Netscape Navigator

What Does Netscape Navigator Mean?

Netscape Navigator was the first commercially successful Web browser. It was based off the Mosaic browser and was created by a team led by Marc Andreessen, a programmer who co-wrote the code for Mosaic. Netscape Navigator helped influence the development of the Web into a graphical user experience rather than a purely text-based one.

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Techopedia Explains Netscape Navigator

In the 1990s, Netscape Navigator was on the leading edge of innovations in Web browsing. Among the many features that became standard after Navigator pioneered them are:

  • Displaying a Web page as it loads
  • Using Javascript to create forms and interactive content
  • Using cookies to keep session information

Despite its technical lead and its initial dominance of the consumer market, Netscape was eventually crushed by Microsoft during a period known as the browser wars.

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Margaret Rouse

Margaret Rouse is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical, business audience. Over the past twenty years her explanations have appeared on TechTarget websites and she's been cited as an authority in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine and Discovery Magazine.Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages. If you have a suggestion for a new definition or how to improve a technical explanation, please email Margaret or contact her…