This document is provided by Netscape for
your information only. It may help you take certain steps to
protect the privacy and security of your personal information on
the Internet. This document does not, however, address all online
privacy and security issues, nor does it represent a recommendation
by Netscape about what constitutes adequate privacy and security
protection on the Internet.
Customizing &brandShortName;
You can customize &brandShortName; to better suit your needs using
features like &sidebarName;, bookmarks, and Tabbed Browsing.
This section describes the customizable aspects of &brandShortName;'s
browser component, Navigator.
&sidebarName; is a customizable area in your browser where you can
keep items that you need to use all the time—the latest news
and weather, your address book or Buddy List, stock quotes, a
calendar—and many other available options. &sidebarName;
presents these items to you in tabs that are continually
updated.
&brandShortName; comes with some &sidebarName; tabs already set up, but you
can customize &sidebarName; by adding, removing, and rearranging
tabs.
Unless you have closed
&sidebarName;, it is always open at the left side of your browser. To
view a tab:
Click a tab's title; for instance, click the words "Search."
The Search tab opens, which allows you to search for web
pages.
&sidebarName;
Handle
If you don't see &sidebarName;, it may be closed. To open it:
Move the mouse pointer up and down along the left-hand border
of the &brandShortName; window. The pointer changes to a hand when it
touches the "handle" of &sidebarName;.
Click the handle to open &sidebarName;.
Note: If &sidebarName; is not selected from the View menu in
Navigator (within the Show/Hide submenu), you will not see the
frame or its handle.
Tip: To reload a &sidebarName; tab, right-click on the tab
title and choose Reload from the pop-up menu.
Click "Tabs" at the top of &sidebarName;, and select Customize
&sidebarName; from the menu.
In the Customize &sidebarName; dialog box, select a tab from the
list on the left. Double-click the folders to open or close
folders.
Click Add.
Continue adding as many tabs as you want.
Click OK to finish.
Note: If you add more than eight tabs to &sidebarName;,
&brandShortName; hides the remaining tabs to reduce clutter. To scroll
through the hidden tabs, click the down arrow button at the bottom
of &sidebarName; until you see the desired tab. Click the up arrow
button to once again scroll up.
Tips:
To preview a &sidebarName; tab before adding it, select a tab from
the list on the left side of the Customize &sidebarName; dialog box
and click Preview. After a few seconds, the tab displays in the Tab
Preview pop-up window.
To view an extensive and categorized list of tabs available for
&sidebarName;, click "Tabs" at the top of &sidebarName;, and select
&sidebarName; Directory.
You can also turn &sidebarName; tabs on and off.
Click "Tabs" at the top of &sidebarName;. Current tabs are listed
in the lower part of the menu.
Select the tabs you want displayed in &sidebarName;. Remove the
checkmark (deselect) to turn a tab off (it will still be available
from the menu).
Tip: To quickly turn off a &sidebarName; tab, right-click on
its name and choose Hide Tab.
Click "Tabs" at the top of &sidebarName; and select Customize
&sidebarName; from the menu.
Select an available tab from the list on the right.
Click Customize Tab if it is enabled. A window appears with
information and options for customizing the tab.
The instructions vary depending on the source of the
tab—in addition to &brandShortName;, tab providers can be any
company, organization, or individual who uses the
Internet.
After you follow the tab provider's instructions, close the
customization window (or follow the provider's instructions to
close it).
Use &sidebarName;'s handles to open, close, and resize
&sidebarName;'s frame:
&sidebarName;
Handle
If &sidebarName; is closed, you can still see its
handle. If the handle is missing, open the View menu , choose
Show/Hide, and then &sidebarName;. Move the mouse pointer up and down
along the left edge of the &brandShortName; window. The pointer changes to
a hand when it touches the "handle" for &sidebarName;, as shown in the
picture.
Click the "Open &sidebarName;" icon
on the left side of the Personal
Toolbar.
Click the handle to open and close &sidebarName;.
Click and drag the handle to resize
&sidebarName;.
To remove &sidebarName;, including the handle, do one of the
following:
Click the "Close &sidebarName;" icon
on the left side of the Personal
Toolbar.
Click the X in the upper-right corner of &sidebarName;.
Open the View menu, choose Show/Hide, and uncheck
&sidebarName;.
