I personally don't like Netscape very much, but there are no alternatives so far :-(.

4 easy Steps to make a decent browser out of Netscape.

1. Command line switches:

   You can create an alias in your shell to pass your favourite options to netscape. (Look into your Shell-Manual, how to do this)
   Most of the switches here can be made permanent by setting some Xresources.
   

   • -help to show this message.
   • -version to show the version number and build date.
   • -display <dpy> to specify the X server to use.
   • -geometry =WxH+X+Y to position and size the window.
   • -visual <id-or-number> to use a specific server visual.
   • -install to install a private colormap.
   • -no-install to use the default colormap.
   • -ncols <N> when not using -install, set the maximum number of colors to allocate for images.
   • -mono to force 1-bit-deep image display.
   • -iconic to start up iconified.
   • -xrm <resource-spec> to set a specific X resource.
   • -remote <remote-command> to execute a command in an already-running Netscape process.
     For more info, see http://wp.netscape.com/newsref/std/x-remote.html
   • -id <window-id> the id of an X window to which the -remote commands should be sent; if unspecified, the first window found will be used.
   • -raise whether following -remote commands should cause the window to raise itself to the top (this is the default.)
   • -noraise the opposite of -raise: following -remote commands will not auto-raise the window.
   Arguments which are not switches are interpreted as either files or URLs to be loaded.
   Most customizations can be performed through the Options menu.

2. Modify your Xresources:

   Netscape is indeed very customizable, if you know how.
   This section only applys to Unix versions of Netscape.
   Just put one (ore more) of the following lines into your ${HOME}/.Xdefaults-file.
   These settings will take effect as soon as you login next time.

   • Turn off <blink>:

     You'll never see blinking text again, after that.
     Netscape*blinkingEnabled: False

   • Start up as an icon:

     If you like to start Netscape automatically on login, but don't want it to 'take over' your whole display immedeatly (see also: -iconic)
     Netscape*iconic: True

   • Select starting position;

     You can define where the Netscape window appears, when it's started first. (see also: -geometry)
     Netscape.Navigator.geometry: 700x900+0-0
     700x900 gives the size in pixels (i.e. 700 pixels wide and 900 pixels high)
     +0-0 gives the position in pixels(i.e. zero pixels away from the top, and zero pixels away from the right => right upper corner)

   • confirm dialog on Exit:

     If you often click accidentally on 'Exit' instead of 'Close', then this is for you:
     Netscape*confirmExit: True

   • Disallow color-changes:

     If you use Netscape on an monochrome monitor, you'll notice, that most (so called) Web-Designers use colors(or background-images) which are impossible to read. To avoid this, you can use: Netscape*documentColorsHavePriority: False

   • Accept-Language:

     Netscape can send your favourite languages with every request. Sadly enough nearly nobody uses it. I use:
     Netscape*httpAcceptLanguage: de, en
     Where de stands for German. Of course you should use your favourite language as first one.
     You can look at a list of codes there.

   • Always install own color-map:

     If you only have an 8bit display, you might want to use a separate colormap for Netscape. (see also: -install)
     Netscape*installColormap: True

   • Redefine the big N-Logo:

     If you click on that logo, you will be taken to home.netscape.com. But maybe you want to go to your homepage instead ?
     Netscape*logo.documentationString: My lovely Home
     Netscape*logo*translations: #override <Btn1Down>: openURL(http://sec.42.org/)
     of course, if you are an Mosaic fan, you might want it to be an big stop-button, right?
     Netscape*logo*translations: #override <Btn1Down>: abort()
     Unfortunately i have found no way of redefineing the actions of the Pull-down menus.

   • Stdout/Stderr dialog boxes:

     If you use external viewers which print text to stdout/stderr, Netscape will pop up these small boxes. If you don't want this,
     Netscape*useStderrDialog: False
     Netscape*useStdoutDialog: False

3. Patch the Binary:
   Some things cannot be accomplished by (1) or (2). You have to patch the binary. First of all, a big WARNING to you. I take no responsibility for any damage which might result from using any of the tip's here.
   Editing a binary is very easy, when you look out for a few points:
   1. Use an editor suited for binarys (i.e. one who doesn't change the file contents behind you back) 'vim' is known to work (invoke it with the -b switch). 'emacs' will probably do, too. perl4/perl5 can also be used.
   2. Never change the length of the binary. Whenever you modify anything, keep in mind that you have to keep it at the same length. So usually you can't replace something by a longer version.
   If you want to check, if your editor is suitable for this action, just load netscape in it, insert an 'a' somewhere, delete it and save it under anothe name. If the files are still the same (use cmp to check this), chances are good :)
   • remove cookies:
     perl -p -e 's/SET-COOKIE/SEC-COOKIE/'
   • Modify User-agent:
     perl -pe 's/(Netscape.)Mozilla(.)/$1Lynx$2..$2/'
   • remove/disable other parts:
     Just like the other two, you have to find the patterns yourself, if you have them, send them :)

4. Use an modifying proxy:
   this is an alternative to (3). You can accomplish even more things by this, but it surely is slower and wastes some resources. Look at http://www.lne.com/ericm/cookie_jar/ for example.

Other possible languages and regions are:
   Chinese [zh]
   Chinese/China [zh-CN]
   Chinese/Taiwan [zh-TW]
   English [en]
   English/United Kingdom [en-GB]
   English/United States [en-US]
   French [fr]
   French/Canada [fr-CA]
   French/France [fr-FR]
   German [de]
   Italian [it]
   Japanese [ja]
   Korean [ko]
   Portuguese [pt]
   Portuguese/Brazil [pt-BR]
   Spanish [es]
   Spanish/Spain [es-ES]