hierarchical sublevel in the menu. You can
also exchange bookmark lists with other Netscape users by using the
Export Bookmarks and Import Bookmarks buttons.
- Add Bookmark
Adds the title of the current Netscape page to the list of
pages in the bookmark file.
- View Bookmarks...
Produces a Bookmark List dialog
box that allows you to create and modify bookmark files.
- Bookmark item 1
Brings the first page in the bookmarks list (each menu item is
a title of a page).
- Bookmark item 2
Brings the second page in the bookmarks list (and so on,
each menu item is a title of a page).
View
Bookmarks (Bookmarks dialog)
The Bookmark List dialog box produced by choosing the
Bookmarks/View Bookmarks menu item offers offers numerous
options and information. Note: you must press the Edit>>
button (More Options on the Macintosh) to access the full set
of options.
- A field lists the bookmarks in the active bookmarks file. You
can select any one item in the list to view information about the
selected bookmark and to begin editing the list.
- Press the Add Bookmark button to insert the current page
title directly below the current selection in the list. If the
current selection is a header item, the page title is inserted below
and indented to the right of the header.
- Press the Go To button to bring the page specified by the
current selection in the list. If the current selection is not a page
title, the button is dimmed.
- Press the View Bookmarks button to create a new
Netscape page containing the list in HTML format. You can save the
page using the File/Save As command.
- Press the Export Bookmarks button to produce a dialog box
for saving the active bookmarks file. The file is saved as an
HTML-formatted page. Enter a file name of your choosing, then press
OK (Save on Macintosh) to create a bookmarks file. You
can exchange bookmark files with other users by using the Export
Bookmarks and Import Bookmarks buttons.
- Press the Import Bookmarks button to produce a dialog box
for inserting a bookmarks file (an HTML-formatted page) into the
active bookmarks file. Choose the bookmarks file from the dialog box,
then press OK (Open on Macintosh) to insert the
bookmarks after the last bookmark of the active list.
- Select an item from the Menu Adds After (Add Bookmarks
Under on Windows) pop-up menu to specify the head position for
new page titles added through the menu bar. Subsequent selections of
the Add Bookmark menu item adds the title at the end of the
list or after the specified header.
- Select an item from the Menu Start With (Bookmarks
Menu on Windows) pop-up menu to specify the head position for
displaying items under the Bookmarks menu. Subsequent
selections of the Bookmarks menu show the entire list or only
those items in the hierarchy of the specified header.
- Press the New Bookmark button to insert a new item
(temporarily titled New Item) below the current selection in
the list. Enter the bookmark title that you wish to use in the
Name field and the new item's URL in the location field, then
click in the list (or press another button) to complete the
insertion.
- Press the New Header button to insert a new header below
the current selection in the list. Enter the name of the new header
in the Name text field, then click in the list (or press
another button) to complete the insertion.
- Press the New Separator (New Divider on Macintosh)
button to insert a line below the current selection in the list.
- The Name text field contains the name of the current
selection in the list. You can edit the name in the field to supply a
bookmark title of your choice. Click in the list to complete the
edit.
- The location field contains the URL of the current selection in
the list. You can edit the URL in the field. Click in the list to
complete the edit.
- The Last Visited text shows the date that the current
selection in the list was last viewed.
- The Added On text shows the date that the current
selection was added to the list.
- The Description text field contains any text you wish
to supply about the current URL selection in the list.
- Press the Up button (arrow on Macintosh) to move or
indent the current selection in the list. Typically, pressing the
Up button swaps the positions of the current selection and the
item directly above the current selection. However, the Up
button behaves as follows: if the current selection is a header, the
header and its sub-items move as a single item; if the item directly
above the current selection is indented to the right of the current
selection, pressing the Up button indents the current
selection.
- Press the Down button (arrow on Macintosh) to move the
current selection in the list or reverse the current selection's
indentation. Typically, pressing the Down button swaps the
positions of the current selection and the item directly below the
current selection. However, the Down button behaves as
follows: if the current selection is a header, the header and its
sub-items move as a single item; if the item directly below the
current selection is positioned to the left of the current selection,
pressing the Down button moves the current selection one tab
stop to the left (reverses a single indent).
- Press the Find button to search for items in the bookmark
list (both titles and URLs) that matches text you enter in the
Find field. The search begins at the current selection and
searches downward. The search is not case sensitive. When a match is
found, the item is selected. If the match is in a URL, the URL is
also selected. Pressing the Find button again searches for the
next occurrence. If an item is found under a folded header, the
header's list is automatically unfolded and the found item selected.
- The Edit button (More Options on the Macintosh)
expands the Bookmark List dialog box to its full set of options.
- The Done Editing button (Fewer Options on the
Macintosh) limits the Bookmark List dialog box to its minimum set
of options.
- The Copy Item button creates a duplicate of the current
selection and positions the new item directly below the original.
- The Remove Item button deletes the current selection from
the list.
Options
Window
Styles
(Options/Preferences panel)
- Select one of three radio buttons Pictures, Text, or
Pictures and Text to determine the appearance of the toolbar
buttons. The default is Pictures.
- Select one of two radio buttons Blank Page or Home
Page Location to determine the first page to appear when starting
Netscape. The Home Page Location choice is followed by a text
field for you to enter the location (URL) of the page you wish to
designate as the startup page. The default is Home Page
Location with the text field containing the URL of the Netscape
application's home page.
- On UNIX, choose one of four radio buttons, Small,
Medium, Large, or Huge, for the font style in
the content area. On Windows and Macintosh, font alternatives are
offered in the Fonts panel.
Link
Styles
(Options/Preferences panel)
- Check Links are: Underlined to make text links in the content
area highlight with underlining. The default is checked.