Tabbed Browsing lets you open more than one web page in a single
window. Each web page has its own tab across the top of a single
Navigator window. Each tab appears on the Tab Bar. For example, you
can visit netscape.com, icq.com, and cnn.com within one window
instead of three windows.
Click this to open a new tab.
Tab being viewed.
Click this to close the tab being
viewed.
Tab Bar
You don't need to have several windows open to visit several web
pages; thus, freeing up more space on your desktop. Instead, you
can open, close, and reload web pages conveniently in one place
without having to switch to another window.
There are several ways to customize Tabbed Browsing. For
example, you can change your preferences to open new Navigator tabs
from the Location Bar. You can set up Tabbed Browsing in other ways
too, such as loading new Navigator tabs in the background so the
first page is kept on top while the second page is loading. To
learn more about setting up Tabbed Browsing in &brandShortName;, see
Navigator Preferences
- Tabbed Browsing.
You can open a Navigator tab in the following ways:
Opening a New Blank Navigator Tab:
From the File menu: Open the File menu, choose New, and
then New Navigator Tab.
From the Tab Bar: If visible, click the "new tab" icon
on the left side of the Tab Bar.
From a pop-up menu: If the Tab Bar is visible,
right-click on it, and choose New Tab from the pop-up
menu.
Opening a Web Page Link in a Navigator Tab:
From a pop-up menu: Right-click on a web page link and
choose Open Link in New Tab. (To right-click on Mac OS, press Ctrl
and click the mouse button.)
From the Location Bar: Type a web page location in the
Location Bar and press Ctrl+Enter. (On Mac, press Cmd+Enter) Note: You must set your Tabbed Browsing preferences to open
a Navigator tab from the Location Bar. See
Navigator Preferences
- Tabbed Browsing for more information.
Tips:
To quickly open a new blank Navigator tab, press Ctrl+T (Cmd+T
on Mac OS).
To reload one or all Navigator tabs, right-click anywhere on
the Tab Bar and select Reload Tab or Reload All Tabs,
respectively.
To bookmark the group of Navigator tabs in the current
window:
Open the Bookmarks menu and choose "Bookmark This Group of
Tabs".
Type a name for the bookmark group in the Name
field.
Choose from any of these options:
Destination: Choose a folder in which to create your
bookmark group.
New Folder: Click this button to create a new folder in
which to create your bookmark group.
Click OK to add the bookmark group.
Tips: You can also right-click in the tab area, and
choose "Bookmark This Group of Tabs" from the pop-up menu. To learn
how to use a group of tabs as your home page, see
Navigator
Preferences - Navigator.
Normally, web pages are displayed in the default font set by
your browser or in a font chosen by the web pages' authors.
To change the default fonts:
Open the Edit menu and choose Preferences.
Under the Appearance category, choose Fonts. (If no options are
visible in this category, double-click Appearance to expand the
list.)
From the "Fonts for" drop-down list, choose a character set.
For instance, to set default fonts for the Western (roman)
character set, choose "Western."
Select whether proportional text should be serif (like Times
Roman) or sans-serif (like Arial). Then specify the font size you
want for proportional text.
If an appropriate font is available for your language character
set, select fonts for Serif, Sans-Serif, Cursive, Fantasy, and
Monospace. You can also specify what font size you want for
monospace text.
Specify whether the default font should be serif or sans
serif.
Select a fixed-width font and size. Certain types of text, such
as equations and formulas, are displayed in a fixed-width
font.
Many web page authors choose their own fonts and font sizes. To
allow fonts other than the ones specified in your preferences,
check "Allow documents to use other fonts."
To adjust the readability of fonts, select from the drop-down
list the dots per inch (dpi) for displaying web pages.
Normally, the background and text colors on web pages are
determined by the default colors set by your browser or by the
pages' authors.
To change the default colors:
Open the Edit menu and choose Preferences.
Under the Appearance category, choose Colors. (If no options
are visible in this category, click to expand the list.)
Click the colored blocks next to Text, Background, Unvisited
Links, and Visited Links. Choose a color for each from the color
chart. You can also specify that links should be
underlined.
Most web page authors choose their own colors. You can override
the authors' intentions by selecting "Use my chosen colors,
ignoring the colors specified."
