If you choose to use the America Online Browser, you may experience the
following problems.

 

When viewing sites that use frames, some documents will get displayed to the
entire screen, rather than ending up in an expected frame.
AOL users should quickly click on links to avoid this problem because if you
hold down on the mouse button when clicking on a link, a small menu will
appear with 'Open this Link' highlighted and the new document will be loaded
into the entire window, instead of just the frame.
Some of AOL's newest browsers do not handle frames consistently. Our
experience is that 'AOL 3.0 to 5.0 for Windows95' DOES behave properly,
however the Power Mac version sometimes displays documents intended for a
single frame, into the entire window, destroying the frames. It has been
reported, though we have not thoroughly tested, that a similar problem
exists in the Macintosh 068. Users who experience this problem can view the
document, and when done, should be able to go 'Back' to restore their
previous frames screen.

 

Internet Browsing is very slow.
AOL uses a proprietary network which is different from most computers on the
Internet. This means that Information from the Internet must be converted
for AOL users. This need for conversion means that browsing the Internet
from AOL will always be slower than from other Internet service providers
who have adopted established network standards and do not need to convert
all Internet data. If your sole purpose for AOL is to browse the Internet,
you may be better off finding another local Internet Service Provider. There
are many competitive service providers who are offering free trial
subscriptions; give them a shot, you might be surprised at what you've been
missing.

 

Images take a long time to paint.
AOL also uses a proprietary image format, so that all images must be
converted from a well established standard before they can be displayed on
your AOL browser.

 

You get unexpected documents when you click on a link.
Most browsers have a feature known as caching. This caching feature stores
downloaded Internet documents on your computer's hard drive so that when you
click on a link which you have recently downloaded, your browser will use
the cached version, instead of transferring the same document from the
Internet again. This makes your network connection much more efficient. The
problem with caching is that many Internet documents change frequently, and
caching could mean that you are looking at stale information. Fortunately,
AOL's browser allows you to adjust your cache settings so that you can avoid
this type of problem.; users should not use caching when browsing. You can
disable caching by setting the cache size to zero in the preferences menu of
your AOL browser.

 

There are extensive Internet documents written by AOL users which describe
work-arounds to using the AOL browser. These work arounds usually require
downloading a different browser to be used over the AOL network; either
Netscape Navigator, or Microsoft Explorer. You may find documents describing
these fixes by searching for 'AOL browser problem' at your favorite search
engine.
AOL survives through their enormous user base which they must keep happy.
You can make a difference by demanding better service from your provider.
Please take a proactive role by letting your provider know how you feel
about their service.

 

Please excuse any negative tones perceived through this note; AOL has their
strengths, WWW browsing is definitely not one of them yet.