Getting The Most Our Of IBrowse²

Last Updated: 29th June 2003


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Introduction
When using various software, different users or even the developers, have their own ways of getting that little bit extra out of it. This section has been included to provide you with some of those tips and tricks that people use to exploit IBrowse² to the full. If you have a tip or trick you use with IBrowse² and would like to share it with other users, please contact tips.tricks@ibrowse-dev.net with detailed instructions on how to perform it, and it will be considered for inclusion in future updates of the documentation.

Using An Auto-Scroll Screen
Submitted by: Dave Fisher
Short: By creating a screen that is taller than the visible area, you can hide the less used windows below the main IBrowse² window, and simply scroll down when you need access to the other windows. Allows you to easily perform Drag & Drop operations to those additional windows.
Procedure:
  • Launch IBrowse² as normal.
  • Open the MUI Preferences via Menus » Preferences » MUI....
  • When the MUI Preferences opens, click on System in the list on the left of the window, and a new set of options will open in the right hand side.
  • In the Public Screen section, click on the Call Inspector button.
  • Select your IBrowse screen from the list of available screens in the PSI - Public Screen Inspector window.
  • Click on the Edit button to open the Edit Screen window.
  • Click on the Display tab at the top of the window to open the display options.
  • Enter a new value in the second box next to Size, which will be the new height of the window e.g. 200 pixels higher than the current value.
  • Click OK to close the Edit Screen window.
  • Click Save to save the new screen definition and close the PSI - Public Screen Inspector window.
  • Click Save (or Use) in the MUI Preferences, and the IBrowse screen will close and re-open at the new height.
  • Open the required windows e.g. URL Clipboard Manager, Download Manager, Netstat Manager etc. and position where you would like them in the area below the main IBrowse² window.
  • Snapshot the new window positions using the MUI snapshot feature.
Auto-Scroll Window Example

General Spoofing
Submitted by: Dave Fisher
Short: Allows you to enable spoofing for all websites, all the time.
Procedure:
  • Launch IBrowse² as normal.
  • Open the Settings via Menus » Preferences » Settings....
  • When the Preferences window opens, click on URL prefs in the list on the left of the window, and a new set of options will open in the right hand side.
  • Click on the Add button to enable the gadgets.
  • Enter #? in the URL pattern: string gadget.
  • Click on the checkbox under Active, next to Spoof as Mozilla to activate this option.
  • Click on the checkbox under Setting, next to Spoof as Mozilla to enable this setting.
  • Click on OK to accept the new settings, and the Preferences window will close.
  • Save the settings if you would like to make them permanent, using Menus » Preferences » Save settings.
General Spoofing Settings
! It is strongly recommended that you do not use this procedure for enabling spoofing for all web sites, as it has the potential to cause more problems than it will solve. Spoofing by its very nature means that IBrowse² is pretending to be a different browser, in this case Mozilla (Netscape) 4.78. Whilst this will sometimes allow you to gain access to web sites that employ ridiculous "security" checks etc., it also tells the web site that you support features that may not yet be supported in IBrowse. By having this option enabled permanently, any web site you visit could, quite correctly, assume that you have a certain feature available that it will try and make use of, when in fact you do not. This in turn can lead to further problems, when if you had simply visited the web site as IBrowse, it may not have tried to use the features of Mozilla. If you use this procedure and suffer problems, please disable it before reporting any potential bugs with the web site and IBrowse.

Duplicating Browsers
Submitted by: David Burström
Short: Allows you to duplicate your current browser.
Procedure:

Default Screen
Submitted by: Richard Mattsson
Short: Allows you to set your IBrowse² screen as the default public screen, allowing applications without a screen option to open on your IBrowse² screen.
Procedure:
  • Download DefaultScreen from Aminet (http://www.aminet.net/util/cli/DefaultScrn1_1.lha) and install as per the instructions provided.
  • In your script, use the command to set your IBrowse² screen to the default public screen, by specifying the name used in your MUI configuration. e.g. DefaultScreen IBrowse
  • Call the application that you would like to open on the IBrowse² screen.
  • Use the DefaultScreen command to set the default public screen back to Workbench. e.g. DefaultScreen Workbench
Submitted by: Bill Eaves
Short: Allows you to set your IBrowse² screen as the default public screen, allowing applications without a screen option to open on your IBrowse² screen. This is an alternative method to the one by Richard Mattsson, this time using Master Control Panel, or MCP
Procedure:
  • Download MCP from Aminet (http://www.aminet.net/util/cdity/MCP130.lha) and install as per the instructions provided.
  • Open the MCP Prefs from the location you installed it to.
  • When the MCP Prefs opens, scroll down and click on Default Pubscreen.
  • Use the cycle gadget and select Enable to active the option.
  • Scroll down and click on Pubmodes.
  • Click on Edit to open the Pubscreen options.
  • Click on the checkbox next to Shanghai to activate this option.
  • Click Save (or Use) in the MCP Prefs to save the settings.
MCP Preferences

