HTML and CSS Reference
In-Depth Information
Appendix H. Netscape Layout Extensions
From the start of their enterprise before the turn of the century, the de-
velopers at Netscape were at the forefront of browser design that ad-
dressed the needs of commercial interests. During those heady years,
Netscape extended HTML to provide authors with far more sophisticated
page-layout capabilities than otherwise available in any other browser.
And they were very successful in that enterprise. Netscape Navigator was
the dominant browser by far until the early 2000s with the advent of Cas-
cading Style Sheets (CSS) and other standards. Microsoft finally caught
on, too.
In this appendix, we document for historical purposes three features that
were unique to Netscape versions 4 and earlier and no other browsers
since then: spacers, multiple columns, and layers. These tags lure the
designer with exciting page-layout capabilities. Play with them as you
will, but we warn you: they won't ever become part of HTML/XHTML
standards. They aren't even supported by the latest version of Netscape
Navigator.
