When we first got our hands on Netscape 6.0, we were surprised to find that the browser seemed even slower than previous releases of the browser. After all, with more than three years to redevelop the browsing engine from the ground up, we'd expect the new release of the browser to be significantly faster than previous editions.
We first tested loading times for each of the browsers. Each browser was set to open to a blank screen (i.e. no home page) with no additional plug-ins beyond those included in the typical installation. On Computer A, Internet Explorer 5.5 loaded 242% faster than Netscape 6.0 without Java enabled and an amazing 743% faster when Java was enabled, while Netscape Communicator 4.76 loaded 8% faster than the 6.0 release without Java enabled and 212% faster with Java enabled.
The results were similar for Computer B, with IE 5.5 loading 412% faster than the new release of Netscape when Java was disabled and 608% faster with Java enabled, and Netscape 4.76 loading 68% faster than the newer release without Java enabled and 132% faster when Java was enabled. Under Computer B, the average loading times for IE 5.5, Netscape 4.76, and Netscape 6.0, respectively, were 1.99, 6.07, and 10.22 (Java disabled) / 14.11 (Java enabled) seconds.
Our second test was conducted to determine typical page loading times for each of the browsers. We tested each browser on a set of 15 Web sites that differ greatly in type and amount of graphical, text, and scripting content. (While sites with JavaScript were included, those with Java were not, so these results do not take into account Java performance.)
Internet Explorer was again the clear winner in our second round of tests, with Netscape 6.0 trailing IE 5.5 by 70% and Netscape 4.76 trailing IE 5.5 by 60% on Computer A. On this test Netscape 6.0 lagged behind its predecessor (v4.76) by nearly 7%.
Computer B's results were again similar, although not as dramatic. IE 5.5 performed 26% faster than Netscape 6.0 and 11% faster than Netscape 4.76, with Netscape 6.0 trailing Netscape 4.76 by 14%. Under Computer A, IE 5.5 had an average page loading time of 4.25 seconds, Netscape 4.76 had an average time of 6.83 seconds, and Netscape 6.0 averaged 7.30 seconds.
From these two tests it is clear that Netscape 6.0 is indeed a bit slower than the browser it succeeds and is considerably slower than the competitor it has leapfrogged in number. Again, this is a real surprise considering Netscape has spent the past three years redesigning Netscape from the ground up with two major objectives in mind -- making the browser faster and smaller.
Advantage:Internet Explorer 5.5 by a large margin over both Netscape 4.76 and Netscape 6.0, and Netscape 4.76 over Netscape 6.0 by a sizable stretch.