When viewing the source of a web page, you can see the HTML
syntax of the source of a web page highlighted in specific colors
by selecting "Enable syntax highlighting."
The Personal Toolbar is completely customizable—you decide
what you want to keep there. The Personal Toolbar comes with some
buttons already enabled, including your My Netscape page, Radio@Netscape.com,
your home page, search, and mail.
You can easily add, delete, and rearrange items in the Personal
Toolbar.
Turning Buttons On
and Off
Open the Edit menu and choose Preferences.
Click Navigator.
Under "Select the buttons you want to see in the toolbars,"
choose the buttons that you want on your toolbar.
Click OK.
Adding Personal Toolbar Bookmarks
You can add buttons for your favorite bookmarks, or folders
containing groups of bookmarks. To create a new bookmark to add to
the Personal Toolbar:
Open a web page you want to bookmark.
Drag the bookmark icon
(located to the left of URL in the
Location Bar) to a desired place on the Personal Toolbar. You can
drag the icon directly to the Personal Toolbar, or to a folder on
the Personal Toolbar. See
Adding Personal Toolbar
Bookmark Folders" for more information on adding bookmark marks
folder to the Personal Toolbar.
Note: The bookmark icon
may appear as another page-specific
icon if you have checked Show Web Site Icons in preferences. See
Appearance
Preferences - Appearance for more information on changing this
preferences.
Each item in the Personal Toolbar folder appears as a toolbar
button. You may need to enlarge the browser window to see them
all.
Adding Personal Toolbar Bookmark Folders
You can add bookmark folders to the Personal Toolbar to sort
your favorite bookmarks into categories. For example, you can have
one folder on the Personal Toolbar for hobby-related bookmarks and
another folder for work-related bookmarks. To add a new bookmark to
the Personal Toolbar:
Open the Bookmarks menu and choose Manage Bookmarks.
Select your designated "Personal Toolbar Folder."
Click New Folder on the toolbar.
Type a name for your new bookmark folder. By default, the name
is "New Folder."
Click OK to confirm your new bookmark folder name.
Designating a Bookmark Folder as Your Personal Toolbar
Folder
Open the Bookmarks menu and choose Manage Bookmarks.
Select the bookmark folder whose items you want to appear on
the toolbar.
From the View menu, choose Set as Personal Toolbar
Folder.
The buttons in your Personal Toolbar now correspond to the
bookmarks in the folder you designated.
Removing Bookmarks from the Personal Toolbar
Open the Bookmarks menu and choose Manage Bookmarks.
Click the Personal Toolbar Folder.
Select the bookmark or folder you want to delete.
Click Delete on the toolbar.
Close the Manage Bookmarks window.
Tip: To quickly remove a bookmark placed on the Personal
Toolbar (not in a folder), right-click on the bookmark and select
Delete.
Rearranging the Personal Toolbar
Open the Bookmarks menu and choose Manage Bookmarks.
In your Bookmarks window, click the Personal Toolbar
Folder.
Select a bookmark or folder and drag it to a new location.
When you are finished rearranging items, close your Bookmarks
window.
Note: Standard buttons on the Personal Toolbar such as
Search and Home Page cannot be rearranged, but they can be
turned off and on.
Tip: To move a bookmark placed on the Personal Toolbar
quickly, click and drag the bookmark to another location on the
Personal Toolbar or to a folder.
The Status Bar is located at the bottom of any &brandShortName; window.
It includes the following:
Component Bar: Allows you to switch between components. For
more information, see Component
Bar.
Status information: Displays information like the web-page URL
and load status information.
Cookie notification icon
: Appears when a web site has used
a cookie in a way that requires you to be notified. For more
information, see
Cookie
Notification.
Work Offline
or Work Online
icon: Click the icon to toggle working
offline or online. Working offline prevents &brandShortName; from
attempting to connect to the Internet, for example to load images
on web pages or automatically check email.
Lock icon (Example:
): Indicates whether the entire contents of the
page was encrypted while it was being received by your computer.
For more information,
Checking Security
for a Web Page.
Pop-up window blocked notification icon
:
Appears when a pop-up window has been blocked. For more
information, see Controlling
Popups.
Click the small triangle at the left of the toolbar. To show
the toolbar, click the triangle again. (Note: You cannot hide the
Component Bar using this method.)
