Netscape Handbook: Menu Items

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...
Creates a file whose content is the content area of the current Netscape page. A dialog box lets you select the file's 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 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 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.

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 Netscape home page to the screen.
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

Preferences...
Presents a pop-up menu for selecting preference items. Each menu item produces a dialog box containing one or more of the following panels: Window Styles, Link Styles, Fonts, Colors, Mail, News, Cache, Network, Applications, Directories, Images, Security, Proxies, and Helper Applications.
Within a panel you can set characteristics that define Netscape's operation. Each dialog has OK and Cancel buttons. Click the OK button to close the dialog box while accepting any changes in panel settings. Click Cancel to close the dialog box without accepting any changes. (Netscape on the UNIX platform offers a Defaults button to reset panels to initial out-of-box settings.)
Show Toolbar
Toggles the visibility of the toolbar buttons. If checked, the toolbar buttons are visible.
Show Location
Toggles the visibility of the location (URL) field. If checked, the location is visible.
Show Directory Buttons
Toggles the visibility of the Directory menu buttons. If checked, the buttons are visible.
Auto Load Images
Toggles the presentation of inline images as a page is brought to screen. If checked, images embedded in a page are automatically loaded. If unchecked, images are not loaded and are instead represented by small icons that can loaded at a later time (by choosing the View/Load Images menu item or Images from the toolbar). Unchecking this item increases the speed for bringing the text portion of a page to your screen.
Show FTP File Information
Toggles the visibility of file information received in FTP (File Transport Protocol) format. If checked, the FTP file information is visible. If unchecked, alignment of other FTP data may improve.
Save Options
Saves any changes made to the settings of the Options menu (not including the Preferences submenu whose dialog box items are saved by pressing OK) so that the changes remain in effect for subsequent Netscape sessions.

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)

Each character set from the For the Encoding pull-down menu is associated with 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 to use when the document does not specify an encoding or 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.

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 highlight color of text links to pages you have already seen. 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 imager 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 news server.
Lists the location of the News RC Directory. This file holds newsgroup subscription information. Click its Browse button to identify a new location. (Not on Macintosh; News RC file is 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 displayed from the news server (the larger the number, the slower the display).

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 empty the cache immediately.
Lists the disk Disk Cache Directory location. (On Macintosh, click Browse to select a new location.) Click on buttons to change the disk cache size or clear the disk cache now.
Select one of three radio buttons to check the network for document revisions Once per Session, Every Time, or Never. By checking for revisions, Netscape knows to bring an updated page from a network server rather than a potentially stale page stored in the cache. Choosing the default, Once per Session, causes a network verification of any page only once during the time you start and quit the application. Choosing Every Time repeatedly checks for HTML changes when you request a page, at the cost of slower performance. Choosing Never performs no verifications, thus a page available in cache is always brought from cache.

Netscape performs cache maintenance when you exit the applications. If you find that exiting takes longer than you wish, you might remedy the problem by reducing the size of the disk cache.

If you find that pages that should be in cache are taking longer to appear than they should, make sure the Verify Documents button is not set to Every Time. The verification requires a network connection that takes time. As an alternative, you can always obtain document revisions by pressing the Reload button. A reloaded document is brought from the network server and not the cache.

Network (Options/Preferences panel)

The Connections field specifies the maximum number of network connections. The default is 4.
The Network Buffer Size field specifies the number of kilobytes allotted in memory for network data transmissions. On Windows, the default is 1K. On Macintosh, the default is 2K.

Applications (Options/Preferences panel)

You can also specify the folder to store applications that support Netscape. Whereas helper applications provide a page with multimedia presentation capabilities (according to MIME type), supporting applications provide Netscape with connection and page formatting utilities. Click on the field's adjacent Browse button (not on UNIX) to identify a new application location.

Lists the location of the Telnet Application. Telnet provides the means to connect to and interact with another computer using standard Internet protocols.
Lists the location of an application to View Source (if required by your platform). The source viewer application displays a page's text embedded with the HTML formatting commands.
Lists the location of the TN3270 Application. TN3270 is used for Telnet connections to IBM mainframes.

Directories (Options/Preferences panel)

Lists the location of the Temporary Directory. Before a helper application executes, Netscape temporarily stores application files onto disk. After the helper application is exited, Netscape deletes the files.(On Macintosh and UNIX, click the Browse button to select a new default folder if, for example, your default disk is short on space and you want to store temporary files in an alternative location.)
On Windows and UNIX, lists the location of the Bookmark File. Click its Browse button to select a new default folder to hold the bookmark list file (bookmark.htm on Windows). On Macintosh, the bookmark list file, Bookmarks.htm, is in the folder: System Folder/Preferences/Netscape.

