Netscape Navigator 2#Netscape Now

The browser introduced many new or improved features:

• Support for progressive JPEGs (previous versions supported only the baseline format)Shafer, p. 5
• Support for GIF89a (previous versions supported only GIF87a)
• Support for client-side image maps (previous versions supported only server-side image maps)Shafer, pp. 4-5
• Support for plugins (previous versions supported only helper applications)Shafer, pp.5-6
• Improved bookmark organization
• Added support for FTP uploadingShafer, p. 6
• Added support for LiveScript (now known as JavaScript)
• Added OLE supportShafer, p. 7
• Added support for HTML frames
• Introduced Netscape Mail and Netscape News, an e-mail client and Usenet News reader, respectivelyShafer, p. 10

File:Netscape Now! 2.0.gif]]

To promote Netscape Navigator, Netscape developed the "Netscape Now" program. The program promoted the display of the "Netscape Now! 2.0" web badge on websites with newly supported features, including frames, live objects, Java applets, and JavaScript.{{cite web|title=NETSCAPE NOW PROGRAM |url=http://www3.netscape.com/comprod/mirror/netscape_now_program.html |publisher=Netscape Communications Corporation |accessdate=10 March 2012 |year=1996 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/19961026040131/http://www3.netscape.com/comprod/mirror/netscape_now_program.html |archivedate=October 26, 1996 }}{{cite web|title=NETSCAPE NOW QUALIFICATIONS |url=http://www3.netscape.com/comprod/mirror/qualifications.html |publisher=Netscape Communications Corporation |accessdate=10 March 2012 |year=1996 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/19961026040250/http://www3.netscape.com/comprod/mirror/qualifications.html |archivedate=October 26, 1996 }}

The support for plugins led to the development of a number of popular plugins to extend Navigator's functionality.

• Acrobat Amber - Released in early 1996 by Adobe Systems, it allowed for a pdf to be streamed.Shafer, pp. 71-72
• Lightning Strike - Released by Inifinet, it offered non-standard real-time wavelet compression{{cite web |url=http://www.infinop.com/nhtml/lsinfo.shtml |title=Archived copy |website=www.infinop.com |access-date=12 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19970613234152/http://www.infinop.com/nhtml/lsinfo.shtml |archive-date=13 June 1997 |url-status=dead}}{{cite news|last=McDonald|first=Glenn|title=Image Compression Technology Optimized for Internet|url=http://www.pcworld.com/article/6893/image_compression_technology_optimized_for_internet.html|accessdate=2 March 2012|newspaper=PCWorld|date=Dec 2, 1996}}{{dead link|date=February 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}Shafer, pp. 72-73{{cite web|title=Lightning Strike Netscape Plugins |url=http://www.infinop.com/nhtml/extvwr_pick.shtml |publisher=Infinop, Inc |accessdate=10 March 2012 |year=1997 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/19970613234329/http://www.infinop.com/nhtml/extvwr_pick.shtml |archivedate=June 13, 1997 }}
• RealAudio PlayerShafer, pp. 75-79
• MovieStar - Released by Intelligence at Large, it offered streaming of QuickTime videos (as there wasn't a QuickTime plugin yet)Shafer, pp. 74-75
• Macromedia Shockwave PlayerShafer, pp. 79-82
• NetcloakShafer, p. 197

Netscape had several easter eggs. Navigator 2 featured verse 12:10 from The Book of Mozilla.

The bottom of "about:authors" read:

{{blockquote|All human actions are equivalent ... and ... all are on principle doomed ... |Jean-Paul Sartre|Being and Nothingness, Conclusion, sct. 2}}

{{reflist}}

;Books

• {{cite book|last=Ernst|first=Warren|title=Essential Netscape Navigator 2.0 |year=1996|publisher=Sams.net|isbn=978-1-57521-065-0}}
• {{cite book|last=James|first=Phil|title=Official Netscape Navigator 2.0 book : Windows edition : the definitive guide to the world's most popular Internet navigator|year=1996|publisher=Ventana|location=Research Triangle Park, NC|isbn=978-1-56604-347-2|edition=1st|url=https://archive.org/details/officialnetscape00jame}}
• {{cite book|last=Hamilton|first=Dennis|title=60 minute guide to Netscape 2 |year=1996|publisher=IDG Books Worldwide|location=Foster City, CA|isbn=978-0-7645-3008-1 |author2=Witherspoon, Craig |author3=Witherspoon, Coletta}}
• {{cite book|last=Oliphant|first=Zan|title=Programming Netscape plug-ins / Zan Oliphant.|year=1996|publisher=Sams Net|location=Indianapolis, Ind.|isbn=978-1-57521-098-8|edition=1st}}
• {{cite book|last=Shafer|first=Dan|title=JavaScript & Netscape wizardry|year=1996|publisher=Coriolis Group Books|location=Scottsdale, AZ|isbn=1-883577-86-1|url=https://archive.org/details/javascriptnetsca00shaf}}
• {{cite book|last=Tauber|first=Daniel A.|title=Surfing the Internet with Netscape Navigator 2|year=1996|publisher=Sybex|location=San Francisco|isbn=978-0-7821-1872-8|edition=2nd|author2=Kienan, Brenda|url=https://archive.org/details/surfinginternetw00taub}}
• {{cite book|first=James|last=Barnett|editor-first1=Karen|editor-last1=Wickre|title=Guide to Netscape Navigator 2.0 |year=1996|publisher=Ziff-Davis Press|location=Emeryville, Calif.|isbn=978-1-56276-354-1}}

• [https://www.webdesignmuseum.org/old-software/web-browsers/netscape-navigator-2-0 Netscape Navigator 2.0 in Web Design Museum]
• [http://www.mcs.csueastbay.edu/~grewe/CS3520/HTML/WWWBrowsing/htmlapps.htm Netscape Navigator 2 Plugins] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120623012714/http://www.mcs.csueastbay.edu/~grewe/CS3520/HTML/WWWBrowsing/htmlapps.htm |date=2012-06-23 }}
• [http://sillydog.org/narchive/full123.php Netscape Navigator 2 Download] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100612235108/http://sillydog.org/narchive/full123.php |date=2010-06-12 }}

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