NOTscape Sites

Things sure have changed a lot since this page was originally created. Netscape has lost its market dominance to Microsoft's Internet Explorer -- which is just as guilty of creating arbitrary and non-standard tags as any browser out there. And the web is being increasingly driven by commercial content rather than independent personal sites. Heck, I've left college and had two different jobs already!

The point? Well, we still support the use of browser-independent HTML. But many of the translation pages have gone away, and others are several revisions out-of-date. So while NOTscape will continue to stick around for the time being, it will no longer be updated. We thank everyone who has supported the cause, and continue to encourage you to develop pages that all browser owners can enjoy.

"But beware of the dark side... If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will..."

"...Is the dark side stronger?"

"No...no...no. Quicker, easier, more seductive."

Yoda and Luke Skywalker, The Empire Strikes Back
Spoken about the Force, but just as appropriate in reference to HTML.

NOTscape sites are web pages which, by conscious decision of the author, contain none of the extensions to HTML that are supported by the popular Netscape web browser. This is done because, by introducing these extensions, Netscape has begun to fragment the Web into various incompatible niches. Those pages that use the extensions look very different to people not using Netscape, sometimes to the point of complete unreadability. For an example of this, see Raphaël Quinet's Surrender to Netscape! page.

Unfortunately, the fragmentation of the Web has only gotten worse and not better. With Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser now fighting for dominance, a whole new set of incompatible tags are appearing on web pages everywhere. Therefore, even though it's not explicitly indicated by our icon, NOTscape supporters also refuse to incorporate these IE-specific tags into their pages for the same reasons outlined above.

The NOTscape campaign supports the one official language of the web -- HTML 4.0. This is the definitive standard as drawn up by the web's governing body, the World Wide Web Consortium. And while this latest version of HTML includes several of Netscape's extensions (such as tables, horizontal alignment tags for images, and more), many of Netscape's (and Microsoft's) other extensions continue to fly in the face of these proposed standards and will lead to even greater incompatibilities in the future.

More and more people are getting behind this movement. For example, visit the site of the Best Viewed with Any Browser campaign, which advocates browser-independent design and offers many links to useful design resources. Finally, if you too are interested in making sure your pages are NOTscape certified and that they comply with the officially established standards, one of the best ways is to use an HTML validation service, such as those provided by WebTechs or the W3C.

The NOTscape logos are a way for individuals to take a stand against all nonstandard HTML constructs. The first one was designed by Lazlo Nibble in late 1994, while the latter was created by Joe Reiss in late 1996. Use whichever one you prefer. Either way, the need for a standard HTML is becoming increasingly clear throughout the Web community and is being supported by more and more page designers...

Including myself.