- Select one of two radio buttons Followed Links: Expire
After or Expire Never, or press the Expire Now
button, to determine the expiration of followed links. The color of
an followed link reverts to the color of an unfollowed link at the
time of expiration. The After choice is followed by a text
field for you to enter the number of days after which a followed link
reverts to an unfollowed link. The Never choice specifies that
followed links never revert to unfollowed links. Pressing the
Now button causes followed links to revert to unfollowed links
immediately. The default is After with links expiring after 30
days.
Fonts
(Options/Preferences panel)
(On Windows and Macintosh only)
Netscape lets you choose a character set encoding's font display and
specify a document's character set encoding. An encoding represents a
mapping of glyphs (such as character symbols) to computer codes (such
as hexadecimal digits).
- Each character set encoding from the For the Encoding
pull-down menu is associated with the display of a proportional and
fixed font pair. You can view or modify the association for any
encoding by choosing the encoding name from the menu, then choosing
items from the proportional and fixed font pull-down menus. For
example, the default encoding, Latin1, is associated with the
proportional font Times 12 and the fixed font Courier 10.
- Press the Use the Proportional Font button to choose a font
and font size (pop-up menus on Macintosh) for the display of the
primary type of text in the content area. Most pages display text in
a proportional font. You can make a selection for each encoding.
- Press the Use the Fixed Font button to choose a font and
font size (pop-up menus on Macintosh) for the display of the
secondary type of text in the content area. Fixed font text is used
in editable fields and certain paragraphs preformatted by the author
of a page. You can make a selection for each encoding.
- Choose an item from the Default Encoding pull-down menu to
specify the character set encoding that a document uses when the
document does not specify an encoding or when the document-specified
encoding is not available. The proportional and fixed fonts
associated with the default encoding are designated using the other
Font panel items.
- The Auto Select check box is enabled only when the default
encoding is one of several Japanese character sets. By checking the
box, Netscape automatically ascertains the most likely encoding used
by a document. By unchecking the box, the default encoding is used.
The check box is selected by default. If the automatic selection of
an encoding is incorrect, uncheck the box and manually set the
correct encoding.
Colors
(Options/Preferences panel)
(On Windows and Macintosh only)
- Select one of two radio buttons Let Document Override or
Always Use Mine to determine if a page's background can be
substituted for your background. Choose the default, Let Document
Override, to permit the background display transmitted with a
page. Choose Always Use Mine to use your own Default,
Custom, or File background only.
li>Check in any of the Custom boxes to specify your own color
choices for links and text. Default colors are used for unchecked
boxes.
- Click in the Links box and press the Choose Color
button (color box on Macintosh) to select the highlight color of text
links to pages you have not yet seen. The default is blue.
- Click in the Followed links box and press the Choose
Color button (color box on Macintosh) to select the highlight
color of text links to pages you have already seen. The default is
purple.
- Click in the Text box and press the Choose Color
button (color box on Macintosh) to select the color of ordinary text.
The default is black.
- Select one of three radio buttons Default, Custom,
or File to specify how the background of a document should be
presented on your screen. Choose Default to use the standard
gray background. Choose Custom and press the Choose
Color button (click in the color box on Macintosh) to select a
background color of your choice. Choose File and press the
Browse button to select an image file to serve as your
document background.
Mail
(Options/Preferences panel)
To send any e-mail, the Netscape application must make the appropriate
connection to the mail server. E-mail is distributed by a SMTP
(Simple Mail Transport Protocol) server. Enter the name of the SMTP
server in the Mail (SMTP) Server field (ideally, a local mail
server if available). If you do not know the name of your SMTP
server, ask your service provider or system administrator.
For others to reply to your mail, you should enter your name and
e-mail address in their respective fields. This information
accompanies each correspondence you send.
- Text in the Mail (SMTP) Server field designates the host
name of your (Simple Mail Transport Protocol) mail server.
- Text in the Your Name field provides provides your name
to recipients of your e-mail.
- Text in the Your E-mail field provides your e-mail
address to recipients of your e-mail.
- Text in the Organization field allows you to add a company
or group name to your e-mail.
- The Signature File field shows the name of a file
containing the signature you can have appended to your mailings and
news postings. Click Browse to select this file.
News
(Options/Preferences panel)
You must specify a news server to interact with Usenet newsgroups. If
you don't know the name of your news server, contact the service or
administrator providing you with your Internet connection.
- Text in the News (NNTP) Server field designates the host
name for the default news server.
- Lists the location of the News RC Directory. This directory
holds newsgroup subscription and information files. A News RC file is
maintained for each news server you connect to. Click the
Browse button to identify a new location. (Not on Macintosh;
News RC files are in the System Folder/Preferences/Netscape folder.)
- The field containing 100 within Show 100 Articles at a
Time (Maximum number of articles to show on Macintosh) can
be replaced with a number that limits how many news articles are
initially transferred, in a single block, from the news server. The
larger the number, the more time to complete the transfer of each
block of articles. Articles with more recent dates are transferred
first. Articles with older dates can be transferred in blocks by
clicking on links available at the start of an article listing.
Cache
(Options/Preferences panel)
- The Memory Cache field specifies the size in kilobytes of
the memory cache. Press the Clear Memory Cache Now button to
empty the cache immediately. The default is 2000K. (On Macintosh,
memory requirements are specified in the application's Get Info box.)
- The Disk Cache field specifies the size in kilobytes of the
disk cache. On Windows, the default is 5000K. On Macintosh, the
default is 1M (1000K) and you can use buttons to adjust the size.
Press the Clear Disk Cache Now button to empt