[achandlerwhite]

lol no.

They had a fat desktop client and often Windows networking drivers because even the OS wasn't network ready for consumers yet.

[aaronbaugher]

Yep. When we started an ISP about 1994, we gave the users a floppy that installed Trumpet Winsock, Netscape, and a handful of other programs for things like IRC and Usenet. Trumpet Winsock provided the dialup and networking which Windows 3.1 didn't have. AOL would have had to provide something similar, though all custom for connecting to their network.

[chasd00]

The desktop client had something like a browser. iirc you could get to the Internet but it was like AOL's version of the Internet. There was a keyword based search but I think websites had to register specific keywords with AOL or something like that to show up. The big thing with AOL was the "you've got mail!" sound once you connected. That voice was like a pop-culture meme back then.

[scarface_74]

It wasn’t a browser by any modern sense of the word early on. All of the graphics were on the disk to reduce load time.

[oniony]

Don't forget the browser toolbar.