Gadget Highlighting
Submitted by: Bill Eaves
Short: Allows you to quickly see when a string gadget is activated and available for keyboard input, by displaying a different colour for the text or gadget background.
Procedure:
  • Launch IBrowse² as normal.
  • Open the MUI Preferences via Menus » Preferences » MUI....
  • When the MUI Preferences opens, scroll down and click on Newstring in the list on the left of the window, and a new set of options will open in the right hand side.
  • Use the Inactive and Active, Text and Back gadgets to set the colours to your requirements. Using a high contrast background or text colour will make it obvious when the gadget is either active or inactive. The settings in this example will result in a red gadget with white text when the gadget is active.
  • Click Save (or Use) in the MUI Preferences, and IBrowse will close and re-open with the new settings.
Newstring Preferences
When you now click in a string gadget in IBrowse, the gadget colours will change accordingly so that you can see the gadget is active. Using this technique, it becomes clear when another gadget or application steals focus as the string gadget you are using will no longer be, in this case, red. Location Gadget Following Changes To Newstring
Info If Newstring is not listed in the MUI Preferences, check the spelling of the following file, is IDENTICAL to this, as it is case sensitive: MUI:libs/mui/Newstring.mcp
Submitted by: Dave Fisher
Short: Allows you to quickly see when a gadget is activated and has focus, by displaying a different colour border around it.
Procedure:
  • Launch IBrowse² as normal.
  • Open the MUI Preferences via Menus » Preferences » MUI....
  • When the MUI Preferences opens, scroll down and click on Navigation in the list on the left of the window, and a new set of options will open in the right hand side.
  • Use the Color of active object gadget to set the colour to your requirements. Using a high contrast colour will make it obvious when the gadget is active with focus or inactive without focus. The settings in this example will result in a red border around the gadget when it is active.
  • Click Save (or Use) in the MUI Preferences, and IBrowse will close and re-open with the new settings.
Navigation Preferences
When you now tab to a gadget in IBrowse², the gadget border will change accordingly so that you can see the gadget is active and has focus. Using this technique it becomes clear when another gadget or application steals focus as the gadget you are using will no longer be indicated, in this case, with a red border. Button Gadget Following Changes To Navigation

Scrolling The Display Area
Submitted by: Kulwant Bhogal
Short: Allows you to scroll the Display Area without a wheelmouse.
Procedure:
  • Launch IBrowse² as normal.
  • Use IBrowse² as you would normally.
  • When you need to scroll the page, position the mouse pointer over the Display Area and hold down the middle mouse button. Move the mouse in the direction you wish to scroll the page, then release the button when you have finished.

New Browser Button
Submitted by: David Burström
Short: Allows you to add a New Browser button to the Navigation Toolbar.
Procedure:
  • Launch IBrowse² as normal.
  • Open the Settings via Menus » Preferences » Settings....
  • When the Preferences window opens, double click on GUI in the list on the left of the window, then on Toolbar and a new set of options will open in the right hand side.
  • Click on the Custom button and drag it into the required position in the Toolbar Preview.
  • Release the mouse button to drop the button in the correct place.
  • Enter a suitable image for the button in the Image: string gadget, or use the file requester gadget to the right.
  • Enter a suitable name for the button. e.g. New in the Label: string gadget.
  • Set the Action cycle gadget to ARexx.
  • Click on the INT button, and select one of the following:
  • Click on OK to accept the new settings, and the Preferences window will close.
  • Save the settings if you would like to make them permanent, using Menus » Preferences » Save settings.

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IBrowse² Documentation v2.3 © 2002, 2003 Dave Fisher ~ IBrowse² Development Team Revision 1.0