To completely hide a toolbar, including its triangle:
Open the View menu.
Choose Show/Hide and uncheck the toolbars you want to
hide.
To reverse this action, open the View menu, choose Show, and
then select the toolbars you want to show.
Bookmarks are shortcuts to your favorite and most-visited web
pages. Rather than typing in long URLs (web addresses), you can
create bookmarks that take you directly to the pages you want to
see.
You access your bookmarks through the Bookmarks menu, the
Bookmarks tab on &sidebarName;, and the Manage Bookmarks window. You
can control what's listed in the Bookmarks menu by adding bookmarks
for your favorite web pages and organizing your list of bookmarks
any way you want.
Using Bookmarks
&brandShortName; comes with some bookmarks already available. To use a
bookmark:
Open the Bookmarks menu.
Choose a bookmark from the list or from a folder in the
list.
You can bookmark your favorite web sites to make it easy to
return to them.
To bookmark the current page, perform one of these steps:
To add a bookmark to the Bookmarks menu, open the Bookmarks
menu and choose Bookmark This Page.
To add a bookmark to a specific folder on the Bookmarks menu,
or to provide a specific name or URL for your bookmark:
Open the Bookmarks menu and choose File Bookmark.
Name: Type a name for the bookmark if you want a
different name.
Location: Type a URL for the bookmark if you want a
different URL.
Keyword: Type one or more search keywords to help you
find the bookmark later using the Bookmark Manager.
Destination: Choose a folder in which to create your
bookmark.
New Folder: Click this to create a new folder in which
to create your bookmark.
Click OK to add the bookmark.
Tip: If you have multiple Navigator tabs open in a
window, you can select "Bookmark this group of tabs" to add a
single bookmark that will open all of the open tabs in the current
window.
To add a bookmark to the Personal Toolbar, drag the bookmark
icon
on the left side of the Location
Bar to a place on the Personal Toolbar. You can drag a bookmark to
the following places:
To the "Bookmarks" folder on the Personal Toolbar.
To any bookmarks folder you've created on the Personal
Toolbar.
To the Personal Toolbar itself, on the right side of all
bookmarks folders.
To add a bookmark to the Bookmarks tab in &sidebarName;, open
&sidebarName;, select the Bookmarks tab, and drag the bookmark icon
next to the Location Bar to a place
on the bookmark list in the Bookmarks tab.
Notes:
The bookmark icon
may appear as another page-specific
icon if you have checked Show Web Site Icons in preferences. See
Appearance
Preferences - Appearance for more information on changing this
preferences.
After adding a bookmark using any of the methods listed above,
it can be accessed using the &sidebarName; Bookmarks tab, the Manage
Bookmarks window, and the Bookmarks menu.
To organize your bookmarks, open the Bookmarks menu and choose
Manage Bookmarks. Perform any of the following tasks in your Manage
Bookmarks window.
Tip: You can open the Manage Bookmarks window from the
Bookmarks tab in &sidebarName;. Click on Manage at the top of the
Bookmarks tab.
To view bookmarks inside of folders:
Double-click a folder to view its contents.
To move a bookmark or a folder to another location in the
list:
Drag the bookmark or folder that you want to move to the new
location. To put a bookmark in a folder, drag it to the
folder.
To create a new folder or separator:
Click New Folder or New Separator at the top of the Bookmarks
window. The new folder or separator appears above the current
selection.
To remove a bookmark or a folder from the list:
Click to highlight the bookmark or folder that you want to
remove.
Click Delete in the Bookmarks window.
To sort your bookmarks in the Manage Bookmarks window:
Open the Edit menu and choose Sort Folder by Name to sort the
bookmarks by name.
To choose custom sort options, open the Edit menu and choose
Sort Folder. Tip: To display more columns, open the View menu, open "Show
columns," and select a column header in the list.
Designating a New Bookmark Folder
When you create a new bookmark, &brandShortName; normally adds it to the
bottom of your bookmarks list. If you prefer to file your bookmarks
in a folder, you can designate a new bookmarks folder.
Open the Bookmarks menu and choose Manage Bookmarks.
In your Bookmarks window, select a folder to hold new
bookmarks.
Open the View menu and choose Set as New Bookmark
Folder.
