Netscape 4.04 on UNIX platforms

This problem appeared so far when a user refers to a private machine as mail server and not to the CERN central mail server.
Solution : copy the file
/afs/cern.ch/user/w/www/public/preferences.js-temp
or download it into your
$HOME/.netscape
directory. Change in the file you copied:

• every "$HOME" string with your $HOME variable:
  Example:
  user_pref("browser.bookmark_file", "$HOME/.netscape//bookmarks.html");
  should be replaced by
  user_pref("browser.bookmark_file", "/afs/cern.ch/user/m/mmarinuc//.netscape//bookmarks.html");
• the string "USER_ADDRESS" with your mail address here at CERN:
  Example:
  user_pref("mail.identity.useremail", "USER_ADDRESS");
  should be replaced by
  user_pref("mail.identity.useremail", "Monica.Marinucci@cern.ch"); > the string "USER_ACCOUNT" with your login account:
  Example:
  user_pref("mail.pop_name", "USER_ACCOUNT");
  should be replaced by
  user_pref("mail.pop_name", ""mmarinuc");

This problem arises for people using Netscape 4.04 on a B&W screen because of a different behavior between this version of the browser and the previous ones (2.02,3.01).
For example Netscape 2.02 doesn't recognize table background color whereas Netscape 4.04 does.
Then if you're using a B&W monitor and you're displaying something written in white on a table with a light background color, Netscape 4.04 is able to display that difference. The result on your screen is white on white or something like that, because the light background color is "approximated" with white or a very light gray, and you can hardly see something. If you have been using Netscape 2.02 so far, you might not have noticed the problem because the table background color wasn't the one forced by the html code, it was instead the background color of the document.
Solution : Go in the menu
Edit | Preferences | Appearance | Colors
and change your colors forcing the browser always to use this colors and not the one proposed by the document (choose Always use my colors, overriding document option).

Some users found the default font size used by Netscape too small.
Solution : Go in the menu
Edit | Preferences | Appearance | Fonts
and change as you wish the Variable Width Font Size. Your Netscape window will be immediately redrawn and this setting will be saved in your preferences file for the next sessions.

Some users reported problems with colors no longer available using netscape together with some other tools like xv, emacs, ...
Solution : We are testing a new version of netscape which seems to solve this problem.
We invite users who have this problem to run: "netscape -version test -no-install -ncols 64" and report their comments to the WebSupport.
When the testing will be over, we will release this new version.

After the proxy server has been switched off for http requests, some users reported the following problem: "Proxy denies fulfilling the request"
Solution : Configure your browser's preferences to have direct access to the network in the following way:

• If using Netscape 4.04
  Edit | Preferences | Advanced | Proxies
  and choose Direct connection to the internet.
• If using Netscape 2.02 or 3.01: Options | Network Preferences | Proxies | No Proxies