Images (Options/Preferences panel)

(Not on Macintosh) Select one of two radio buttons Dither to Color Cube or Use Closest Color in Color Cube to display images using dithering or substitution to most closely match the computer's available colors. Dithered images may offer a closer match to an image's intended colors, but take longer to display.
Select one of two radio buttons While Loading or After Loading to display images incrementally while the image is transmitted or all at once after the transmission. The While Loading option provides the benefit of feedback as the transmission progresses. On a fast network, the After Loading option may complete the load slightly faster. The default is While Loading.

Security (Options/Preferences panel)

The security check boxes dictate whether you receive a dialog box notification when entering a secure document space, leaving a secure document space, viewing a document with a mixed security status, or submitting a form with an insecure submit process. If a check box is checked, the notification dialog can be issued; otherwise, the dialog is bypassed.

Proxies (Options/Preferences panel)

Ordinarily, the Netscape application does not require proxies to interact with the network services of external sources. However, in some network configurations the connection between the Netscape application and a remote server is blocked by a firewall. Firewalls protect information in internal computer networks from external access. In doing so, firewalls may limit Netscape's ability to exchange information with external sources.

To overcome this limitation, Netscape can interact with proxy software. A proxy server sits atop a firewall and acts as a conduit, providing a specific connection for each network service protocol. If you are running Netscape on an internal network from behind a firewall, you will need to ascertain from your system administrator the names and associated port numbers for the server running proxy software for each network service. Proxy software retains the ability to communicate with external sources, yet is trusted to communicate with the internal network.

A single computer may run multiple servers, each server connection identified with a port number. A proxy server, like an HTTP server or a FTP server, occupies a port. Typically, a connection uses standardized port numbers for each protocol (for example, HTTP = 80 and FTP = 21). However, unlike common server protocols, the proxy server has no default port. Netscape requires that for each proxy server you specify in a Proxy text field, you also specify its port number in the Port field.

Text in each Proxy field designates the host name of each protocol's proxy server. (Often, a single proxy server handles the three major protocols: HTTP, FTP, and Gopher.)
A number in each adjacent Port field identifies the connection used by the proxy server.

Text fields for proxies and ports are offered for FTP (File Transfer Protocol), Gopher (browser), HTTP (HyperText Transport Protocol), Security (Secure Sockets Layer protocol), and WAIS (Wide Area Information System), and SOCKS (firewall bypass software). The text field No Proxy on: lets you bypass the proxy server for a specified local domain. For example, if you specify:

aserver.netscape.com

8080

netscape.com

then all HTTP requests for the netscape.com host server go from Netscape directly to the host (not using any proxy). All HTTP requests for other servers go from Netscape through the proxy server aserver on port 8080, then to the host.

Helper Applications (Options/Preferences dialog)

The Netscape application brings files to your computer using various server protocols such as HTTP, NNTP, SMTP, and FTP. Each protocol may support different file formats. Netscape has the built-in capability to read (interpret and display on your computer) several formats including the HTML format used by HTTP servers. When the Netscape application retrieves a file with a format that Netscape itself cannot read, the application attempts to use an external helper application capable of reading the file. Netscape uses a Preferences dialog box to allow you to examine and configure how a file's format maps to a helper application. The dialog box contains several fields and buttons to specify MIME file types (a method of differentiating file formats using a suffix appended to a file name), helper applications, and associated actions.

A scrolling text field lists the helper applications available to the Netscape application. Each line of the text field contains information about one helper application. By clicking on a line in the text field, you can see and modify preferences for the selected helper application in the area below the scrolling field.
Enter a File Type in a text field.
Enter a Subtype in a text field.
Enter Extensions in a text field.
Pressing the New Type button produces a New Type dialog box with two text fields for you to enter a MIME file type and MIME file subtype. Clicking the OK button of the New Type dialog verifies the data and, if valid, adds the file information to the list.
The application name and its file type is listed. Click the Browse button to select a different application.
(Macintosh only) Choose the application's default file type from the File Type pop-up menu.

Select one of four radio buttons Save, Launch Application, Use Browser as Viewer, or Unknown: Prompt User to designate the action performed by the helper application.

Use Browser as Viewer (Use Netscape as Viewer on Macintosh and UNIX) opens the downloaded file in Netscape's content area.
Save produces a dialog box for saving a file to disk after the file is downloaded.
Unknown: Prompt User causes a notification to the user.
Launch Application opens the selected application using the downloaded file as its document.