14 Years of Netscape Navigator Design History - 48 Images

Netscape Communications Corporation was the developer of the most popular early internet web browser which dominated usage in the mid-1990's. Confusingly, Netscape gave their browser suite different brand names over the years, such as Navigator, Communicator, Browser, and sometimes just Netscape. It also bundled in an email reader and other useful apps. Netscape's browser share peaked at around 80% in 1996 before Microsoft Internet Explorer took off in the first browser war.

NCSA Mosaic (1993)

The National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) was a group at the University of Illinois which developed the seminal web browser named Mosaic in 1993. Mosaic played a huge part in making the web more user-friendly. The Mosaic name itself referred to its ability to handle various internet protocols, such as NNTP, Gopher, and FTP, in addition to the core Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) upon which the web was built. It was created by a team led by Marc Andreessen and Eric Bina, who then left NCSA to focus on developing the browser.

NCSA Mosaic for Windows (1993)
Source: imgur.com

NCSA Mosaic for Macintosh (1993)
Source: columbia.edu

Mosaic Netscape (1994)

Andreessen and Bina left the NCSA and created the Mosaic Communications Corporation along with several former colleagues. They named their browser Netscape, and it was by far the most advanced and usable browser at the time. It became the browser share leader only four months after launch. To avoid naming disputes with their former employer, the company was renamed Netscape Communications Corporation.

Mosaic Netscape 0.9 Beta for Windows (1994)
Source: scoopnest.com

Mosaic Netscape 0.9 Beta for Windows (1994)
Source: wikipedia.org

Mosaic Netscape 0.94 Beta for Mac (1994)
Source: macintoshgarden.org

Netscape Navigator 0.96 Beta for Mac (1994)
Source: macintoshgarden.org

Mosaic Netscape - The Netscape Team Credits (1994)
Source: macintoshgarden.org

Netscape Navigator 1 (1994-1995)

Navigator version 1 was wildly popular and introduced millions of people to the world wide web for the first time.

Netscape Navigator 1.0N Browser for Windows (1994)
Source: blogspot.com

Netscape Navigator 1.0N Browser for Mac (1994)
Source: youtube.com

Netscape Navigator 1.0N Browser for Mac Open Location Dialog (1994)
Source: youtube.com

Netscape Navigator 1.1N Browser for Mac (1994)
Source: computerworld.com.au

Netscape Navigator 1.1 Browser for Windows 95 (1995)
Source: techradar.com

Netscape Navigator 1.2 Browser for Windows 3.1 (1995)
Source: wikipedia.org

Netscape Navigator 1.22 for Windows XP About Screen (1995)
Source: redsearch.org

Netscape Navigator Web Page Loading Animation (top-right icon in browser) (1994)
Source: giphy.com

Netscape Navigator 2 (1995-1996)

Netscape Navigator 2.0 Browser for Mac (1995)
Source: qz.com

Netscape Navigator 2.0 Browser for Mac About Screen (1995)
Source: macintoshgarden.org

Netscape Navigator 2.02 Browser for Windows (1995)
Source: wikipedia.org

Netscape Navigator 2.02 Gold Browser for Windows (1996)
Source: redsearch.org

Netscape Navigator 3 (1996-1997)

Netscape Navigator 3.01 for Unix About Screen (1996)
Source: redsearch.org

Netscape Navigator 3.01 Gold for Mac About Screen (1996)
Source: macintoshrepository.org

Netscape Navigator 3 for Windows Preferences (1997)
Source: youtube.com

Netscape Navigator 3.04 Gold for Windows About Screen (1997)
Source: youtube.com

Netscape Navigator 3 for Mac Browsing Google (1997)
Source: macintoshgarden.org

Netscape Navigator 3 for Mac Preferences (1997)
Source: indigo.ie

Netscape Navigator 3 Gold for Windows Install/Setup (1997)
Source: youtube.com

Netscape Navigator 4 (1997-1998)

1998 saw the rise of the rival Internet Explorer browser, which eventually would take over the market. America Online (AOL) announced in November it was acquiring Netscape Corporation or $4.2 billion. Incidentally, Netscape created the open source project Mozilla in this year, which would go on to create the Firefox browser.

Netscape Navigator 4.04 for Windows About Screen (1997)
Source: andrewturnbull.net

Netscape Navigator 4.05 for Mac (1998)
Source: supervinx.com

Netscape Communicator 4 (1998-2002)

Netscape Communicator 4.61 for SunOS About Screen (1999)
Source: toastytech.com

Netscape Communicator 4.76 for Windows About Screen (2000)
Source: medium.com

Netscape Communicator 4.76 for Windows showing Netscape.com (2000)
Source: eikids.com

Netscape Communicator 4.8 for Mac performing Google Search in 2009 (2002)
Source: macintoshgarden.org

Netscape 6 (2000-2002)

Netscape never released a version 5 of the browser.

Netscape 6 for Mac What's New (2000)
Source: lowendmac.com

Netscape 6 for Windows showing Wikipedia (2000)
Source: wikipedia.org

Netscape 6.1 Windows Installer (2001)
Source: sillydog.org

Netscape 6.2.3 for Windows (German) (2002)
Source: computerbase.de

Netscape 7 (2002-2004)

Netscape 7 for Windows (2002)
Source: computerbase.de

Netscape 7 for Mac (2002)
Source: tripod.com

Netscape 7 for Windows showing Google News (2003)
Source: geocities.ws

Netscape 7.02 for Mac About Screen (2003)
Source: supervinx.com

Netscape 7 for Mac performing 2009 Google Search (2003)
Source: macintoshgarden.org

Netscape Browser 8 (2004-2007)

This browser was released only for Microsoft Windows. It was based on Mozilla's Firefox browser, which was gaining popularity at the time. Netscape 8 was an oddity in that it could use both its own Gecko rendering engine and Microsoft's Trident engine.

Netscape 8 for Windows Start Page (2006)
Source: computerbase.de

Netscape 8 for Windows showing Wikipedia (2006)
Source: ultralink.me

Netscape Navigator 9 (2007-2008)

Navigator 9 was the final release. Corporate parent AOL declared that support would end on March 1st, 2008. Reversing a decision in version 8, the software was once again released for multiple platforms: Windows, Mac, and Linux. The browser was based on the Mozilla Firefox platform.