You can change the information for any individual bookmark.
Open the Bookmarks menu and choose Manage Bookmarks.
In your Bookmarks window, click a bookmark.
Click Properties.
In the bookmark Properties dialog box window, click the Info
tab.
You can rename the bookmark (the name appears in your bookmark
list), add descriptive information, or set a keyword. (You can type
a bookmark's keyword into the location field to go to the
bookmarked site.)
You can also set &brandShortName; to check bookmarked web sites for
changes.
Open the Bookmarks menu and choose Manage Bookmarks.
In your Bookmarks window, click a bookmark.
Click Properties.
In the bookmark Properties dialog box, click the Schedule
tab.
Use the pull down lists to specify how frequently you want
&brandShortName; to check the bookmarked page for changes.
If you want to be notified when the bookmarked page changes,
click the Notify tab and choose a notification option.
Open the Bookmarks menu and choose Manage Bookmarks.
In your Bookmarks window, open the Tools menu and choose Search
Bookmarks. You see the Find Bookmarks dialog box.
In the drop-down lists, choose options to define your search,
and then click Find. Bookmarks that match your search criteria are
displayed. Choose from the following Search options:
Choose "contains," "starts with," or "ends with" if you know
only part of the word or phrase for which you're searching.
Choose "is" if you know exactly what you're searching for.
Choose "is not" or "doesn't contain" to exclude pages.
Click the fill-in field and type all or part of name or URL
(web address) for the bookmarks or history listings that you want
to find or exclude.
Select "Save query in bookmarks" to save this search for later
use.
Double-click a bookmark in the list to go to that
page.
Tip: If the list is hard to read, try expanding the
search results window.
Your bookmarks are stored in a file named bookmarks.html. You
can export a copy of this file and save it in a folder of your
choosing. You can then edit it and treat it as you would any HTML
file.
Open the Bookmarks menu and choose Manage Bookmarks.
In your Bookmarks window, open the Tools menu, and choose
Export.
In the "Export bookmark file" dialog box, choose a folder. Your
bookmarks.html file will be copied into the folder you
designate.
Click OK.
Your &brandShortName; bookmarks are not altered by this procedure.
You can also import bookmarks files from other sources. For
example, you can import bookmark files from earlier &brandShortName;
versions, other browsers, or from bookmark files that your friends
send you.
Before you start, make sure that the bookmark file you want to
import is an HTML file (.HTML or .HTM format). If you're importing
a bookmark file from another browser, you may first have to export
your bookmarks from that browser before you can import them into
&brandShortName;. When you export bookmarks from another browser, remember
where you saved the exported bookmark file, so that you can locate
it when you want to import it into &brandShortName;.
Open the Bookmarks menu and choose Manage Bookmarks.
In your Bookmarks window, open the Tools menu and choose
Import.
In the "Import bookmark file" dialog box, locate and select the
bookmark file you want to import.
Click OK.
The imported bookmark file is treated as a group of new
bookmarks and added to the bottom of your bookmarks list. If you
have designated a new bookmark folder, the imported bookmarks are
added to that folder.
Note: Importing a bookmark file imports the bookmarks and
folders from that file. It does not create two bookmark files.
You can specify the page that loads when the browser starts:
Open the Edit menu and choose Preferences.
Click the Navigator category.
Next to "Display on", choose "Navigator Startup", and then
choose whether you want a blank page, your home page, or the last
web page visited to open automatically when you launch your
browser.
Note: If you selected Home Page, type the URL in the
Location field.
Your home page is the page that opens when you click the Home
button in the Personal Toolbar. Depending on how your preferences
are set, it may also be the page that opens automatically when you
launch &brandShortName;.
To specify your home page:
Open the Edit menu and choose Preferences.
Click the Navigator category.
In the Home page section, perform one of the following:
Type your home page's URL (web address) in the Location
field.
Click Use Current Page to make the page currently displayed in
the browser window your home page.
Click Choose File to select a file from your computer's hard
drive.
Click Use Current Group if you have two or more Navigator tabs
open, to set the group of tabs as your home page.
Click Restore Default to set &vendorURL; as your
home page.
Tip: To specify your home page quickly, drag the bookmark
icon
from the Location Bar to the Home
Page button on the Personal Toolbar.