Netscape unveils new browser rendering engine

The West Coast wing of America Online unveiled their next-generation Webbrowser rendering engine, dubbed "Gecko." This new engine will drive thenext version of Netscape Communicator, the Internet client suite. Geckosupports the full HTML 4.0 specification, XML, CSS 1.0, and the new Resource Description Framework (RDF) standard. Best of all, Gecko is small:It will fit on a floppy and can be embedded in a variety of small, non-PCdevices such as cellular phones, televisions, and palm devices.

"[Gecko] will let anyone access Web content from any operating system, device, or application," a Netscape representative said on Monday.

Developers working on the Mozilla project, the open source version ofNetscape's next browser, will get a chance to work with Gecko first. Eventually, Netscape will incorporate this engine into the first publicbeta of Communicator 5.0, due in 1999