Version 6 of the popular Netscape Web browser is finally here! Well, let me rephrase that: the “official” version is finally here. After all, for the past several months, we've already had access to Preview Release 1 and then Preview Release 2. But this time, it's the real thing. (And in case you're wondering, there never was a version 5. In numbering the new version, they skipped directly from version 4 to version 6!)

Netscape 6 has a number of new features, several of which should greatly please genealogists. Let's see what's new:

When you first install Netscape 6, you may decide that you're not especially fond of its new look. The toolbars at the top shade from light blue to dark blue, with the text black against the light blue background or white against the dark blue background. The Back, Forward, Reload, and Stop icons now appear as large, iconic buttons (left arrow, right arrow, a curved arrow, and a big X). Overall, the feeling of the new look is somewhat three-dimensional, and the curved lines give it an organic feeling. Netscape refers to this new look as the "modern theme."

Fortunately, if you're not feeling especially "modern," you can go into the Edit menu and select Preferences. Here, you will find the “Themes” screen under the Appearance category. In addition to the "modern" choice is "classic," which will turn your Netscape screen back into something that looks a lot more like the old Netscape. Additional themes will be made available in the future. Perhaps someone should design a genealogical theme! (Hint, hint!)

Another option in the Preferences area will be of particular interest to genealogists. Under the Navigator category is "Internet Search." Here, you identify which of a number of Web search engines you want to use when you click on Netscape's Search button. For instance, I have selected Google as my search engine of preference. This means that when I am looking for information, I don't have to use my browser to go to the Google Web site first. Instead, I can enter the search word or phrase in the location box in the browser's screen (the same box I would normally use to type a URL), and then click on the Search button. The results are displayed in the browser's main window. This is quite the time saver!

The heart of the new browser is a piece of software known as "Gecko." Because Gecko is being made available to any programmer who wishes to use it, you can expect to see new versions of the browser becoming available for a wide range of computing devices. Netscape 6 is already available for all 32-bit Windows systems, as well as for Macintosh and Linux operating systems.

As the World Wide Web continues to mature, it becomes more and more important that the software used to access it adheres to the standards accepted by the world's programming community. When it comes to being in line with current Web standards, Netscape 6 is a dramatic improvement over Netscape 4, and it even does a bit better than Microsoft's Internet Explorer 5.5 in that area.

The easiest way to obtain the new version of the Netscape browser is to visit the main Netscape Web site. If you're willing to wait just a bit longer, you can expect to see Netscape 6 CDs appearing in various magazines, such as PC World, Time, Sports Illustrated, People, and other magazines owned by Time, Inc.

Drew Smith is an instructor with the School of Library and Information Science at the University of South Florida in Tampa. He is also a regular contributor to the quarterly journal Genealogical Computing, where he writes the "Cybrarian" column. He can be reached at drewsmith@aol.com.